New York University
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
Department of Teaching and Learning
Key Debates in U.S. History
SOCED-UE.1073
Spring 2015
Tuesdays 4:55-8:15pm
Professor Diana Turk
Office: East Building #624
Phone: (212) 998-5492
Email: [email protected] (preferred)
Office Hours: Tuesdays 3-4pm and by appointment
Course Objectives
This course examines key debates and problems in U.S. history, from the mid-19th
century to the present. It focuses on the development of content knowledge,
methodological skills, and appreciation for changing interpretations of history. This
course does not attempt to cover all events and trends that occurred in the United States
during the last 150 years. Instead, it isolates a particular set of topics and themes and
explores these in depth, using a variety of historical approaches and seeking to
understand the different ways historians have interpreted these events and trends over
time. We will look at primary source documents, material culture, oral history,
educational theater, and other approaches to complicate our understanding and enrich our
appreciation of the past.
Always, we will keep in mind the question of how historians – authors and teachers –
gather evidence, analyze and sort documents, and synthesize data into coherent
narratives. We will explore practical and exciting ways to introduce students to the study
of history, with the idea that only by helping them own history will they truly come to
love and appreciate its nuances.
Required Materials
Selected readings, available on NYU Classes and, by request, available in a course packet
from Advanced Copy Center, 552 LaGuardia Place, 212-388-1001
Class Format
This class will be conducted in roundtable format, which will place strong emphasis on
active engagement on the part of students. In order for such a class to succeed, all
students will need to read thoroughly the assigned readings and come to class prepared to
discuss the ideas and positions raised therein. All members of the class will need to
involve themselves fully in discussions and exercises, both as willing participants and,
when others are speaking, as engaged listeners. Our aim will be to create an academic
environment that is safe and yet challenging for every member of the class: a place where
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students feel pushed to take intellectual risks and comfortable enough to take them
willingly. Respect, cultural awareness, reflexivity, tolerance, and commitment are all
necessary ingredients to building this type of classroom setting, as are intellectual rigor,
analytical thinking, and careful preparation.
Grading and Requirements
Class Participation (including response papers and other daily work)
Midterm exam
Mini-lesson and other in-class projects and presentations
Final project
25%
25%
25%
25%
Attendance
All students are responsible for the material covered in each class period. Excused
absences should be cleared with me in advance, and the students in question should
arrange to make up missed work and get notes from a student peer. Once you get notes
from a peer, then you are welcome to ask me any questions for clarification or further
discussion. Please note that response papers, essential questions, and in-class
assignments missed due to unexcused absences may not be made up. Students who
accumulate two (2) or more unexcused absences will receive an F for class participation.
Mini-Lessons
Beginning in late February, each week one student will lead a short (20 minute) minilesson on a topic related to the day’s assignment. Students must prepare in advance for
this responsibility, as they will be asked to lead the class through a discussion and debate
of key events, contested issues, and salient perspectives related to the topic. We will
discuss this more in class prior to the first mini-lesson assignment.
Requirements for Written Work
All written work should be typed and double-spaced with reasonable margins and
reasonably-sized font. Assignments will be collected in class on the days they are due.
Late papers will be marked down one letter grade for each calendar day overdue, unless
an extension has been cleared with me in advance.
Students with Disabilities
Any student attending NYU who needs an accommodation due to a chronic,
psychological, visual, mobility and/or learning disability, or is Deaf or Hard of Hearing,
should register with the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities at 212 998-4980,
240 Greene Street, www.nyu.edu/csd
Academic Integrity
All students must comply at all times with all aspects of New York UniversitySteinhardt's Code for Academic Integrity. This code may be found at
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/policies/academic_integrity. Please note that it is the student’s
responsibility to read this code and seek clarification on any areas of confusion.
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SCHEDULE OF READINGS
Assignments are due the day they appear on the schedule. Please note that this schedule
is subject to possible adjustment in accordance with our rate of progress and the needs of
the class. All changes will be announced in class and posted on NYU Classes.
Jan 27 – Snow Day
Feb 3 – Welcome to the Course
Sam Wineburg (2010) “Thinking Like a Historian,” in Teaching with Primary Sources
Quarterly (a publication of the Library of Congress)
Review of New York State Regents
Feb 10 – The Promise and Failure (?) of Reconstruction
Eric Foner (2002) “The Odds against the Success of Reconstruction Were Great,” in
Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman and Jon Gjerde (eds) Major Problems in American
History (vol II: Since 1865)
Kenneth M. Stampp (1965) “The Tragic Legend of Reconstruction,” in The Era of
Reconstruction, 1865-1877
Eric Anderson (1991) “Afterward: Whither Reconstruction Historiography?” in The
Facts of Reconstruction
Feb 17 – Industrialization and Westward Expansion – Questioning the Concept of
“Progress”
Chapter Two, “Western Settlement and the Frontier in American History,” in Elizabeth
Cobbs Hoffman and Jon Gjerde (eds) Major Problems in American History (vol
II: Since 1865)
Additional readings TBD
Feb 24 – Winners and Losers in the “Land of Opportunity”
Oscar Handlin (2002) “The Uprooted,” in in Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman and Jon Gjerde
(eds) Major Problems in American History (vol II: Since 1865)
Roy Rosenzweig (2002) “Ethnic Enclaves and the Workers’ Saloon,” in Elizabeth Cobbs
Hoffman and Jon Gjerde (eds) Major Problems in American History (vol II: Since
1865)
March 3 – American Imperialism and the Quest for Empire
Rachel Mattson (2010), “U.S. Imperialism,” in Turk et al (eds), Teaching U.S. History:
Dialogues Among Social Studies Teachers and Historians
Gail Bederman (2002) “Gendering Imperialism: Theodore Roosevelt’s Quest for
Manhood and Empire,” in Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman and Jon Gjerde (eds) Major
Problems in American History (vol II: Since 1865)
James Loewen (1995), “Watching Big Brother” in Lies My Teacher Told Me
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March 10 – The Role of Women in U.S. Society: Struggles for Suffrage
Linda Kerber (2012), “Why Diamonds Really are a Girl’s Best Friend: Another
American
Narrative,” in Daedalus
Additional reading TBD
March 17 – No Class – Spring Break
March 24 – Evaluating the Progressive Era – How “Progressive” Was It?
Richard Hofstadter (2002) “The Status Revolution and Progressive Leaders,” in
Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman and Jon Gjerde (eds) Major Problems in American
History (vol II: Since 1865)
Additional readings TBD
March 31 – World War One: Making the World Safe for Democracy?
Howard Zinn (1995) “War is the Health of the State,” in A People’s History of the United
States
Christopher Capozzola (2002) “The Only Badge Needed is your Patriotic Fervor:
Vigilance, Coercion, and the Law in World War I America,” in Journal of
American History
Frederick M. Binder and David R. Reimers (2008), chapter 7 “America Goes to War,” in
The Way We Lived: Essays and Documents in American Social History (vol.2)
April 7 – The 1920s in America
Frederick M. Binder and David R. Reimers (2008), chapter 8 “Intolerance: A Bitter
Legacy of Social Change” and chapter 9 “Morals and Manners in the 1920s,” in
The Way We Lived: Essays and Documents in American Social History (vol.2)
April 14 – The Homefront during World War II
Amy Bentley (1998), excerpts, Eating for Victory: Food Rationing and the Politics of
Domesticity
April 21 – 1950s Revisited: The Way We Never Were
John Patrick Diggins (2002) “A Decade to Make One Proud,” in Major Problems in
American History (vol 2)
Stephanie Coontz (2002) “Families in the Fifties: The Way We Never Were,” in Major
Problems in American History (vol 2)
Frederick M. Binder and David R. Reimers (2008), chapter 12 “Moving to Suburbia:
Dreams and Discontents,” in The Way We Lived: Essays and Documents in
American Social History (vol.2)
April 28 – The Vietnam Conflict: Understanding My Lai
David Anderson (1998), “Introduction: What Really Happened,” in Facing My Lai:
Moving Beyond the Massacre
Assorted Documents from James Olson and Randy Roberts (1998), My Lai: A Brief
History with Documents (to be handed out)
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May 5 – The Exported Cold War: The US in Iran and Latin America
Greg Grandin (2007), excerpts, Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States,
and the Rise of the New Imperialism
Marilyn Young, interview in Diana Turk et al (2014), “Globalism and War: U.S.
Intervention in the ‘American Century,’” in Turk et al, Teaching Recent Global
History: Dialogues among Historians, Social Studies Teachers, and Students
Final Project due on Tuesday, May 12th
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