U.S. Since 1945

Catalog description

Over the second half of the twentieth century and early years of the twenty-first centuries, the United States underwent dramatic political, cultural, and economic shifts. Musical tastes shifted from Frank Sinatra to Dr. Dre, television shows morphed from Leave it to Beaver to The Jerry Springer Show. Prisons became populated with non-violent drug offenders as part of the War on Drugs. Overseas, the US became deeply committed to intervention in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East in a global war on communism, and later a global war on terror. Back at home, politics reflected the rise of new groups on the left and the right as each fought for their beliefs and sought to use the expanding federal state to meet their needs and goals. This course will explore all of these major changes and more as we seek to understand how the modern United States has evolved and how it may change in the future.