History H106
(Sect. C343): Fall,
2001
U.S. History Since 1865
Location: Lecture Hall 104 Time:
M W 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Instructor: R. Barrows Teaching
Assistant: S. Cromer
Office: Cavanaugh Hall 532 Office:
Cavanaugh Hall 313-P
Phone: 274-2457/3811 Phone:
278-5730
E-mail: rbarrows@iupui.edu
E-mail: scromer@iupui.edu
Office Hours: M W 10-10:30
a.m., Office
Hours: M W 10:00-10:45
12:30-1:00 p.m., and by appointment
and by appointment
REQUIREMENTS: Regular class attendance; completion of assigned reading; two
mid-term exams and a non-comprehensive final exam (essays and short-answer IDs,
covering both reading assignments and lectures); two short written assignments
based on the supplemental reading.
Completion of all exams and all written assignments is
required of all students, including those taking the class on a
Pass/Fail basis. If you do not take all three exams and submit both
written assignments, you will fail the course.
GRADING: Each exam will count for one-fourth of the final grade; the
written work will comprise the other fourth.
Improvement counts. So does
literacy. In cases where the semester
grade comes down to a borderline decision (between a C+ or a B-, for example),
regular attendance, class participation, and improvement will be taken into
account.
Papers are due, and exams will be given, on the
dates indicated. Unless prior
arrangements have been made, we will schedule make-up exams or accept late
papers only in cases of documented illness or other unanticipated
emergency.
University policy is that grades of "Incomplete"
should be assigned only to students who have successfully completed most of the
course work and who have been prevented by significant and unanticipated
circumstances from finishing all requirements.
Removal of "Incomplete" grades is often troublesome for both
student and instructor, and I shall be reluctant to assign them.
Plagiarism (including the use without attribution of
materials found on the Internet), cheating on exams, and other forms of
intellectual dishonesty will result in a failing grade on the work in question
and may lead to disciplinary action by the university. Consult the IUPUI Campus Bulletin,
2000-2002, p. 36.
MISCELLANEOUS: The ability to take good notes is a useful skill, and one that
improves with practice. I therefore ask
that students not record my lectures.
If a hearing impairment or physical disability prevents you from taking
notes without a tape recorder, please visit the office of Adaptive Educational
Services in CA-001E and have them contact me.
Both of us have voice mail that is on twenty-four
hours a day. You are welcome to call
either or both of us should you need to do so.
Note, however, that we will not play "phone tag." If you leave a phone message, speak slowly
and clearly, provide a phone number where you can be reached, and state when
you will be at that number.
Class begins promptly at 11:00 a.m. Please be on time. In this classroom it is particularly difficult to arrive late and
find a seat without disrupting other students.
I welcome questions at any time (although I may
sometimes put you "on hold" until I conclude a particular point or
topic). I do not, however, welcome private conversations between class members
while I am lecturing. In addition
to being rude, such conversations are distracting for other members of the
class.
Unless you anticipate receiving a call that
qualifies as a true emergency, please turn off or mute cell phones and pagers
before class begins.
TEXTS:
BRINKLEY Alan
Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation, vol. 2
(3rd ed.)
ROBERTS Roberts/Olson,
American Experiences, vol. II (5th ed.)
RIIS Jacob
Riis, How the Other Half Lives (Dover edition)
TERKEL Studs
Terkel, Hard Times
KENNEDY Robert
Kennedy, Thirteen Days
Tentative Course Outline and Assignments
August
22 Introduction to the Course
27 Reconstruction (Brinkley,
441-469)
29 The "Wild" West
(Brinkley, Ch. 16; Roberts, 16-25)
September
3 NO CLASS (Labor Day)
5 The "New" South
(Brinkley, 469-479; Roberts, 4-15)
10, 12 The Rise of Industry (Brinkley,
Ch. 17, Roberts, 80-90)
17, 19 The
Rise of the City (Brinkley, Ch. 18; Riis, do same reading
as for Writing Assignment #1)
{Writing Assignment #1 due September 19}
24 Gilded Age Politics
(Brinkley, Ch. 19; Roberts, 28-59)
26 EXAM #1
October
1, 3 Progressivism
(Brinkley, Ch. 21 + 657-670; Roberts, 91-99;
begin
Terkel, do same reading as for Writing Assignment #2)
8 America's
Rise to World Power (Brinkley, Ch. 20 + 670-679;
Roberts, 72-79)
10, 15 World
War I & Its Aftermath (Brinkley, Ch. 23; Roberts, 110-119)
17, 22 Prosperity
Decade/Depression Decade (Brinkley, Ch. 24, 25;
Roberts, 134-145, 183-203; Terkel, any 200 pages)
24 New
Deal - I (Brinkley, Ch. 26)
{Writing Assignment #2 due October 24}
29 New
Deal - II (Roberts, 172-182)
31 EXAM #2
November
5 Interwar
Diplomacy (Brinkley, Ch. 27)
7 World
War II (Brinkley, Ch. 28; Roberts, 214-231)
12 Cold
War: At Home and Abroad (Brinkley, Ch. 29)
14 The
Affluent Society (Brinkley, 875-899, 904-906;
Roberts,
261-270)
19 Foreign
Policy, 1960s-1980s (Brinkley, 906-912; Kennedy, entire)
{Writing Assignment #3 due November 19}
21 NO
CLASS (Thanksgiving Break)
26 Civil
Rights (Brinkley, 899-904, 921-927; Roberts, 234-244)
28 Vietnam
(Brinkley, 914-921, 927-943)
December
3,
5 Vietnam
(Brinkley, 960-967; Roberts, 299-316)
10 Watergate,
etc. (Brinkley, Ch. 32 [minus 960-967], 33)
12 FINAL EXAM 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon
106 (Barrows/Cromer)
Fall, 2001
Writing Assignments
Each student will complete two short written
assignments for this course, both based on the supplemental reading. The two assignments will combine for
one-fourth of your grade, the equivalent of one of the exams. The two assignments combined will be worth
200 points. The grading scale will be
the familiar 90=A-,
80=B-, etc.
Please print/type double-spaced on 8 1/2" x
11" white paper and staple in the upper left-hand corner. Do
not put the paper in any sort of binder, folder, or cover. It is expected that papers will be neatly
typed/word processed and employ correct English spelling and grammar.
Writing Assignment #1 (due September 19)
Read the following in Jacob Riis, How the Other
Half Lives:
Introduction (pp. 1-2), chapters 1, 2, 6, 12, 17,
20, 24, 25 plus any other four chapters.
In 2-3 double-spaced, typewritten pages, discuss this classic
description of slum life in New York City.
Begin by briefly summarizing the volume. Questions that you should then address include: Is Riis's work an
accurate representation of late 19th century American urban life? What solution(s) does Riis propose to
alleviate the conditions he describes?
Does Riis reflect any biases in his text? (If so, against whom and why?)
Why do you think this book achieved such renown?
Writing Assignment #2 (due October 24)
Read any 200 pages of your choice in Hard Times
(they need not be the first 200 pages) and then prepare a 2-3 page,
double-spaced review of the book. The first
one-third should be a summary that tells the person reading the review what the
book is about. The remaining two-thirds
of the review should be an analysis of the book in which you give your
opinion of what Terkel has done and how well he has done it. You
should state explicitly your evaluation of oral interviews as a technique for
historical research.
Writing Assignment #3 (due November 19)
Read Robert F. Kennedy's Thirteen Days. (You are only required to read RFK’s text;
you may, of course, read the "Foreword" by Schlesinger and the
"Afterword" by Neustadt and Allison if you wish.) In 2-3 double-spaced, typewritten pages,
discuss the response of the United States--particularly the President and the
"Ex Comm"--to the introduction of offensive nuclear missles in
Cuba. Was the response
appropriate? What do you think should
have been done differently (if anything)?
What lessons, according to Kennedy, were learned from this thirteen day
period when the nation's leaders "peered over the precipice?"
Option
Students who wish to do so may complete all three of
the writing assignments, rather than just the two that are required. In that
case we will average the two highest grades in order to determine your overall grade
on the written work. Papers remain due on the date indicated for that
particular writing assignment. You do
not need to decide until toward the end of the semester whether you wish to
exercise this option. Note, however, that if you wish to preserve
this option you must complete Writing Assignment #1.
Fatal Errors
The following errors are not acceptable. (Lots of other things are not acceptable
either, but we have to start somewhere.)
If we encounter these errors in your papers (not exams), we will circle
them and return the paper ungraded for correction and resubmission within
one week.
Improper use of its
or it's (or the nonexistent its')
Improper use of to
or too or two
Improper use of there
or their or they're
Improper use of who's
or whose
Any use of would of or could of or should
of
(If you don't understand why these are never
correct, please ask for an explanation.)
Any use of alot
(as if it were one word)
If you know you have problems with these usages, we
strongly recommend a visit to the University Writing Center (Cavanaugh Hall
427) for a quick review.