History 579

Devine

Spring 2007

 

Analytical Essay

 

Answer ONE of the following questions in a three-page essay.

 

  1. How, according to Janet Davis, did the railroad circus give its patrons “an intimate look at the beliefs, values, and material practices of the new corporate order”?

 

  1. How does the popularity of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan of the Apes at the turn of the twentieth century reflect what the historian John Higham has called “the reorientation of American culture” that first began in the 1890s?

 

  1. Both Tarzan and Sam Spade were popular, idealized masculine characters immensely popular with contemporary audiences. Do you find their similarities or their differences to be more striking?

 

  1. Why might Sam Spade’s world view and code of ethics have appealed to working class readers during the Great Depression?

 

  1. To what extent do you agree with Paula Cohen that silent film as a medium proved especially effective at capturing and presenting the “American Dream”?

 

  1. Did the Amos’n’Andy radio program do more to help or hinder the cause of civil rights and racial understanding?