The
United States, 1920-1960
History 474A Syllabus
and Survival Guide
Spring 2009
Tuesday 7:00
pm – 9:50 pm, Sierra Hall 288
Instructor
Dr.
Thomas W. Devine
Office Hours:
Email: tom.devine@csun.edu Phone: (818) 677-3550
Teaching Assistant: Laura Arrowsmith Email: larrows@hartdistrict.org
The
following books are available at the Matador Bookstore. All other reading assignments are available
through the links below.
To
subvert the system and save yourself some money, you should consider buying
used copies of the books on the internet at www.bookfinder.com
Requirements & Grading
Class
Participation/Quizzes --25%
1st Paper [Due Feb. 15 OR Mar. 15] --15%
CLICK
HERE FOR PAPER 1 OPTION A
CLICK HERE
FOR PAPER 1 OPTION B
Primary Source Assignment [Due April 5] --20%
CLICK HERE FOR PRIMARY SOURCE
ASSIGNMENT
2nd Paper [Due April 19 OR May 3] --15%
CLICK
HERE FOR PAPER 2 OPTION A
Final Exam [8pm-10pm May 12] --25%
Any assignment not
turned in will receive a grade of ZERO in the calculation of the final
grade.
(Graduate students
will do extra reading and an additional written assignment.)
Spirit of the Course
This course will
offer an interpretive survey of political, cultural, economic, and social
trends in the
Finally,
the course will provide you with ample opportunities to improve your
writing. When the semester is over, all
of you will be able to write a coherent, logical essay – a skill that will serve
you well in the world beyond History 474A.
Themes
Though we will be covering a wide variety of
topics, there are certain themes that we will be revisiting throughout the
course of the semester:
Explanation of Requirements
Quizzes
There
will be occasional short quizzes throughout the semester. The purpose of the
quizzes is to provide an incentive for completing the reading and to ascertain
who has read and who hasn’t. If you have done all the reading – or even most of
it – you should have no difficulty doing well on the quizzes.
Analytical Papers
The two paper assignments will focus on the
material covered in the assigned readings and during class discussion. If you wish, you may do both first paper
options and I will count the higher grade. Likewise, you may do both of the
second paper options and I will again count the higher grade. You must,
however, do one of the first two assignments and one of the second two
assignments. There will be a choice of topics which will be handed out well
before the due date. Papers must be at least 1500 words. Grades
will be based on the quality of your ideas and how effectively you present
them.
Primary Source Assignment
This assignment will
allow you to mine cotemporary magazines and newspapers as a way of producing some
of your own historical analysis. I will provide you with a choice of topics
later in the semester that lend themselves to primary research in sources
available on campus. A more detailed description of the assignment will be
handed out in class, however you should expect to write an essay of
approximately 8 pages.
Final
Exam
The final examination will consist of 5-7
short answer questions and 2 long essays.
You will have a choice of topics for the long essay. Exam questions will be drawn verbatim from a study guide I will
distribute before the date of the final.
The exam will be cumulative, but the emphasis will be on material
covered in the second half of the course. You are responsible for bringing an unmarked blue book to the final.
Surviving History 474A…
Since
this class meets only once a week and its success depends on active student
participation, it is important – and it is expected – that you will be at every
session. I do take attendance before and after the break. Do not leave at the break and expect to be
credited with having attended the entire class. I understand that
inevitably an occasion may arise when you are unable to attend. Out of fairness
to your classmates who do attend every week, however, each class you miss past
the first two will reduce your final grade by three points. More than four
missed classes over the course of the semester will put in you in jeopardy of
failing the course, regardless of your grades on the written assignments. If
you are a person who rarely comes to class and relies on copying notes from a
friend, this is not the
course for you.
Common Courtesy
You
are at a university among professional people so you should act like you belong
here. Do not embarrass yourself by acting rudely. Please turn off and put away
all cell phones and other electronic gadgets while you are in class. Texting
during class is rude and people who do it are advertising to those around them
that they don’t know how to behave in a professional environment. Please arrive
on time and do not walk out in the middle of class unless it is an emergency or
you have spoken to me about it ahead of time. Do not talk, listen to music, or
surf the internet in class. Do not begin gathering up your things before the
end of the class period. This kind of rude and disruptive behavior reflects
poorly on you and leaves the impression that you are not the kind of person who
belongs on a university campus. It also distracts your classmates who are
paying good money to be here. Please act courteously and professionally. Show some class. It’s part of being an educated person.
Academic Honesty
Do
not lie to me about why you missed class or failed to turn in an assignment. It
is unnecessary and it insults my intelligence.
Do not cheat on quizzes or tests. I will catch you and you will receive
an automatic zero for the assignment. Do not plagiarize from written sources or
from the web. Since plagiarism is always
obvious and easily caught (I know how to use google too), it is better to hand
in your own work and get a C- than someone else’s and get an F. If you have plagiarized in the past and
gotten away with it, it was not because the professor didn’t know what you were
doing. Rather, the professor did not
think you were worth the effort of pursuing it. Be advised: I do think
you are worth the effort. Any and all plagiarized assignments will receive a
grade of zero and put you in jeopardy of failing the course. Your name will be
reported to the Office of Student Affairs and will also be circulated among
other faculty as someone who lacks integrity. Good luck getting a reference or
letter of recommendation if you are on this list. If you are unsure what
plagiarism is, please consult with me or the teaching assistant BEFORE
you hand in an assignment.
Problems
I
appreciate that many CSUN evening students are stretching themselves quite
thin, often working full time while taking classes at night. If you
are feeling overwhelmed, find yourself falling behind, or are having any
problems outside of class that are adversely affecting your performance in
class, be sure to let me know. I am more than willing to work with you to
insure you “survive,” but I need to know you are having difficulties. Do not
wait until the end of the semester when it will be too late. The university
will not allow you to withdraw from a class after the drop deadline simply
because you are doing poorly. Either
come to see me or send an email as soon as a problem arises and we can work
something out. If you are struggling
academically, I will gladly give you extra help. As long as you keep me up to
speed, you will find I am a very empathetic, even reasonable person.
Schedule of Topics
& Assignments
20 January Introduction
An explanation of course
objectives, mechanics, and procedures.
27 January “These
Wild Young People” – Flappers, Sheiks, and the Birth of Modern
3 February “The
American Gangster” – Capone and Culture in the Jazz Age
10
February “From Harding to Hard
Times” – Boom, Bust, and the Origins of the Great Depression
Warren I.
Cohen, Empire Without Tears, Chapter 2
Peter
Fearon, War, Prosperity & Depression: The U.S. Economy, 1917-1945, Chapter
3
17
February “Jazz Age Justice” – The
Great Migration, The Talented Tenth, and the Saga of Ossian Sweet
STUDY GUIDE AND CHAPTER SUMMARIES
24
February “Getting By and Expecting
Better” – Everyday Life During the Great Depression
James McGovern, And a Time for Hope, Introduction,
Chapters 4-6
3
March “A First Class
Temperament” – Franklin D. Roosevelt as Leader, Politician, and Icon
10 March “New
Deal, Old Deal, Raw Deal?” – Assessing Roosevelt’s Policies
Jim Powell, FDR’s Folly, Chapter 9
Garet Garrett, “Fifth Anniversary”
Barton Bernstein, “The Conservative Achievement of New Deal Reform”
Anthony Badger, “The Unanticipated Consequences of New Deal Reform”
17 March “
24 March “The
‘Good War’?” – The Soldier’s Perspective
31 March NO
CLASS
7 April SPRING
BREAK
14 April “Out of the Army and Into the Rat
Race” – Adjusting to the Postwar World
21
April “Anxiety and
Anticommunism” – Politics, Diplomacy, and the Origins of the Cold War
Primary Sources for
in-class discussion:
28
April “A Culture of
Containment” – The Cold War and its Effects on the Home Front
Elaine Tyler May, “Cold War – Warm Hearth”
Lori Rotskoff, “Drink and Domesticity in Postwar America”
5 May “Beats, Hipsters, and ‘Sick’
Satire” – Challenges to the Cold War Consensus
Scott Saul, “Birth
of the Cool: The Early Career of the Hipster”
Stephen
Kircher, “Comic Revenge: Parodic Revelry and ‘Sick’ Humor in the 1950s Satiric
Underground”
FINAL EXAMINATION MAY 12,
8pm-10pm