Mills College
History 137
Prosperity, Depression, and War:
America 1920-1945
M-W-F 1:00-1:50
Stern 35


Professor Andrew Workman Telephone Numbers:
Office: Kimball House "D" Office: 430-2347
Office Hours: Monday, 12:00-1:00 Home: 639-7199
and Wednesday, 2:00-3:00 (before 10 p.m.)
[And by appointment]

Course Description

A study of the United States from the boom years of the 1920s through
the Great Depression and World War II. We will explore four main themes:
1) the development of a mass production economy and the attendant rise
of consumerism and the mass media industry; 2) the restructuring of the
American racial and ethnic system resulting from efforts to restrict
immigration and from the migration of African Americans to northern and
western cities; 3) the expansion of the federal government's role in the
economy and in social life; 4) changes in gender relations.

Required Books:

Dana Frank, Purchasing Power Roland Marchand, Advertising the American
Dream: Making Way for Modernity, 1920-1940 Alan Brinkley, Voices of
Protest Jordon Schwarz, The New Dealers Allan Berube, Coming Out Under
Fire Koppes and Black, Hollywood Goes to War

Requirements

1) Each student will be expected to attend class, participate in
discussions, and view assigned films. [10% of course grade.]

2) Completion of seven of the twelve short written assignments [20% of
course grade] These short papers are due on the day assigned, late work
will not be accepted.

3) Each student will deliver a ten to twelve minute class presentation
on one aspect the era covered by this course and prepare a ten to
fifteen page paper on the same topic. [20% of course grade.]

4) Three exams [two in-class and one take-home]. [First exam 15%, Second
Exam 15%, Final 20%] COURSE SCHEDULE [Readings marked with "**" are on
reserve.]

SECTION ONE: PROSPERITY

Week 1

Monday, August 25, Introduction Wednesday, August 27, Discussion: World
War I and the Future of America Friday, August 29, Lecture: 1919
Reading: World War I Readings [Handed Out in Class] Begin Dana Frank
for the next week

Week 2

Monday Sept. 1, Labor Day [no class] Wednesday, Sept. 3, Discussion:
Labor and Consumerism. Friday, Sept. 5, Lecture: From Wilson to Harding:
The Conservative Ascendancy in Politics

Readings: Dana Frank, Purchasing Power, pp. 1-12, 87-251

Week 3

Monday Sept. 8, Lecture: GMism and the Commodification of Desire
Wednesday Sept. 10, Lecture: Cultural Conflict I: Prohibition Friday
Sept. 12, Discussion: Advertising and Consumers

Reading: Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream: Making Way
for Modernity, 1920-1940, pp. 1-163, 335-363

Week 4

Monday Sept. 15, Lecture: Immigrants and Natives Wednesday Sept. 17,
Film: Sex Madness Friday Sept. 19, Discussion: Race and Sex in the New
Era

Readings: ** Ann Douglas, Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the
1920s, pp. 3-28, 303-461

Week 5

Monday Sept. 22, Lecture: Hoover and the Voluntarist State Wednesday
Sept. 24, Race, Gender, and Mills in the 1920s, [Student Presentation
Day] Friday Sept. 26: EXAM I

SECTION TWO: DEPRESSION

Week 6

Monday Sept. 29, Lecture: The Crash Wednesday Oct. 1, Lecture: The
Election of FDR Friday Oct. 3, Discussion: Down and Out in the Great
Depression

Reading: Great Depression Readings and World Wide Web Exercise

Week 7

Monday Oct. 6, Lecture: The First New Deal Wednesday Oct. 8, Lecture:
The Re-emergence of the Labor Movement Friday Oct. 10, Mid-Semester
Break

Readings: Begin Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest

Week 8

Monday Oct. 13, Lecture: The Communist Party and the Popular Front
Wednesday Oct. 15, Discussion: Thunder on the Right Friday Oct. 17,

Lecture: Roosevelt and the Triumph of 1936

Readings: Finish Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest

Week 9

Monday Oct. 20, Art and the State During the New Deal: [Student
Presentation Day] Wednesday Oct. 22, Lecture: Eleanor Roosevelt Friday
Oct. 24, Discussion: Women in the Great Depression

Readings: The following articles are reprinted in Melvyn Dubofsky and
Stephen Burwood eds. Women and Minorities During The Great Depression

** Lois Rita Hembold, "Beyond the Family Economy: Black and White
Working-Class Women During the Great Depression" pp. 224-250

Sharon Hartman Strom, "Challenging 'Woman's Place': Feminism, the Left,
and Industrial Unionism in the 1930s" pp. 262-289

Susan Ware, "Women and the New Deal" pp. 330-349

Week 10

Monday Oct. 27, Lecture: One Third of the Nation: The South and the New
Deal Wednesday Oct. 29, Lecture: The Court Packing Plan Friday 0ct. 31,
Discussion: State Capitalism and Regional Dynamics

Readings: Schwarz, The New Dealers, pp. 109-249

Week 11

Monday Nov. 3, Lecture: The Roosevelt Recession and the Rethinking of
Liberalism Wednesday Nov. 5, The 1930s [Student Presentation Day] Friday
Nov. 7, Lecture: Turning outward [Hand in Exam II]



SECTION III: WAR

Week 12

Monday Nov. 10, Lecture: The Big Picture Wednesday Nov. 12, Lecture:
Mobilizing the War Economy Friday Nov. 14, Discussion: Internment

Reading: **Internment Pack

Week 13

Monday Nov. 17, The 1940s: Student Presentations Wednesday Nov. 19,
Lecture: Race, Gender, and the War Friday Nov. 21, Discussion: Coming
Out Under Fire

Readings: Allan Berube, Coming Out Under Fire

Week 14

Monday Nov. 24 Lecture: A Very Nasty War Wednesday Nov. 26 Discussion:
Creating the Good War on the Silver Screen

Friday November 28, Thanksgiving vacation

Readings: Clayton Koppes and Gregory Black, Hollywood Goes to War: How
Politics, Profits and Propaganda Shaped World War II Movies

Movie Viewing assignment to be announced.

Week 15

Monday Dec. 1, Discussion: The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb
Wednesday Dec. 3, Lecture: Toward the Post War World Friday Dec. 5,
Summing up

Readings: Atomic Bomb Readings

**Final Exam: Monday, December 8, 2:00-5:00 p.m.