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De Anza College - History 17C

Horn of Plenty, a painting by Thomas Hart Benton

Fall 2008 - Williams
12:30-1:20 MTWR in FORUM 4
1:30-3:10 MW in FORUM 1

History of the United States from 1900 to the Present

History 17C focuses on American political, economic, and social life during the twentieth century. I am particularly interested in following five themes: the rise of urbanism,
the development of corporate America, technology and society, the environment and society, and America's role in the world. I am also interested in how well we have
reconciled these things with our democratic and egalitarian traditions. At the conclusion of this course, you should be able to examine, analyze, and interpret facts, concepts,
and characteristics about specific events, individuals, and phenomena significant to recent American history. I hope you’ll also understand yourself a bit better as well.

Texts. Two books are required for this course. They are available for purchase at the De Anza College Bookstore:

John Mack Faragher. Out of Many: A History of the American People, vol. C (2009).

Postman, Neil. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1993).

Try to develop your own timelines as you read Zinn's book so you get a sense of how things changed over time. For transfer students particularly, I recommend you
acquire Jules R. Benjamin, A Student's Guide to History, which has really good suggestions on taking notes, studying for exams, and essay writing. It's a reference book
you'll use often in your college career.

Note:Changes to this syllabus, essay topics, and other information will be posted on this on-line version of the course outline. Please visit other pages on my web site for
useful information.

Classroom Requirements. Please abide by the Standards of Student Conduct set forth in the college catalog. I expect everyone in class to act with consideration and respect for
each other. Roll will be taken regularly. More than four unexcused will certainly have a negatively affect on your grade. I will drop students for excessive absences.

Grading. Your course grade will be computed from letter grades on two essays (25% each), an objective midterm exam (25%), and an objective final exam (25%). If you
miss any of these assignments, you will receive a final course grade of “D”, regardless of the grades on your other assignments. Miss two of these assignments and you'll fail
the course.

Exams. The midterm and final exams are multiple-choice and true-false. Questions will be drawn from lectures and all reading. You must take both exams. Make-up exams
will only be given if you provide written evidence of illness; make-ups will be essay exams. Click here for a sample of exam questions.

Essays. There will be two in-class essays, written in blue books, one on Technopoly and one on a general topic drawn from Faragher which is to be assigned. You must do both
of the essays. Make-up essays will only be given if you provide written evidence of illness. Click here for help on writing in-class blue book essay exams.

Extra Credit. You may take a short history class offered through the California History Center, for which complete course descriptions are found in the online catalog at the end
of the history listings. Sign up for the short history classes through regular admissions; if you have questions about the courses, stop by the California History Center and ask
about them. Let me know in writing if you are taking one of these classes.

Instructor Office Hours. By appointment in F31J. Email: techjunc@pacbell.net.

Schedule of Weekly Reading, Discussion Topics, and Assignments

Advertising images from circa 1900

Sep 22-25 – Introduction – transition into twentieth century America. Reading to be posted. Skim all of Faragher as well as Postman to get a sense of what they cover.
Faragher's history is one of the most widely read general histories of the United States. It surveys the entire history of the country, from 1492 to the very recent past, but you are
reading only chapters 21 on, which covers the twentieth century. Start Faragher right away.

Cover of Woman Suffrage Program from 1913 conference in Washington D.C.

Sep 29-Oct 2 – Urban/Industrial America and Progressivism. Read Faragher, ch. 21 and Postman, chs. 1-2. Click here for essay study topics for your first essay.

Oct 6-9 – Progressivism to War. Read Faragher, ch. 22 and Postman chs. 3-5.

Angel rescuing young child from urban-industrial squallor

1904 cartoon of Theodore Roosevelt carrying a big stick

Oct 13-16 – Technocratic society – the 1920s. Read Faragher, ch. 23 and Postman, chs. 6-10.

* In class essay on one of the topics listed here, Monday, October 20. Bring a blue book and pen.

Dorthea Lange photograph of a migrant mother during the depression

Dorthea Lange photograph of a depression migrant woman

* No class on Thursday, October 23.
Oct 20-23 – The Great Crash and New Deal. Read Faragher, ch. 24.

Oct 27-30 – The American broker state is born. Read the on-line essay Reevaluating FDR for a recent view of FDR's presidency. Click here to see a chart on
the development of the American political economy. Also, for an analysis that suggests our financial situation is not unlike that in the late 1920s see 1929 Redux.

* Midterm Exam, in class, Monday, Nov. 3. Bring a Parscore and a Pencil. Covers ALL LECTURES and ALL READING through Nov 1st.

Nov 3-6 – World War Two and the Cold War. Read Faragher, chs. 25 and 26.

War Bond Poster featuring President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Nov 10-13 – Midcentury America. Read Faragher, chs. 27 and 28.

Photograph of marchers for Civil Rights in 1963

Nov 17-20 – America and Vietnam. Read Faragher, chs. 29.

Cartoon of man watching television

* In class essay on Monday, Nov 24. Bring a blue book and pen. Click here for essay topics.

Nov 24-27 – American wealth and the Corporate State. Read Faragher ch. 30.

Book cover: The Modern Corporate State Photograph of the Woodward Iron Works as an illustration of the American corporate state

Dec 1-5 – Pax Americana. Read Faragher, ch. 31 and read the on-line essay, How Bush Rules plus A Guide for the Perplexed: Intellectual Fallacies of the War on Terror.

Final exam for 12:30 section, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Thursday, December 11. Bring a Parscore, a No. 2 pencil, and a pen. Covers ALL LECTURES and ALL
READING since the Midterm.

Final exam for 1:30 section, 1:45 p.m.-3:45 p.m., Wednesday, December 10 . Bring a Parscore, a No. 2 pencil, and a pen. Covers ALL LECTURES and ALL
READING since the Midterm.

Finally ... I realize this course requires a lot of effort on your part. Take solace in the words of Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks’s character in the movie A League of Their Own). Responding to
the resignation of his star baseball player because “it just got too hard,” he said: “It’s SUPPOSED to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everybody would do it. The ‘hard’ makes it great!”

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