HISTORY 427

Professor Jules Tygiel

Fall, 2006

Science 224, x1119 or 1604

http://bss.sfsu.edu/tygiel/hist427/

E-Mail: HIST685@SFSU.EDU

 

Office Hours: W 3-4, Th 2-3 & by appt.

 

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1916-1945

  

TEXTS:

Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday

 

James Goodman, Stories of Scottsboro

 

David Kennedy, Freedom From Fear: The American People in the Great Depression

 

Studs Terkel, "The Good War"

  Robert Zieger, America's Great War

 

(These texts are available at the school bookstore and on reserve at the library.)

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:

The final grade will be determined by the results of four papers based on the course readings (75%), (30%) and class participation and attendance (25%). Graduate Students will be required to also complete an internet research assignment. All papers and exams are to be word processed and double-spaced. Instructions for the papers and research papers will be distributed separately. Papers are due on September 19, October 12, November 14, and December 19. Research papers are due on the final day of class (December 14).

Class discussions are an important part of the course. All students are expected to have finished the reading assignments before each class session and should be prepared to answer questions and discuss the material at all sessions. Attendance will be graded as follows: 3 or fewer absences (A); 4-6 absences (B); 7-9 absences (C); 10-12 absences (D); more than 12 absences (F). There are no excused absences.

 

INTERNET AND MULTIMEDIA

This course will use resources on the Internet and other types of media (videos, cd-roms) to enhance our understanding of the years between 1916 and 1945.  The course will be taught in a “smart classroom,” giving us in-room access to the Internet and videos.  The online version of this syllabus contains many links to various primary sources from this era: photographs, movies, speeches, songs, advertisements, radio broadcasts, and documents.  In addition we will watch film clips from several videos that are not available on the Internet.  We will use these materials during the class sessions to give us a sense of what life was like during these years and to stimulate our class discussions.  Students will also be able to access these sources via the Internet when studying at home or writing papers.  The following students in my Fall, 1999 History 660 course assisted in creating this interactive experiment:  John Dobbs, Sandra Henderson, Michael Sheehan, Patrick Taylor, Marco Vincenti, John Williams. 

 

READING ASSIGNMENTS AND CLASS SCHEDULE

WORLD WAR I

 

August 29

Introduction/The Road To War

 

August 31

Waging War

Readings: Zieger, Chapters 1, 2, 4: Kennedy, Preface.

 

September 5

The Home Front

Readings: Allen, Ch. 1; Zieger, Chapters 3-5

 

September 7

1919
Readings: Allen, Chapter 3; Zeiger pp. 187-215.

 

September 12

The Peace Treaty and League of Nations

Readings: Kennedy, Prologue; Allen, Ch. 2; Zieger, Chapters, 6-7.
 

THE ROARING 20S

 

September 14

The Business of America: Advertising in the 1920s and 1930s

Readings: ; Kennedy, Chapter 1; Allen, Ch. 4, 6-7.

 

September 19

Communications and Transportation

Readings: Allen, Ch. 1, 8,9.

FIRST PAPER DUE

 

September 21

 Women in the 1920s

Readings: Allen, pp. 1-2, Ch. 5; Goodman, Ch. 1-7.

 

September 26

Prohibition, Fundamentalism, the Klan

Readings: Allen, pp. 52-57, 163-71, Ch. 10; Goodman, Ch. 1-7.

 

September 28

Black America

Readings: Zeiger 102-6, 126-35, 142-45, 205-7; Allen, 52-53; Goodman, Ch. 1-14.

 

October 3

 Speculation

Readings: Allen, Ch. 11-13;; Kennedy, pp. 34-41.

 

October 5

Only Yesterday: An Assessment

Readings: Allen, entire book.

 

October 10

Causes of the Great Depression

 Readings: Allen, Ch. 11- 14; Kennedy, pp. 34-91.

 

October 12

Life in Depression America, 1929-33

Readings: Kennedy, pp. 84-94, 160-177, 190-99, Chapter 8.

SECOND PAPER DUE

 

October 17

The Roosevelts

 Readings: Kennedy, 94-159.

 

October 19

The New Deal

Readings: Kennedy, Chapters 5-9, 12.

 

October 24

The New Deal

Readings: Kennedy, Chapters 5-9, 11-12; Goodman, Ch. 15-25.

 

October 26

The New Deal: The Working Class

Readings: Kennedy, Chapter 10; Goodman, Ch. 26-36.

 

October 31

African Americans in the 1930s

Goodman, Ch. 1-43; Kennedy, 173-186, 194-211, 222-23.

 

November 2

The Great Depression and New Deal: Evaluation and Assessment

Readings: Kennedy, Chapters 5-12 (especially 12).

 

November 7

Foreign Policy, 1933-41

Readings: Kennedy, Chapter 13.

 

November 9

 

To Be Arranged

WORLD WAR II

 

 

 

November 14

 Pearl Harbor and the Early War

Readings: Terkel, Book 1, especially pp. 19-37,  98-107.

THIRD PAPER DUE

 

November 16

The Home Front: The Mobilization

Readings: Terkel, pp. 108-65, 225-253, 201-342.

 

November 21, 23 Thanksgiving (No Class)

 

November 28

Fighting the War

Readings: Terkel,  Book 2 and pp. 343-384.

 

November 30

The War Experience: Women and Minorities

Readings: Terkel, pp. 17-37, 143-59, 261-82, 341-49, 387-401.

 

December 5

 The War Experience: Women and Minorities

Readings: Terkel, pp. 17-37, 143-59, 261-82, 341-49, 387-401.

 

December 7

 Ending the War

Readings: Terkel, Book 4. 
 

December 12

World War II: An Assessment

Readings: Terkel, whole book.

 

December 14 Overview: 1916-45
Graduate Students: INTERNET RESEARCH PAPER DUE
 

December 19

FOURTH PAPER DUE