History 573 – U.S.
1877-1929
Syllabus and Survival
Guide
Fall 2026
Thursday 4:00 pm – 6:45
pm, 301 Goodman Hall
Instructor
Dr. Thomas W.
Devine
Email: twd@pacbell.net
Campus
Office: 624 Sierra
Tower (818) 677-3550
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:30-3:30 (via
Zoom or face to face). If you are not free to meet during regular office hours,
I would be glad to set up an appointment with you (in person or on Zoom) at
some mutually convenient time.
Reading
The following
books – listed in the order in which we will read them – can be purchased on
line or borrowed from either the University library or the Los Angeles Public
Library. Any other readings will be posted on the web syllabus. To to save
yourself some money, you should consider buying used copies of the books. You
are likely to find copies at significantly lower prices at the following
websites: www.betterworldbooks.com, www.bookfinder.com or www.amazon.com.
1.
Glenn
Porter, The Rise of Big Business, Third Edition
2.
Fergus
Bordewich, Centennial: The Great Fair of 1876 and the Invention of America’s
Future
3.
James
Barrett, The Irish Way: Becoming American in the Multiethnic City
4.
Michael
Punke, Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and
the Birth of the New West
5.
Dama
M. Caldemeyer, Union Renegades: Miners, Capitalism, and Organizing in the
Gilded Age
6.
Noam
Maggor, Brahmin Capitalism: Frontiers of Wealth and Populism in America’s
First Gilded Age
7.
Thomas
Bell, Out of this Furnace: A Novel of Immigrant Labor in America
8.
Nick
Salvatore, Eugene V. Debs: Citizen and Socialist
9.
John
F. Kasson, Houdini, Tarzan, and the Perfect Man: The White Male Body and the
Challenge of Modernity in America
10. Ian Tyrrell, Reforming the World: The
Creation of America’s Moral Empire
11. Joanna Scutts, Hotbed: Bohemian
Greenwich Village and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism
12. Thomas Leonard, Illiberal Reformers:
Race, Eugenics, and American Economics in the Progressive Era
13. Kevin Boyle, Arc of Justice: A
Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age
Spirit of the Course
This
course will offer an interpretive survey of political, economic, cultural, and
social trends in the United States between 1877 and 1929. If all goes according
to plan, you will leave in December with a broader and deeper knowledge of the
events of this period and their significance in shaping present day U.S.
society. It is my hope that you will also finish the course with something
more: a rich sense of the “fabric” of this era – a feel for how people lived
their daily lives, the tragedies they suffered, and the triumphs they
celebrated; an appreciation for the ideas, ideologies, fads, and follies that
intrigued and seduced them; an understanding of the problems and tough
decisions that confronted both everyday people and top policy makers; and,
perhaps most importantly, a recognition of the contingencies of history and an
empathy for the historical actors who benefited from or fell victim to these
contingencies.
I have made a
special effort to assign readings that represent the latest (if not always the
most widely held) views on various topics as well as older, more “classic”
accounts that have stood the test of time. You will notice that the readings
throughout the course come from various ideological and political perspectives.
I encourage you to be critical of both the readings and what I say in class
when you find the arguments expressed to be unpersuasive or the evidence to
support them inadequate.
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:
·
the
effects of industrialization, immigration, and urbanization on the nation’s
economic and political development
·
the
changing relationship over time between government and individual citizens
·
shifting
attitudes regarding race, gender, and the rights of the individual versus the
rights of the group
·
the
motivations for and results of American foreign policy
·
the
ongoing struggle to balance liberty and equality within a democratic context
·
the factors
accounting for the rise and fall conservative and progressive social movements
·
disputes
among Americans over what constitutes a “good society”
You
will also have the opportunity to follow the historiography that has developed
around the topics we will explore. Though the emphasis of the course will
not be on historiographical issues, I will introduce and we will all discuss
scholarly controversies where appropriate.
Grading
& Deadlines
Class
Participation --30%
Oral Presentation --20%
Analytical Essay --20%
Option A due October 10
Option B due November 15
Semester
Project --30%
Initial
Proposal/Bibliography due October 1st
Draft due December
1st
Final due December
17th
Note that
written assignments are not due on the days we meet in class. They can be
emailed to me as MS Word attachments (not pdfs, please). If you send your
document to me on google docs, be sure you give me permission to open it.
Explanation
of Requirements
Completing
the Reading
There’s no
getting around it – this class requires a lot of reading. But, as a Masters level seminar, it is
supposed to. To succeed in this course, you will need to complete the reading,
but you will also need to have given it some thought. Take notes in the
margins. Record terms that are unfamiliar to you or concepts that you don’t
understand, points that you find interesting or surprising, arguments with
which you strongly agree or disagree, methods of research or analysis that seem
especially creative or insightful (or misguided and unpersuasive), or ideas
that connect to things we’ve talked about in previous classes. Also, read smart
– don’t read every single word of the first 4 chapters and nothing thereafter
because you ran out of time. If you catch the argument the author is making,
don’t sweat all the details or supporting examples – skim over them and get on
to the next major point. It is more important to get a good sense of an entire
book than to master every aspect of the first one-third of it.
Participation in Discussion
The
class format will be based entirely on discussion. Therefore, it is essential
for you to do the reading and come prepared to discuss it each week. Without
that, there is no class. Not participating in the discussion is akin to taking
swimming lessons without ever jumping into the pool. Obviously, emergencies
happen, but repeated absences or failure to participate when you do attend will
significantly reduce your grade. I will do my best to ensure each student has
ample opportunity to contribute, but, ultimately, it will be up to you
to make certain that you remain an active participant rather than a passive
observer. I evaluate participation based on quality, not quantity. “Quality”
participation demands keeping your comments grounded in the reading. At times,
recounting an anecdote or a personal experience can shed light on a concept
covered in the reading, but be aware that it is easy to overdo this.
At the
end of each class, I record a grade for your discussion performance that
day—either a check-plus, check,
check-minus, an “X,” or a 0. Check-plus (100) indicates that you contributed
actively to the discussion and made thoughtful comments that drew directly from
information in the readings; check (85) indicates that you contributed the discussion
but in a more limited way and that your comments demonstrated familiarity with
the readings, if not a thorough mastery of them; check-minus (75) indicates that
you spoke up but that your comments did not refer directly to the readings; an X
(60) indicates that you were present but made no effort to participate, or that
your participation clearly demonstrated that you did not do the reading. If you
are not there, you will receive 0 points for that class discussion session,
unless you submitted written answers to some of the discussion questions (see
below under “Attendance”).
Leading
Discussion
One
person will be responsible for leading the discussion each week. That person
will compose a list of 8 questions that address the major themes
and issues raised each of the assigned readings for the week. Well-formulated
questions will open up discussion and allow for various points of view. They
should not intrude the questioner’s own opinion or quiz people on specific
facts to which there is only one answer (“guess what I’m thinking questions”).
I invite each discussion leader to meet with me briefly to go over his or her
questions. (This exchange can also be done via email or Zoom.) The
discussion leader should submit his/her questions to me at least 24 hours
before the seminar meets so I can distribute them to everyone via email
attachment. Your leading of discussion will not receive a grade per se,
but will be taken into account in the calculation of your participation grade.
As leader, you must do more than simply read each question aloud and let others
talk. Rather, take an active part in facilitating the discussion by indicating
how various comments are related, occasionally summarizing what has been said,
and reminding the class how the various comments contribute to answering your
original question. When necessary, guide everyone back to the text and the
question at hand if you believe the discussion has gone on a tangent or lost
focus. You should also be “reading” the room – make sure everyone gets a chance
to speak and, when recognizing people, favor those who have not spoken yet
ahead of those who have already contributed. Resist the urge to answer your own
questions since that is the fastest way to shut down discussion. If you believe
the class has missed pertinent points, phrase follow-up questions that are
likely to extract these points without tipping your own hand. If you have never
led a discussion before, or would like some helpful tips on doing so, I
encourage you to meet with me ahead of time. Though it would be helpful if you
had already formulated some of your questions before we met, this is not
necessary.
Analytical Essay
This
1500-word assignment will give you the opportunity to respond to a specific
question in a concise, tightly-argued essay. You will have several topics from
which to choose. I will distribute the topics at least a week before the paper
is due. If you wish, you
may submit a draft of your essay ahead of time and I will provide feedback.
Please send the paper to me via email on the day it is due. There will be two
opportunities to complete this assignment. If you hand in a paper on both
occasions, I will count the higher of the two grades. Do not let AI write the
paper for you. AI-written work is obvious (and usually not very good.)
Submitting it reflects poorly on you and denies you the opportunity to sharpen
your writing and analytical skills.
Précis
One
person will be responsible for producing a single-spaced 2-3 page précis
of the book for each week. If there are readings beyond the main book, you
should summarize them as well. Please adhere to this page limit. Your précis
should be a summary
rather than a review – focus on what
the book says and how it says it
rather than giving your own assessment. Your précis should identify the book’s
central arguments, briefly note how it is organized, indicate the kinds of
sources employed and how the author uses them, and summarize the main points of
each chapter (or group of chapters, if that seems more appropriate). The person
who writes the précis should email me a copy 24 hours in advance of the class
meeting. I will look it over, make any appropriate edits, and send it to the
rest of the class the night before we meet. This assignment, too, will not
receive a grade per se, though in calculating your participation grade,
I will take into account the quality of and amount of effort you appear to have
put in to your précis. Again, do not use AI to write the precis for you. Doing
so defeats the purpose of the assignment.
Oral
Presentation/Written Summary
Each
week, one person will be responsible for delivering an oral presentation and producing
a 1500-word written summary of the presentation. This may be
handled in one of four ways:
1) a
summary of the book’s critical reception and your own assessment of it
2) a
historiographical review that explains where the assigned book or articles fit
within the existing secondary literature (you might counter pose the assigned
reading against a book or article that takes a contrary point of view).
3) a
brief essay that focuses on a particular theme or argument in the week’s
reading that you found especially interesting and wanted to explore further in
other sources.
4) a
report grounded in primary sources in which you discuss whether the sources you
examined led you to the same kinds of interpretations that the author offers.
I can
provide you with both primary source suggestions and historiographical
background, so don’t hesitate to ask. At some point during class, usually right
after the break, you will have the floor to present your findings and field
questions from the class. Please do not
read your presentation verbatim or read to the class the text you have put on a
series of Powerpoint slides. Be aware that effective Powerpoint presentations
limit text to ten or fewer words per slide. Text-heavy Powerpoint presentations
can be deadly for your audience. Your slides should provide images, charts, or
graphs that illustrate or clarify what you’re saying; they should not summarize
or transcribe what you’re saying. Your presentation should last 15 minutes. I will not allow you to go beyond 20 minutes, so be sure
you know ahead of time how long your presentation will run. The
written summary will be due a week from the date of your presentation.
Your grade will be based on the written product (2/3) and the quality of your
oral presentation (1/3). The quality of an oral presentation is judged on how
organized, informative, and prepared you are in your delivery. The written summary
will be graded by the same standards as the analytical essay.
Semester Project
Choose
a topic from the period covered in the course that you find to be of interest
and locate FIVE scholarly
articles or book chapters that address your topic. (Be aware that you will
probably have to peruse far more than five articles or book chapters before you
settle on the ones you want to discuss in your paper.) These secondary sources
should be from scholarly journals (or books) devoted to historical scholarship
and written by historians, preferably over a period of at least thirty years.
You should choose a topic narrow enough to give your essay a sharp focus. For
example, “World War I” is too broad; “Wilson’s Neutrality Policy Leading up to
World War I” is more manageable. “Nativism and Immigration” is too broad;
“Origins and Legacy of the 1924 Immigration Act” is better. Write a 10-page
essay (approximately 3000 words) in which you recount how these historians have
engaged your topic. What are the main points of emphasis and/or contention? How
do the interpretations in each article support, undermine, complement, or
challenge each other? Why do the interpretations differ? (For example, do they
draw on different kinds of evidence and sources or do they emphasize different
aspects of the topic?) To what extent have the scholarly interpretations of
your topic changed over time? In addition to addressing the secondary sources’
approaches to your topic, you should provide your own assessment of the scholarship
you are reviewing. Which scholar’s work is most compelling to you and why? How
would you synthesize the various scholarly views you have read to present your
own interpretation? So as to prevent you from putting this assignment off until
the last moment, we will approach it in a three-step process. On October 1st,
you will submit a tentative annotated bibliography and a one-page status report
in which you offer your early impressions on how scholars have approached your
topic and what some of the emphases and issues of contention have been. At this
point, I will “approve” your topic and sources. (You may end up using different
sources, which is fine, but be sure to run these by me as well.) During weeks
nine and ten, I will hold extra office hours so each student can meet with me
to discuss his or her topic. At this point, you should have settled on the five
articles or book chapters that will be the basis of your paper and be well on
your way toward completing a first draft. Finally, you will submit a complete
draft of the essay by 11:59pm on December 1st. I will provide you
with extensive feedback on this draft that you will be able to incorporate into
your final submission. It should go without saying that I am interested in
reading and assessing your thoughts and analysis, and not AI’s.
Surviving History 573…
Attendance
Since class
meets only once a week, it is important, and it is expected, that you will be
at every session. Inevitably, an occasion may arise when you are unable to
attend. To make up for a missed class, you may submit written responses to any
four of the eight discussion questions (the total of the four responses not to
exceed 1500 words). These will be due in class one week after the class you
missed. Given that class participation is weighted so heavily, missing four or
more classes will significantly lower your grade.
Problems
I appreciate
that most CSUN graduate students are stretching themselves quite thin, often
working full time or raising kids 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. If you need advice on how to improve your performance, ask
for it. Do not wait until the end of the semester when it will be too late. I
am more than willing to work with you to insure you “survive,” but I need to
know you are having difficulties.
Doing Well
The key to
success in any graduate course is time
management. You should have a clear sense of how long it will take you
to complete a task and then act accordingly. You should also spend time on a
task in proportion to the significance of the task. Don’t spend more time
writing the precis than you did reading the book! Start reading on the side for
your semester project as soon as possible – week two is not “too early.” If you
can, start reading the next week’s book as soon as you get back from class – if
only for 30-45 minutes before going to bed. You’ll find this preempts
procrastination (and you won’t arrive at class the next week not having read
the last third of the book!) Try to discipline yourself to devote that
occasional free half hour to reading another chapter of the book rather than
scrolling through social media. If you spend a lot of time in the car, look in
to listening to an audio version of the book.
Discussion
Topics and Assignments
Schedule
Aug.
27 Introduction
Sept.
3 “The Nation’s Business” – The
Emergence of a New Industrial Order
Reading: Porter,
The Rise of Big Business
William Cronon, “Railroads and the
Reorganization of Nature and Time”
Burton W. Folsom, Jr., “James J. Hill
and the Transcontinental Railroads”
Sept. 10 “Looking Forward:” The U.S. Begins its Second
Century
Reading: Bordewich, Centennial
Sept.
17 “Sons of Éire:” Urbanization, Immigration, and Americanization
Reading: Barrett, The Irish Way
Sept.
24 “The Vanishing
Frontier:” The New West and the Emergence of Conservation
Reading:
Punke, Last Stand
Oct.
1 “The Labor
Question:” Workers, Unions, and Class Identity
Reading: Caldemeyer, Union Renegades
Due
in Class: Annotated
bibliography and a one-page status report on your Semester Project
Oct. 8 “A New Capitalism?: Finance and
Investment in Corporate America
Reading: Noam Maggor, Brahmin Capitalism
Oct. 15 “From the Boat to the Mills:” Immigrant
Workers in Industrial America
Reading:
Bell, Out of this Furnace
Oct.
22 “Working Class
Republicanism:” Debs and American Radicalism
Reading: Salvatore, Eugene V. Debs
Extra office hours
scheduled to discuss your semester projects
Oct.
29 “Manliness and
Modernity:” Gender Identity and Cultural Crisis at the Turn of the 20th
Century
Reading: Kasson, Houdini, Tarzan, and the Perfect Man
John Higham, “The Reorientation of American Culture
in the 1890s”
Extra office hours
scheduled to discuss your semester projects
Nov.
5 “Missionary Imperialism:” Duty and
Destiny in American Foreign Policy
Reading: Tyrrell, Reforming the World
Nov. 12 “Assault on Victorianism:” Bohemian Feminists
and the Modern Aesthetic
Reading: Scutts, Hotbed
Nov. 19 Off Week to Work on Semester Project Drafts
Nov. 26 Thanksgiving
(No Class Meeting)
Dec. 3 “Coercive Social
Science:” A Progressive Blind Spot
Reading: Leonard, Illiberal
Reformers
Dec. 10 “Jim Crow North:” Race and Housing
Discrimination in the Rust Belt
Reading: Boyle, Arc of Justice
Dec. 17 SEMESTER PROJECT DUE