US History Since the Civil War

Catalog description

This class traces the story of United States history from the post-Civil War era to the recent past. It probes political, diplomatic, economic, social, and cultural developments of the past century and a half. It does this by following paths both chronological and thematic. History is everywhere and this course employs that observation. The past is not a domain exclusive to the rich and powerful. It belongs also to the poor and the oppressed. This course posits the past and present as inseparable. Our identities derive from our interpretations of what transpired before. They depend on history and that requires evidence and its contextualization. Of course, the past is gone. The evidence of its existence is often scanty and the product of perspective. This renders history malleable, subjective, and powerful. Historians interpret the past to inform the present that we inhabit. This course prompts you to interpret America’s past, based on evidence, to suggest the lessons offered by the nation’s history for our own time. This requires utilizing the skillset employed by historians, one that this course introduces at the onset. It further depends on your engagement with the material, available through recorded lectures, textbook reading, and discussion. You will become knowledgeable about America’s past while thinking critically about the ways that it constructed the present.