| West Valley College | Fall 2009 |
| Tim Kelly, Ph.D. Office Hours: M-Th |
Office SSH1 |
Don't know much about American history but fed up with the conventional ways of learning it? Well then you've come to the right place. Who says history has to be boring? You will embark on a fascinating exploration of the making of modern American society. Through multi-media web lectures, readings, e-mail discussions, music, posters, and film clips, this course will investigate the post-Civil War years of American history by examining a wide variety of topics, including racial and ethnic politics, popular culture, reform movements, and diplomatic history.
History 17B is a survey of the political, economic, social and cultural development of the Unites States from Reconstruction to the present. Topics covered include Reconstruction, Native American culture and western settlement, Industrialization, the Progressive Era, World War I, the Twenties, the New Deal, and World War II. Also covered are domestic, social, and foreign policy issues of the post-World War II period from the 1950s through the 1990s, including reform movements, Vietnam, the Civil Rights and other ethnic movements, the Feminist Movement, popular culture, and post-Cold War foreign policy.
Required Texts
James West Davidson, et. al., Nation of
Nations: A Narrative History of the American Republic: Volume 2, Since 1865 (6th Edition,
McGraw Hill, 2007)
Ellen Schrecker, The Age of McCarthyism (2d edition, 2001)
You will also have additional reading materials (documents and web pages) that are online.
General Course Policies
Credit/No Credit Option
Students wishing to take this class with the Credit/No Credit grade option must inform the instructor in writing no later than the end of the SIXTH WEEK. Requests for this option WILL NOT be accepted after that time. See the WVC Catalog under "Academic Regulations and Standards" for more information about this option.
In addition, students who wish to be dropped from the course are responsible for doing this on their own. I will not do this for you. If you stop logging on to Angel but your name is on my roster at the end of the semester, you will receive an "F" in the class with no opportunities to change this to a "W."
Quizzes and Exams
You are required to take 12 quizzes (2 of which will be counted as Extra Credit), a midterm, and a final. ALL QUIZZES AND EXAMS ARE CONDUCTED ONLINE. You will have 20 minutes to complete 15 questions (once you begin the quiz, you must complete it within 20 minutes by 11:55 pm of the due date). You MAY NOT make-up a missed quiz.
Your Midterm and Final exams will be multiple choice and/or essay format and will be explained in Study Guides posted on the lecture web page.
Quiz questions will be drawn from the assigned reading (both in the text and online) for the week. Questions for the Midterm and Final exams will be drawn from both the lectures and the readings. You can take practice quizzes at the publisher's web page for the assigned chapters http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073406848/student_view0/.
Extra Credit
Two of your 12 quizzes will be added on to your total score as Extra Credit.
Paper
You will write and submit one 3-4 page paper on Ellen Schrecker's book The Age of McCarthyism. More details about the paper can be found on the Lecture page.
Threaded Discussions
Every one to two weeks a threaded discussion will be posted. Click on the Discussions icon on the Angel page under Lessons, read the topic statement, and then post your comments. You may respond to the instructor's statement or any other comment made by other students. You must participate in each of these discussions in order to receive credit for your participation. More instructions are posted on Angel.
Course Requirements Grading Policy: Grades are awarded on a Standard Scale:
| 1. One 3-4 page paper 2. Midterm Exam 3. Final examination 4. Ten Quizzes 5. List-Serve Participation |
(250 pts) (250 pts) (300 pts) (150 pts) (50 pts) |
A B C D F |
1000 - 900 899 - 800 799 - 700 699 - 600 599 and below |
Dates to Remember
| September 11: September 18: October 4 - October 10: |
Last Day to Add Last Day to Drop w/out a "W" Midterm |
October 11: November 7: November 20: |
Last Day to
Request CR/NC Option
Schrecker Paper Due Last day to Drop with a "W" |
FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE:
How to Read the Lectures
| Complete the assigned readings first. I have written these lectures with the assumption that you already understand the topics from the assigned readings. | |
| Read the outlines provided on each Week's page to get familiar with the general themes of the lecture. | |
| Don't wait until the last minute to read the lectures, and give yourself plenty of time to digest them. These lectures take one hour and 25 minutes to give in class. You should allow yourself at least the same amount of time. | |
| The lectures are full of links highlighted in BLUE that will give you more information about the topics I discuss. You are encouraged to follow these blue links. | |
| You ARE required to follow any RED links and read the material provided. |
For more information about this online course format, go to http://instruct.westvalley.edu/kelly/.
Course Outline
Week 1 (Aug 31 - Sept 5)
Introduction: What is
History?
Race and Segregation in Post-Civil War America
Readings: Text, Chs. 17, 18 (pp. 497-506), 21 (pp. 605-607); Online: Wells-Barnet, "A Red Record"; Washington, "The Atlanta Exposition Address"; DuBois, "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others"
| Angel Discussion: Washington vs. DuBois (closes Saturday of Week 2) | |
| Angel Quiz #1 Begins (closes Saturday of Week 2) |
Week 2 (Sept 6 - Sept 12)
How the West Was Won (and
Lost)
Progress and Conflict in the New Industrial Order
| 9/11 | LAST DAY TO ADD |
Readings: Text, Chs. 18 (pp. 507-end), 19
| Angel Discussion: Individualism (closes Saturday) | |
| Angel Quizzes 1 and 2 (closes Saturday) |
Week 3 (Sept 13 - Sept 19)
Coming to America: The New Immigration,
1880-1924
The Conflict Between Urban and Rural America
Readings: Text, Chs. 20, 21 (596-611); Online: Sinclair, "Living and Dying in Packingtown, Chicago"
| Angel Discussion: Sinclair's The Jungle (closes Saturday) | |
| Angel Quiz 3 (closes Saturday) |
| 9/18 | LAST DAY TO DROP W/OUT A "W" |
Week 4
(Sept 20 - Sept 26)
Progressivism and the Reform
Impulse in America
Expansion and Imperialism: The Rise of an American Empire
Readings: Text, Chs. 21 (pp. 611-end), 22, 23
| Angel Discussion: American Foreign Policy (closes Saturday) | |
| Angel Quiz 4 (closes Saturday) |
Week 5 (Sept 27 - Oct 3)
The Roaring Twenties
The Great Depression
Readings: Text, Chs. 24; Online: Steinbeck, "The Grapes of Wrath"
| Angel Discussion: Tax Cuts and Government Regulation (closes Saturday) | |
| Angel Quiz 5 (closes Saturday) |
Week 6 (Oct 4 - Oct 10)
A New Deal for America
MIDTERM (includes Week 6
Lecture and Chapter 25)
Readings: Text, Ch. 25
| Angel Midterm (Part 1: Essay and Part 2: Multiple Choice for Ch. 25 (closes Saturday) | |
| NO DISCUSSION ASSIGNED |
| 10/11 | LAST DAY TO REQUEST "CREDIT/NO CREDIT" OPTION |
Week
7
(Oct 11 - Oct 17)
America and the Second World
War
The Good War: WWII and
American Society
Readings: Text, Ch 26; Online: "African Americans and WWII: A Fifth Column?"
| Angel Quiz 6 (closes Saturday) | |
| NO DISCUSSION ASSIGNED |
Week 8 (Oct 18 - Oct 24)
America, the Holocaust, and
the Atomic Bomb: A Racial Perspective
Cold War Containment
Readings: Text, Ch. 27; Online: "Truman's Decision to Drop the Bomb"; "A Survivor's Account of the Hiroshima Blast"; "Hiroshima: Was It Necessary?"; Kennan, "The Long Telegram"
| Angel Discussion: Kennan's "Long Telegram" (closes Saturday) | |
| Angel Quiz 7 (closes Saturday) |
Week 9 (Oct 25 - Oct 31)
A Cold War Home Front
Readings: Schrecker, pp. 1-133, pp. 262-274; Online: McCarthy, "Communists in Government Service"
| NO DISCUSSION OR QUIZ ASSIGNED |
Week 10 (Nov 1 - Nov 7)
"A Date with the
Family": Postwar Prosperity in America
War of the Generations:
Rock 'n' Roll in the 1950s and Adult Opposition To It
Readings: Text, Ch 28 Online: Coontz, "'Leave it to Beaver' and 'Ozzie and Harriet': American Families in the 1950s"; "Up From the Potato Fields"; Friedan, "The Problem That Has No Name"
| Angel Discussion: 1950s Family: How Traditional Was It? (closes Saturday) | |
| Angel Quiz 8 (closes Saturday) |
SCHRECKER PAPER DUE - SATURDAY, November 7
Week 11 (Nov 8 - Nov 14)
The Era of Reform: New
Frontiers and Great Societies
The Civil Rights Movement
Readings: Text, Ch. 29; Online: King and Malcolm X Readings
| Angel Discussion: King vs. Malcolm X (closes Saturday) | |
| Angel Quiz 9 (closes Saturday of Week 12!!) |
Week 12 (Nov 15 - Nov 21)
The Tragedy of Vietnam
Coming Apart at Home: America's Youth Rebellion
Readings: Text, Ch. 30; Online: "Peasant Experiences in the Vietnam War"; "The My Lai Massacre"; "The Port Huron Statement"
| Angel Quiz 9 (closes Saturday and includes readings from Week 11!) | |
| NO DISCUSSION ASSIGNED |
| 11/20 | LAST DAY TO DROP w/a "W" |
Week 13 (Nov 22 - Nov 28)
The Paranoid Style of American Conspiracy History
The Age of Disillusionment: America in the Seventies
Readings: Text, Ch. 31 (pp. 929-938) Online: Hofstatder, The Paranoid Style of American Politics; and skim through the info on the following web site: The Kennedy Assassination <http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/home.htm>
| Angel Quiz 10 (closes Saturday) | |
| NO DISCUSSION ASSIGNED |
Week 14 (Nov 29 - Dec 5)
The Reagan Revolution
Race and Ethnicity in Modern America
Readings: Text, Ch. 31 (938-end); Online: "40th President Rode Boundless Optimism"; Cooper and Goldin, "Some People Don't Count"; Obama's 3/18/08 Speech on Race in America
| Angel Discussion: Reagan (closes Saturday) | |
| Angel Quiz 11 (closes Saturday) |
Week 15 (Dec 6 - Dec 12)
Clinton
and the Culture Wars
America and the World
Readings: Text, Chs. 32; Online: President Bush's Address to Congress after 9/11; Fisk, "Mr. Bush is Walking Into a Trap"
| Angel Discussion: TBA (closes Saturday) | |
| Angel Quiz 12 (closes Saturday) |
Final Exam Schedule