Topic: Postwar New York and the American Empire

Catalog description

This class explores postwar New York City, with a particular focus on the 1950s, as a powerhouse for the expansion of American culture around the world. Guided by the titanic figure of the mid-century urban planner Robert Moses (and Robert Caro’s biography The Power Broker), we will consider how the built environment of New York City supported the development of numerous social and cultural movements, including: Abstract Expressionism, which moved the capital of the modern art world from Paris to New York; the emergence of the independent film movement and John Cassavetes; the “Golden Age of Television,” and New York re-establishing itself as a rival to Los Angeles in the entertainment business; Salinger, Updike, Mailer and the postwar literary scene; Steinem, Friedan, and the women’s movement; racial integration, the displacement of communities of color, and suburbanization; the pre-Stonewall gay community; the birth of off-Broadway, as well as the folk music and coffeehouse scene; and standup comedy’s transition from the Catskills to Lenny Bruce.