Yamane
H 473B
Spring 2014
Yamasun.net=web syllabus
Moodle=Readings (Up Thursday 1/23)
I.
H473B Goals & Required reading
Class Goals:
Welcome to the turn-of-the century, to Gilded and Progressive U.S. history. In these
years between 1870 and 1920, we will find the forging of the "modern" United States
with the development of corporate capitalism, expanding technologies and national
boundaries, growing consumer culture, and an increasingly national identity. While the
nation grows geographically larger, to what extent does the pull of a national identity
succeed in creating a “smaller” and more unified culture?
The major theme for this course is power—to what extent to common people acquire it,
and what is its relationship to class, race, and gender? In what ways are people of the
nation transformed by 1920, and to what extent have many remained the same?
Required Reading:
1-Steve Hahn, A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South
from Slavery to the Great Migration (Belknap Press, 2003)
2-Michael Kazin, Barons of Labor (University of Illinois Press, 1988)
3-Carol Srole, Transcribing Class and Gender (University of Michigan Press, 2012)
4-Paul Collins, Murder of the Century (Broadway Books, 2012)
5-Robert Weibe, A Search for Order (Hill and Wang, 1966)
6-Various Moodle Readings
II. Class Requirements
Discussion & Participation (20%, 200 pts): We will have class discussions about every
other week, and students will be assigned to lead them—all students will be expected to
participate.
Three Reading Quizzes (20%, 200 pts): Thematic questions on the reading will be
posted—the first quiz will be worth 40 pts, and the remaining two worth 80 points each.
One 8-10 page Paper (20%, 200 pts): You will be expected to turn in a brief proposal with
a paper question and sources in Week Five, more information to be posted.
Two Midterm Exams (40%, 400 pts): Midterms will be about half matching questions,
taken from class lectures and discussions, and half essay. After each class, you should
make a list of significant people, issues, and events covered in lecture, discussion, and
film. Before the exam, then, you will have lists of points most likely addressed in the
matching questions. I will post examples, along with possible essay questions for you to
prepare.
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Attendance: You are responsible for all that is covered and addressed in class—if you
miss class, you should get notes from a classmate, study them over, then come see me
with any questions. After you read over notes, I will be happy to discuss them with you.
It is never a good idea to ask, “did I miss anything?” Again, much of what is covered in
class will be in your exams.
Expectations: Focus, Thoughtfulness, Awareness & Consideration of Others
Please be present and focused on class topics without emailing, texting, or studying
Wikipedia. The purpose of class is to address themes and questions designed to help you
actively engage the reading, and most importantly, to help you build your own
interpretations based in historical examples and the ideas of others.
Generally in a class this size I allow students to use computers to take notes, though if you
are distracted with email, facebook, or chatting, I might ask that you don’t use it. When
you are in the front of class, it is clear who is “present” and who are not. Please use this
moment to escape from the daily distractions that have come to define so much of our
existence.
Also, please do not sit in the middle of the classroom only to get up in the middle of class,
leave, and then return. This is rude and disruptive to all, and I appreciate your
thoughtfulness. If you have an emergency of some kind and are expecting a call, let me
know in advance and sit by the door. Please be aware and thoughtful of your instructor
and classmates.
Plagiarism & Problems: Do Your Own Work & Get Help Early
In building your interpretation with the ideas of others, it is essential that you cite your
sources, that you acknowledge those who have inspired your own ideas. For most, the
kind of critical thinking and argument development is an arduous and time-consuming
process. You are being asked to read documents, and then to interpret them with the aid
of the text and additional reading. Your first paper is designed to help you to understand
this process, which we will also be addressing in class.
This work is difficult and challenging for all—so students and even some professional
historians have plagiarized work, and it is never a good idea. Remember that the work IS
challenging, so if you put in the time, be proud of what you have put together. You will
also be asked to submit both papers to turnitin.com, via Moodle.
If you find yourself falling behind or not performing well in spite of preparation, please
come in to see me, and come in early. I can’t talk to you all in the week that a paper is
due, so please allow time to come in to talk about your ideas as you prepare papers or
exam essays.
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III. Class Schedule
Below find our class schedule, with dates for work due.
Week
Topic
#1/ 20 Jan
Introduction
(MLK Day Mon) What is Power?
#2/ 27 Jan
How Many Histories?
Gilded and Progressive
Prisms of Understanding
#3/ 3 Feb
“To Build a New Jerusalem”:
Race and Class
#4/ 10 Feb
Industrialization & the Northeast
#5/ 17 Feb
Crisis of Values in a Moral Age
#6/ 24 Feb
The Nature of Industrial Labor
Work Due
Hahn, “Chains & Threads” & “Choked
Voice,” Nation, 1-115
Cashman, “Industrial Spring” (Moodle)
Cooper, “Pivotal Decades” (Moodle)
Diner, “Historiography” (Moodle)
Weibe, “Prelude,” “Distended
Society” & “Crisis in
Communities,” Search for Order,
1-75
Hahn, “Of Rumors & Revelations,”
Nation, 116-159
Hahn, “Reconstructing,” “Society
Turned Bottomside Up” &
“Paramilitary Politics,” Nation,
163-313
Weibe, “Fate of a Nation,” Search for
Order, 76-110
Class Discussion 6 Feb Thurday
Hahn, “Education of Henry Adams,”
Nation, 317-363
Weibe, “A New Middle Class” &
“Revolution in Values,” Search
for Order, 111-32
Quiz #1/ 13 Feb Thursday
Hahn, “Education of Henry Adams,”
Nation, 317-363
Weibe, “A New Middle Class” &
“Revolution in Values,” Search
for Order, 111-32
Matthew Josephson, “What the Young
Men Dream, Robber Barons, 32-49
(Moodle)
Sam Clemens on Good and Bad Boys
(Moodle)
Righteous Women (Moodle)
Class Discussion 20 Feb Thurday
Brief Proposals due 20 Feb Thursday
Kazin, Unionism, Isolation, &
Leadership in SF Building Trades,
Barons of Labor, 1-81
Srole, Gender and the Bureaucracy of
Business, Transcribing Class &
Gender, 1-70
Mutal Aid (Moodle)
Quiz #2/ 27 Feb Thursday
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#7/ 3 March
#8/ 10 March
#9/ 17 March
#10/ 24 March
#11/ 31 March
(Chavez Day
Mon)
#12/ 7 April
#13/ 14 April
#14/ 21 April
#15/ 28 April
#16/ 5 May
#17/ 12-17 May
Race, Class, Gender and
Kazin, Closed Shop and Earthquake,
American Power and Opportunity
Barons of Labor, 82-144
Srole, Gender in Business World,
Transcribing, 71-128
Painter, “Depression of 1890s”
(Moodle)
Kazin, “Righteous Commonwealth”
(Moodle)
“Language of Imperialism” (Moodle)
Class Discussion 6 March Thurday
Midterm #1
Science,
Collins, Murder of the Century,
Professionalism,
First Third
& the Press
Immigrant Documents (Moodle)
Srole, Women Typists, Transcribing,
129-232
Middle Class Reform Communities Collins, Murder of the Century,
Second Third
Kazin, Reform, Misgoverning,
Compromise, Barons of
Labor, 145-216
Jane Addams (Moodle)
Coxie’s Army (Moodle)
Class Discussion 27 March Thurday
TR & Nationhood
Collins, Murder of the Century,
Last Third
Weibe, “Progressivism Arrives,”
164-195
Hahn, “Ballots & Biracialism,” Nation,
364-411
Quiz #3/ 2 April Thursday
Spring Break!
Woodrow Wilson
Political Reform (Moodle)
Hahn, “Valley of the Shadows,”
Nation, 412-478
Kazin, Loss of Power, Barons of
Labor, 217-76
Weibe, Illusion, Order, 196-223
Class Discussion 17 April Thurday
American World Power
Weibe, Foreign Policy & Nation,
Order, 224-285
WWI (Moodle)
Papers due by 24 April Latest
Commerical Culture
Commerce (Moodle)
Class Discussion 29 April Tuesday
1919
Weibe, “Doorway to 1920s,” Order,
Nation, Regions, Communities
286-302
Finals Week: Midterm #2
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