Crowd Surfing, Woodstock 1999
© Henry Diltz, 1999
HIST 221: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN THE MODERN WORLD
www.charleststrauss.com/AEMW
10:10AM - 11:00AM
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
140 Mueller Hall
Prof. Charles Strauss
Charles.Strauss@valpo.edu
B7 Linwood House / Extension 6494 / 574-807-2935
Office Hours: Tues./Wed., 1:30 to 3:00 PM, and by appointment
Course Description
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” William Faulkner
“To be an American is not...a matter of blood; it is a matter of an idea--and history is the
image of that idea.” Robert Penn Warren
This course on the American Experience in the Modern World is structured around three crucial
elements: questions, workshops, and arguments.
Good history begins with good questions. Over the course of this semester, we will focus on one
enduring question: What is the story of United States history since 1877? We will explore this
question as we study ten historical periods: The United States at 1877; Industrialization,
Immigration, and Imperialism; Progressivism; The Great Depression and New Deal; Origins of
the Cold War; United States Society in the 1950s; Civil Rights and Johnson’s Great Society; The
1970s; The Reagan Revolution and Clinton’s Third Way; The Digital Age. As we travel through
these ten periods, we will lift up additional questions that will help us to focus our knowledge of
the past and to open up hidden historical themes and fresh methods of historical analysis.
We will experiment with these questions and periods through a series of historical workshops.
These workshops will provide us with opportunities to practice historical skills and arrive at our
own conclusions about the people, places, events, things, and themes that we encounter in over a
century of United States history.
We will also explore historical arguments or the ways in which historians construct and evaluate
the stories that they tell about the past. We know the past through the stories we tell about it. But
what makes a good story about the past? Is history just a matter of opinion, where all stories are
equally valid, or equally bogus? Or are some stories more truthful and necessary than others?
How does one decide between different versions of the past? These are difficult questions.
People disagree about the answers. In fact they disagree so much, and sometimes with such
passion, that one historian has famously defined history as “an argument without end.” By
scrutinizing historians’ arguments, and by coming up with arguments of our own, we will
develop habits to judge the credibility of the histories that we encounter in our lives. This just so
happens also to be an important life skill.
Texts
*James L. Roark, The American Promise: A Compact History, Vol II:
From 1865 (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 0312534086)
*James W. Davidson, After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection, Vol
II (McGraw-Hill, 9780077292690)
* John F. Kasson, Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the
Century (Hill and Wang, 9780809001330)
*James E. Goodman, Stories of Scottsboro (Vintage, 0679761594)
*James Carroll, An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War
That Came Between Us (Mariner Books, 039585993X)
All of the above texts are available at the University Bookstore. Other course materials will be
available online via the course website, www.charleststrauss.com/AEMW. Please print out these
readings and bring them with you to class (unless you can download them onto an electronic
reader).
You will receive additional handouts that will further explain aspects of the syllabus and that will
introduce specific assignments, essays, and exams. These will also be posted on the course
website. You are responsible for keeping a binder or computer folder of this material.
History Department’s Student Learning Objectives
1. Develop excellent writing and speaking skills exemplified by the ability to use primary
and secondary sources, distinguish biases, and construct historical arguments.
2. Demonstrate methods of historical analysis, historical veracity, and an understanding of
historiography.
3. Develop global perspectives or, in classes in United States history, develop their
appreciation of cultural diversity.
4. Historically contextualize faith systems and issues of social justice.
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American Experience in the Modern World
Requirements
Requirement
Brief Summary
Quizzes
9 total (will grade best 7)
Written Work
Workshop Assignments: 9
total (will grade best 7)
Essay 1: Amusing the Million
Book Review
Date
Weight
Grade
10%
10%
Sept 19
20%
Essay 2: Cold War Essay
Dec 5
20%
Mid-Term Exam
1877-1945
Oct 12
20%
Final Exam
1945-present
Dec 13
20%
Final Grade
100%
Attendance
I will not take attendance in this course and there are no formal penalties for not coming to class.
That said, this is not the sort of course in which you can miss a lot of meetings and expect to
make a good grade. Consider the consequences of non-attendance. The “Questions” days will
provide you with images, audio, video, outlines, and more that will prove invaluable as you work
to grasp the major themes and specific details of the course. If you miss a “Workshop” day, you
will not have the opportunity to review (and experiment with) the crucial questions for each unit.
You will also not have a workshop assignment to submit. Remember that these assignments
count for 10% of your final grade. You will miss training in the historical skills that will
determine how well you do on the essays that count for nearly half of the course grade. If you
miss an “Arguments” day, you will receive a zero for the weekly quiz, and miss information that
could be vital for writing your essays or performing well on the mid-term and final exams.
These consequences may be waived if you inform me of your absence at least 24 hours in
advance so that we can work out alternative ways for you to complete your work or I receive an
official excuse for your absence from the University. This also goes for submitting your essays. I
will not accept late essays unless you let me know at least 24 hours in advance that you are
having a problem meeting the deadline or if I receive an official excuse from the University.
Finally, please do not come late to class. Chronic offenders (more than four times without an
excuse) will see 2% deducted from the final grade for the class for each offense after four.
Office Hours
One of my favorite professors once gave me three simple commandments for succeeding in
college: speak up, turn your assignments in on time, and meet with your professors outside of
class time. You are on your own with the first two but you can expect me to go out of my way to
accommodate number three. My office is in the basement of Linwood House (office B7). I will
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American Experience in the Modern World
hold regular office hours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 1:30 to 3:00 PM. During the second
and third weeks of class and again during weeks twelve and thirteen, I will hold mandatory
office hours for groups of six students at a time in the living room at Linwood House. You will
sign up for these time slots in advance.
Disability Support Services
Please visit http://www.valpo.edu/cas/support/dss.php and follow the appropriate protocol if you
are interested in accessing Disability Support Services.
Academic Integrity
Since 1943, all academic work at Valparaiso University has been done
within the context of an honor system. This honor system is part of the way
the University attempts to assist both students and faculty to do work and
live lives characterized by integrity. The Honor Code Pledge which students
must write out and sign on every piece of written work submitted reads as
follows: “I have neither given or received nor have I tolerated others’
use of unauthorized aid.” Every instructor is responsible for clarifying what constitutes
unauthorized aid in his or her course. In this Valpo Core course, the following will be considered
violations of the Honor Code:
 Unauthorized giving, receiving, or use of material or information while writing
examinations or quizzes.
 Fraudulent or deceptive generation of data or the knowing use of data gathered in
such a manner.
 One person taking a quiz or examination, or producing a paper, for another.
 The use of ideas, data or specific written passages of others that are unacknowledged
or falsely acknowledged.
 Presentation of a paper or other work for credit in two distinct courses without prior
approval of both instructors.
 Theft or destruction of library materials or other materials which are meant to be
accessible to all other students and faculty.
 Knowingly presenting false accusation or testimony before the Honor Council or its
representatives.
 Presenting a draft and/or paper that is someone else’s work.
 Tolerance of any of the above.
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American Experience in the Modern World
Schedule
Week 1: Prologue
Wed 24 August: What is History?
Fri 26 August: What is the Story of United States History since 1877?
*Roark, The American Promise (introduce yourself to text, layout, and appendices)
*Billy Collins, “The History Teacher” (handout)
Week 2: The United States at 1877
Mon 29 August: Questions
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 16, Reconstruction, 1863-1877, 385-410
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 17, The Contested West, 1870-1900, 411-434
*Take Online Survey (see course website)
Wed 31 August: Workshop
*Davidson and Lytle, After the Fact: Introduction, xi-xiii; Chapter 8, The View from the
Bottom Rail, 171-202
*Workshop Assignment 1
Fri 2 September: Arguments
*Frederick Jackson Turner, “Significance of the Frontier” (see course website)
*Quiz 1
Week 3: Industrialization, Immigration, and Imperialism
Mon 5 September: Questions
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 18, Business and Politics in the Gilded Age,
1870-1895, 435-460
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 19, The City and Its Workers, 1870-1900, 461486
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 20, Dissent, Depression, and War, 1890-1900,
487-512
Wed 7 September: Workshop
*Davidson and Lytle, After the Fact: Chapter 9, The Mirror with a Memory, 203-228
*Workshop Assignment 2
Fri 9 September: Arguments
*Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth (see course website)
*Quiz 2
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American Experience in the Modern World
Week 4: (Interlude) Amusing the Million
Mon 12 September
*Kasson, Amusing the Million, 3-54
Wed 14 September
*Kasson, Amusing the Million, 57-112
Fri 16 September
*In-Class Film: Coney Island, PBS, 1998
Week 5: Progressivism
Mon 19 September: No class
*Amusing the Million Book Review due by 5:00 PM
Wed 21 September: Questions
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 21, Progressivism from the Grass Roots to the
White House, 1890-1916, 513-540
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 22, World War I: The Progressive Crusade at
Home and Abroad, 1914-1920, 541-568
*Quiz 3
7:00 PM: Gallery Talk with Henry Diltz, Duesenberg Recital Hall (extra credit)
Fri 23 September: Workshop
*(Groups 1, 2, 3) Davidson and Lytle, After the Fact: Chapter 10, USDA Government
Inspected, 229-255
*(Groups 4, 5, 6) Davidson and Lytle, After the Fact: Chapter 11, Sacco and Vanzetti,
256-283
*Workshop Assignment 3
Week 6: The Great Depression and New Deal
Mon 26 September: Questions
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 23, From New Era to Great Depression, 19201932, 569-594
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 24, The New Deal Experiment, 1932-1939,
595-622
Wed 28 September: Workshop
*Davidson and Lytle, After the Fact: Chapter 12, Dust Bowl Odyssey, 284309
*Workshop Assignment 4
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American Experience in the Modern World
Fri 30 September: Arguments
*Cohen, Making a New Deal (selection; see course website)
*Quiz 4
Week 7: (Interlude) Stories of Scottsboro
Mon 3 October
*Goodman, Stories of Scottsboro
Wed 5 October
*Goodman, Stories of Scottsboro
Fri 7 October
*Goodman, Stories of Scottsboro
Week 8: Review and Mid-Term Exam
Mon 10 October: The United States at 1945
Wed 12 October: Mid-Term Exam, 1877-1945
FALL BREAK
Week 9: Origins of the Cold War
Mon 17 October: Questions
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 25, The United States and the Second World
War, 1939-1945, 623-650
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 26, Cold War Politics in the Truman Years,
1945-1953, 651-672
Wed 19 October: Workshop
*Davidson and Lytle, After the Fact: Chapter 13, The Decision to Drop the Bomb, 310338
*Workshop Assignment 5
Fri 21 October: In-Class Film
*1945: Brave New World from The People’s Century (1997)
*Quiz 5 (see course website to submit online after watching the film)
Week 10: United States Society in the 1950s
Mon 24 October: Questions
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 27, The Politics of Culture and Abundance,
1952-1960, 673-696
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American Experience in the Modern World
Wed 26 October: Workshop
*Davidson and Lytle, After the Fact: Chapter 14, From Rosie to Lucy, 339-365
*Workshop Assignment 6
Fri 28 October: Arguments
*1953-1960: Happy Daze, ABC News/History Channel 15-part series The Century
(1999) (see course website)
*Quiz 6
Week 11: Civil Rights and Johnson’s Great Society
Mon 31 October: Questions
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 28, Reform, Rebellion, and Reaction, 19601974, 697-722
Wed 2 November: Workshop
*Davidson and Lytle, After the Fact: Chapter 15, Sitting-In, 366-395
*Workshop Assignment 7
Fri 4 November: Arguments
*Arthur Schlesinger writings (see course website)
*Quiz 7
Week 12: The 1970s
Mon 7 November: Questions
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 29, Vietnam and the Limits of Power, 19611975, 723-746
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 30, America Moves to the Right, 1969-1989,
747-759
Wed 9 November: Workshop
*(Groups 1, 2, 3) Davidson and Lytle, After the Fact: Chapter 16, Breaking into
Watergate, 396-419
*(Groups 4, 5, 6) Davidson and Lytle, After the Fact: Chapter 17, When Trouble Comes,
420-447
*Workshop Assignment 8
Fri 11 November: Arguments
*Schulman, The Seventies (selection; see course website)
*Quiz 8
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American Experience in the Modern World
Week 13: (Interlude) An American Requiem
Mon 14 November
*Carroll, An American Requiem
Wed 16 November
*Carroll, An American Requiem
Fri 18 November
*Carroll, An American Requiem
THANKSGIVING BREAK
Week 14: The Reagan Revolution and Clinton’s Third Way
Mon 28 November: Questions
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 30, America Moves to the Right, 1969-1989,
760-772
*Troy, Morning in America (selection; see course website)
Wed 30 November: Workshop
*The Sitcom (see course website)
*Workshop Assignment 9
Fri 2 December: Arguments
*Contemporary Articles (see course website)
*Quiz 9
Week 15: The Digital Age
Mon 5 December: Questions
*Cold War Essay due by 5:00 PM
*Roark, The American Promise: Chapter 31, The End of the Cold War and the
Challenges of Globalization, since 1989, 773-799
Wed 7 December: Final Workshop
Fri 9 December: Final Arguments
Final Exam (1945-present): Tues 13 Dec, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
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