Twentieth-Century American Culture
Spring 2014
M W Th 10-10:50
American Studies 100b
Prof. Whitfield
Block C
The democratization of taste and the extension of mass media are among the distinguishing
features of American culture in the twentieth century. Through a variety of genres and forms of
expression, in high culture and the popular arts, this course traces the historical development of a
national style that has come to exercise formidable influence abroad as well.
Prerequisite: AMERICAN STUDIES 100A
1) Jan 13 M
Introduction
No assignment
2) Jan 15 W
Between past and future: lecture on the World's Columbian
Exposition
No assignment
3) Jan 16 Th
The dream of equal opportunity
Discuss: Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery, chapters 1-10
4) Jan 22 W
The Victorian frame of mind
Complete discussion of Up From Slavery, chapters 11-17
5) Jan 23 Th
How the West was won
Discuss: Frederick Jackson Turner, "The Significance of the
Frontier in American History" (1893)
6) Jan 27 M
How the West was shown: lecture on Buffalo Bill
No assignment
7) Jan 29 W
The radical impulse
Discuss: Emma Goldman, "What I Believe"(1908), "Prisons: A
Social Crime and Failure" and "The Tragedy of Women's
Emancipation" (1911), "The Failure of Christianity" (1913), and
"The Philosophy of Atheism" (1916), in Red Emma Speaks (ed.
Alix Kates Shulman)
8) Jan 30 Th
The dream of personal freedom: lecture on Harry Houdini
No assignment
2
9) Feb 3 M
Mr. Wright
See in class: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (prod.), Frank Lloyd
Wright, Part One: “Introduction” and “Truth Against the World”;
Part Two: "Hosanna! A Client!", "Just Build Me an Office
Building," "I Can't Get Them Out Fast Enough”
10) Feb 5 W
The tribal Twenties
Discuss: Horace M. Kallen, "Democracy versus the Melting Pot,"
in Culture and Democracy in the United States (1924)
11) Feb 6 Th
Desperate housewife
Discuss: Sinclair Lewis, Main Street (1920)
12) Feb 10 M
Exile on Main Street
Continue discussion of Main Street
13) Feb 12 W
Complete discussion of Main Street
14) Feb 13 Th
FIRST EXAMINATION
15) Feb 24 M
Disenchantment with democracy
Discuss: H. L. Mencken, "On Being an American" (1922), "In
Memoriam: W. J. B." (1925), "Mr. Justice Holmes" (1930, 1932),
"Catechism" (1924), and "Epitaph" (1921)
16) Feb 25 T
Ethnicity on Broadway: lecture by Alisa Solomon on Fiddler on the Roof
(1964), delivered in Rapaporte Treasure Hall, 4-6 pm
17) Feb 26 W
The dream of political freedom
Discuss: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., opinions in Schenck v. U. S.
(1919), Debs v. U. S. (1919), Abrams v. U. S. (1919), Gitlow v.
New York (1925), Buck v. Bell (1927), U. S. v. Schwimmer
(1928), and Olmstead v. U. S. (1928)
18) Feb 27 Th
From the Twenties to the Thirties: lecture on the Great Depression and the
New Deal
No assignment
19) Mar 3 M
“We're the People”
Discuss: John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
20) Mar 6 W
Rage against the machine
Complete discussion of The Grapes of Wrath
21) Mar 7 Th
All that heaven allows: lecture on religion
No assignment
3
22) Mar 10 M
The case for Christian Realism
Discuss: Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society
(1932)
23) Mar 12 W
Why we fight
See in class: Norman Rockwell, The Four Freedoms (1943)
24) Mar 13 Th
From inner direction to other direction
Discuss: David Riesman, The Lonely Crowd (1950), Part I
25) Mar 17 M
Complete discussion of The Lonely Crowd, Parts II and III
26) Mar 19 W
The crisis of civil liberties
Discuss: Sidney Hook, Political Power and Personal Freedom
(1959), chapters 20-21, 24, 33
27) Mar 20 Th
A barbaric yawp
Discuss: Allen Ginsberg, "Howl" (1956)
28) Mar 24 M
SECOND EXAMINATION
29)) Mar 26 W
Family matters
Discuss: Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (1949)
30) Mar 27 Th
Ethnicity on Broadway, cont.: guest lecture by Georgia Luikens on West
Side Story (1957)
31) Mar 31 M
The politics of upheaval: guest lecture by Steven B. Lichtman
32) Apr 2 W
Prose and cons
Discuss: Truman Capote, In Cold Blood (1965)
33) Apr 7 M
Complete discussion of In Cold Blood
34) Apr 9 W
The nameless problem
Discuss: Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (1963), chs. 1, 3
35) Apr 10 Th
The birth of black nationalism
Discuss: Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)
36) Apr 14 M
Continue discussion of The Autobiography of Malcolm X
37) Apr 23 W
Complete discussion of The Autobiography of Malcolm X
4
38) Apr 24 Th
Planet waves
Discuss: Thomas L. Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree
(1999), chapters 12, 17-18
39) Apr 28 M
Empire of the fun: Walt Disney's world
Discuss: Umberto Eco, "Travels in Hyperreality" (1975)
The third and final examination will cover all material assigned since the second exam. A paper
of 8-10 pages will be due on Wednesday, April 30, the topic to be determined in consultation
with the instructor. Please note the centrality of academic integrity to the mission of educational
excellence at Brandeis University. Each student is expected to turn in work completely
independently. It is unacceptable to use the words or ideas of another person without proper
acknowledgement of that source. You must use citations and quotation marks to indicate the
source of any phrase, sentences, paragraphs or ideas found in published volumes, on the internet,
or created by another student. Violation of university policies on academic integrity, described
in Section 3 of Rights and Responsibilities, may result in suspension from the university. If you
are in doubt about the instructions for any assignment in this course, you must ask for
clarification.
Absenteeism is not permitted! Such a pattern may entail a significant lowering of the grade in
American Studies 100b. Do not use laptops in class; they are distracting.
The following books are available for purchase in the bookstore:
Truman Capote, In Cold Blood
Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Sinclair Lewis, Main Street
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman
Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society
David Riesman, The Lonely Crowd
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery
Any student who has a documented disability, on record at the university, and who wishes to
have a reasonable accommodation made in this class, should inform the instructor at the outset of
the semester so that suitable arrangements can be made.
Office hours: 1-2:30 M & W and by appointment (x 63035) Brown 314