1
AN3010MA06 Topics in North American History
Progress and Change in American Society in the Interwar Period (5 credits)
for First- and Second-Year MA Students
Spring 2014
Tutor: Mathey Éva (matheyeva@gmail.com ); Room 108/1. (: 512-900 ext. 23093)
Time and place: Wednesday 8:00-9:40 in Room 106
Office hours: Wednesday 10:00—11:00; Thursday 13:00-14:00 in MBldg. 108/1 and by appointment.
Description of the course
While traditional values still characterized the decades between the world wars, besides traditional
sentiments there existed an increasing appeal to the modern: advances in science, pscychoanalysis,
new technology, consumerism, mass entertainment, etc. found themselves in sharp and distinctive
contast with the genteel social patterns and traditions of the previous decades manifesting a major
clash of values. Social and economic prosperity was in the full bloom when the decade was suddenly
brought to a brutal end by the Great Depression. The rise and fall of American society, the social,
political, economic dimensions of progress and change will be the focus of the seminar. Topics for
discussion will include changes of social behaviour, new life styles, immigration, minority issues,
consumerism, Fordism,amd social and economic reforms: the New Deal.
Course requirements
Students are expected to attend class regularly, to keep up with the readings, and come to class
prepared with questions and comments and to participate in thoughtful classroom discussion.
Most of the class sessions are to be based on the discussion of the topics at hand, introduced and
moderated by the instructor and/or a student giving a presentation and being in charge of that topic.
This discussion is to be facilitated by way of both common and individualized reading materials,
visual aids, Internet resources, and realia shared in the classroom.
Together with the strength of the students' class performance, students will receive their grades on the
basis of one 10-15-minute presentation on a pre-approved topic, various written assignments
including an cartoon analyisis, one response paper, an in-class group debate, occassional in-class
tests if necessary, and an end-term paper. The details of the specific assignments and other issues will
be discussed during orientation.
Presentations
Each student is required to choose a presentation topic from the issues indicated under the weekly
discussion topics, or recommended either by the instructor or the students. Presentations should be about
2
10-15 minutes in length, should be supported with a PowerPoint presentation, and should be interactive
(with thought-provoking questions to the class or various activities) for the benefit of the whole class. It
is a requirement to initiate classroom discussion and involve your fellow students in classroom work as
part of your presentation.
A typed handout should be sent or handed in to the instructor before the presentation for overview. Only
handouts approved by the instructor can be presented. The handout should be only a guideline to the
presentation and not a word-by-word transcript. You must not read out your presentation. The content of
your talk, your performance and presentation skills as well as your pronunciation will be evaluated. If
someone does not show up when his/her presentation is due and does not notify the instructor in advance,
he/she will lose all the credit points on the assignment.
In-class debate
Two or three times during the semester a part of the class will be set aside for group debates, discussing,
contrasting and analyzing differing viewpoints concerning various controversial topics related to the
period (e.g. women suffrage, ERA, immigration restriction reforms, the constitutionality of the New Deal,
etc.). The topics of the debates and the composition of debate groups (2 students each) will be discussed in
advance. The goal of this assignment is to encourage individual research, improve arguing and
presentation skills, as well as cooperation within and between the groups. The debate will be divided
into different sections (introduction, arguments and counterarguments, conclusion), all with a set time
limit. Further instructions about debate dynamics and rules will also be discussed in detail well in
advance. Preparations, the quality and usefulness of materials used and participation in the debate in
general will serve as the basis for evaluation. If you fail to attend the class when you are supposed to be a
member of a debate group you will automatically lose all the credit points on the assignment.
The specific dates and topics of the debates will be announced and scheduled later in view of the exact
number of students and preferences.
Cartoon Analysis
During the seminars cartoons will be regularly used as realia to provide food for thought for in-class
discussions. Therefore, students are also required to choose one cartoon from the period and prepare its
analysis. The written analysis should be no more than 500 words, double-spaced, in Times New Roman.
Response Paper
Students will be required to write one (1) response paper of about 1000-1200 words based on their
readings and opinion concerning issues discussed or related to the in-class topics. This argumentative
or position paper should be an in-depth analysis of the question at hand, and should include
reflections of the student on the particular topic. Students are required to carry out additional research
on the topic, and use primary as well as secondary sources. The originality of the paper, its
composition as well as its language will be evaluated. Plagiarized papers are unacceptable.
Plagiarism will automatically result in ‘fail.’
Papers are to be typed (double-space, Times New Roman 12, 1300-1500 words) and must be handed
in in time. Later submissions are intolerable.
Art Project
See below in syllabus!
End-term Exam
The end-term exam will consist of a comprehensive test and essay questions on topical issues
discussed during the semester. There is no excuse for absences on this occasion and there is NO RESIT for the end-term.
3
Evaluation
The final grade will be calculated from the grades assigned on class participation (20%),
presentation (15%), group debate (10%), response paper (15%), cartoon analysis (10%) and the
end-term paper (30%). More than three absences will result in a “not fulfilled” grade. Grades will be
assigned according to the following conversion formulae: 0-60% = fail; 61-70% = satisfactory; 7180% = average; 81-90% = good; 91-100% = excellent.
Borderline grades: if your grade is borderline, it depends on attendance and the general pattern of your
work if you can get a break.
NB: Those who miss to meet any of the course requirements will fail the course.
Further Rules
It is an essential part of the course requirements to attend all class meetings. If you must miss a class
because of illness or emergency, please let me know, and make arrangements to complete any work
missed.
Students may not miss more than three classes under any circumstances. Students are kindly
requested to contact their tutor at least a day before class if they are to make a presentation but cannot
attend. If you do not turn up on occasions when course assignments (presentation, response papers, inclass debate) and quizzes are due and you fail to notify the tutor you will lose all the credit points on
the particular assignment.
There is no excuse not to come to class when the end-term is due.
Academic dishonesty or Plagiarism (failure to acknowledge and note the use of another writer’s
words and ideas) is both unethical and illegal and will result in a failure of the course.
Plagiarism and its consequences:
Students must be aware that plagiarism is a crime which has its due consequences.
The possible forms of plagiarism:
1. word by word quotes from a source used as if they were one's own ideas, without quotation
marks and without identifying the sources;
2. ideas taken from a source, paraphrased in the essay-writer's own words and used as if they were
his/her own ideas, without identifying and properly documenting the source.
For further information see the relevant issue of IEAS Academic Handbook.
Any form of plagiarism will automatically result in fail.
Tardiness and early departures are not allowable. They are offensive to your fellow students and to the
instructor because they disrupt class work. If you have a compelling reason for arriving late or leaving
early, speak with your instructor about the problem. If you regularly cut the beginning and/or the end of
class sessions, it can add up to unexcused full-class-time absences.
Absence policy
Regular attendance and participation are required. Students cannot miss more than three classes. Missing
more than three classes will result in a 'no grade.'
N.B. Since second-year MA students have no exams following the official end of their final semester
(May 9), they have no exemption from the classes following that date. They are supposed to attend all the
classes till the end of the semester. Absence policy will apply accordingly.
Readings 
Week-by-week readings will be available electronically.
4
Topics for discussion
Week 1 (February 19) Orientation
Week 2 (February 26) General Introduction − the Roaring Twenties: the impact of the First World
War, the failure of the Wilsonian project, the changing political setting, Back to Normalcy,
Republicanism
Readings: ”Chapter Nine: The US in World War I,” in Davis D. Joyce and Tibor Glant, United States
History: A Brief Introduction (Debrecen: Kossuth Egyetemi Kiadó, 2000); ”Chapter 11: Doorway to
the Twenties,” in Robert H. Wiebe, The Search for Order. 1877-1920: 286-302; ”Chapter 12: The
Twenties Begin,” in John Milton Cooper, The Pivotal Decades. The United States, 1900-1920 (New
York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1990): 357-376; ”Babbitts, Bootleggers, and Sad Young Man” in Rod
W. Horton and Herbert W. Edwards, American Literary Thought (New York: Appleton-CenturyCrofts, 1967): 292-300; Woodrow Wilson, ”Address to Congress” on April 2, 1917 and January 8,
1918.
Presentation: Woodrow Wilson and the treaty fight; Republicans vs. Democrats: Back to Normalcy!
Week 3 (March 5) The Period of Social Welfare and Success: the third industrial revolution,
consumerism and mass culture; changing social patterns and behavior; new lifestyles, the coming age
of popular sports
Readings: ”Chapter 7: The Dynamic Logic of Mass Production” and ”Chapter 9: The Indian Summer
of Old Order” in Frederick Lewis Allan, The Big Change. America Transforms Itself, 1900-1950 (New
York: Harper and Row Publisher, 1952): 109-120 and 131-144; and cartoons and advertisements.
Presentation: Babe Ruth, sports in the 1920s, radio culture, new forms of leisure; the Lost Generation
Week 4 (March 12) The Triumph of Technology: Henry Ford and the automobile industry; Charles
Lindbergh and the great age of aviation
Readings: James J. Flink, ”Henry Ford and the Triumph of the Automobile” in Carroll Pursell, Jr. ed.
Technology in America: A History of Individuals and Ideas (Washington, D.C.: USICA, 1980): 181194 and John William Ward, ”Charles Lindbergh: His Flight and the American Ideal” in Carroll
Pursell, Jr. ed. Technology in America: A History of Individuals and Ideas (Washington, D.C.:
USICA, 1980): 195-210.
Presentation: the secret of Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, We
Week 5 (March 17-21): CONSULTATION WEEK
Week 6 (March 26) The Dark Sides of the Twenties: crime and violence, the rise of the mob;
Prohibition and its consequences
Readings: Jack S. Blocker, “Did Prohibition Really Work? Alcohol Prohibition as a Public Health
Innovation.”
Presentation: gangwars and the FBI
Week 7 (April 2) The Immigration Problem: New Immigration, ethnic neighborhoods; immigration
restriction; xenophobia, racism and nativism, the Red Scare
5
Readings: ”Chapter 9: The Demand for Restriction, 1882-1924” in Allen Maldwyn Jones, American
Immigration (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960)
Presentation: Eugene Debs and the American Socialist Party, the Sacco and Vanzetti Case; racism
and white superiority
Week 8 (April 9) The New Woman: the changing social role and status of women; the 19th
Amendment, the flapper culture
Readings: F. Scott Fitzgerald, ”Bernice Bobs Her Hair;” ”Women and Equality” in William H. Chafe,
The American Woman, Her Changing Social, Economic, and Political Roles, 1920-1970 (Oxford:
Oxford UP, 1980): 48-65; Estelle B. Freedman, ”The New Woman: Changing Views of Women in the
1920s” in The Journal of American History Vol. 61, No. 2 (Sep. 1974): 372-393.
Presentation: Izidora Duncan, women and consumer culture, ERA
Week 9 (April 16) The 1930s – A General Introduction: What went wrong? the Stock Market Crash
and the Great Depression: causes and effects; Keynesianism, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Readings: Franklin D. Roosevelt, ”Three Addresses” in Edwin Rozwenc, ed. The New Deal.
Revolution or Evolution (Boston: Heath and Co., 1949): 45-54; ”The Crack Up” and ”Breadlines and
Big Government” in Rod W. Horton and Herbert W. Edwards, American Literary Thought (New
York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967): 322-330, 417-438.
Presentation: Keynes and state capitalism; 1929 and 2008: what went wrong?
Week 10 (April 23) The New Deals: the first New Deal and the second New Deal, the role of the
federal government in reforms; the Supreme Court and the New Deal
Readings: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. ”The Broad Accomplishments of the New Deal” and Richard
Hofstadter, ”FDR: The Patrician As Opportunist” in Edwin Rozwenc, ed. The New Deal. Revolution
or Evolution (Boston: Heath and Co., 1949): 96-101 and 102-111; David Brooks, ”The Role of Uncle
Sam” The New York Times (May 28, 2012)
Presentation: the Federal Arts Project, Father Charles Coughlin and the search for social justice, the
constitutionality of the New Deal, photo-documentation of the Depression
Week 11 (April 30) The New Deal continued: see as above
Week 12 (May 7) Endterm exam
Week 13 (May 14) The Jazz Age: the representation of the period in the various arts such as music,
film, theater
Readings: to be announced later
Art Project: students are required to contribute to the class discussion with group presentations on
various artistic representations from the period
Week 14 (May 21) US-Hungarian Relations during the Interwar Years
Readings: to be announce later
Presentation: Kossuth Pilgrimage, Justice for Hungary