The American
Reform Tradition, 1890-1990
Syllabus and
Survival Guide
Spring
2002
Thursday
7:00 pm – 9:50 pm, Sierra Hall 288
Dr. Thomas W.
Devine
Office
Hours:
Email: tom.devine@csun.edu Phone: (818) 677-3550 (office)
The following
books – listed in the order in which we will read them – are available at the
Matador Bookstore. All other readings
will be distributed in class.
To subvert the
system and to save yourself some money, you might consider buying used copies
of the books. I would suggest the
following web sites where you are likely to find used or discounted copies at
significantly lower prices:
www.bookfinder.com; www.half.com;
www.alibris.com; www.abebooks.com
This seminar will
examine the so-called “American Reform Tradition.” Indeed, whether such a thing exists will be
one of the questions we will pose. Over the course of the semester, we will be
studying various reform movements that have engaged intellectuals, social activists,
politicians, and the public at large since the late nineteenth century. We will also consider the challenges to and
critiques of liberal reform that have come from both the left and the right. We will be reading both recent and older
scholarship as well as several primary sources representing views from across
the ideological spectrum. The course
will address the historiography of various reform movements, but is not a
historiography course as such.
Requirements and Grading
Requirements include active in-class
participation, two short (2-3 page) interpretative
pieces based on the assigned readings, an oral presentation on a relevant topic
of your choice, and a final comprehensive essay of 10 pages.
Class
Participation --35%
1st
Paper [due 21 March] --10%
2nd
Paper [due 16 May] --10%
Oral
Presentation --15%
Final
[due 23 May] --30%
All grading will be done on the +/ –
system.
All components of the course must be
completed to receive a passing grade.
Surviving
Course Format
--This
is a seminar-style course in which active participation in the weekly
discussions is crucial to the class’s success.
Our meetings will in fact be conversations – free, open, and informal
exchanges of ideas – and I expect everyone to take part. Allow yourself time to complete the assigned
reading and to think about it critically BEFORE coming to class.
--One
person will be responsible for leading the discussion each week. One option will be for that person to compose
a list of 8-10 questions that address the major issues raised in the reading
that he or she will provide to each member of the class by the Monday preceding
Thursday’s seminar. The leader may also
wish to employ other pedagogical techniques – small group discussions, an
in-class debate, the use of audio-visual materials, or some other approach to
stimulate discussion. This is all to the
good, and I encourage you to structure your discussion in the way you think
will be most effective. Each discussion
leader will also prepare a 2-page single-spaced précis of the reading and
distribute it to the class. In addition,
I suggest you compose a list of questions on the reading even when you are not
the scheduled discussion leader, since formulating questions as you read will
help you frame your ideas and assist you in articulating your arguments.
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. Out of fairness to
your classmates who do attend every week, however, each absence past the first
two will adversely affect your final grade.
Also, given the heavy weight placed on in-class discussion, any absence
is likely to detract from your participation grade. If you do miss class, it will be acceptable if
you turn in a 2-page précis of that week’s reading at the next meeting.
Problems
--I appreciate that most CSUN graduate
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. 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. You will find that as long as you keep me up
to speed, I will be very sympathetic.
Discussion
Topics and Assignments
Schedule
31 January Introduction:
An explanation of course objectives, mechanics, and procedures.
7 February The American Reform Tradition: A First
Look
Alan Brinkley, “Hofstadter’s The Age
of Reform Reconsidered,” ch. 8, Liberalism and
Its Discontents (1998)
Michael
Kazin, “Hofstadter Lives: Political Culture and
Temperament in the Work of an American Historian” RAH (Spring 1999)
Discussion
Leader: _______________________
14
February Raising Less Corn and More Hell: The
Populists
Oscar
Handlin, “Reconsidering the Populists,” Agricultural
History, 39, 2 (1965)
Chistopher Lasch, selections from
The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Its Critics, ch.
5 (1991)
1892
Populist Party Platform
William
Discussion Leader:
___________________________
21 February The Progressive Mind: Reform in Politics
and the Arts
Discussion
Leader: ___________________________
28
February Gendered Progressivism? TR and “Manly Reform”
Arnaldo Testi, “The
Gender of Reform Politics: Theodore Roosevelt and the Culture of Masculinity,” JAH
(March 1995)
Peter G. Filene,
“Men and Manliness,” ch. 3, Him/Her/Self, 3rd
ed. (1998)
Paula
Baker, “The Domestication of Politics: Women and American Political Society,
1780-1920,” AHR (June 1984)
Theodore
Roosevelt, “The Strenuous Life”
Discussion
Leader: __________________________
7
March New Deal or New Deck? – Change and
Continuity in Reform, 1930-1940
Discussion Leader:
___________________________
14 March Evaluating
Liberal Reform and Reformers: Contemporaries, Historians, Critics, and Knaves
Richard M. Abrams, “The Failure of
Progressivism,” from The Shaping of
Twentieth-Century
Fred Siegel, “The New Left, The New Right, and the New Deal,” ch.
11, The Liberal Persuasion, John Patrick Diggins,
ed. (1997)
Jerold S. Auerbach,
“New Deal, Old Deal, or Raw Deal: Some Thoughts on New Left Historiography” JSH
(Feb., 1969)
Geoffrey
Blodgett, “The Mugwump Reputation, 1870- Present,” JAH
(1983)
Discussion Leader:
___________________________
21 March Locating
the “Vital Center:” Americans for Democratic Action and Cold War Liberalism
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., “Reinhold Niebuhr’s Role in American Political Thought and Life” from
The Politics of Hope (1963)
Steven Gillon,
chs. 1-2, Politics and Vision: The
Barton
Bernstein, “The Ambiguous Legacy: The Truman Administration and Civil Rights,”
from Politics & Policies of the Truman Administration, Barton
Bernstein, ed. (1970)
Mary
H. Blewett, “
28
March SPRING BREAK
4 April Asking Not What Your Country Can Do For
You – Liberalism at High Tide
Discussion Leader:
___________________________
11 April Turning
Left, Going Wrong? – The Great Society
Discussion
Leader: ___________________________
18
April New Left, New Right – Attacking the
“Vital Center”
Selections from Lisa McGirr,
Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right (
Students
for a Democratic Society, “The
Young
Americans for Freedom, “The
Discussion
Leader: ___________________________
25
April Reform in the Classroom: Education and
the American Reform Tradition
Discussion
Leader: ___________________________
2
May Challenges to Liberalism I – The
Egalitarian Left
Discussion
Leader: ___________________________
9
May Challenges to Liberalism II – Working
Class Populism
Discussion
Leader: ___________________________
16
May Reprise: The Irony of American History
Discussion
Leader: ___________________________
23 May Dinner at Chez Devine 7pm