This course examines American history since World War II, with an emphasis on the social, political and economic trends, reviewing major events and trends from different perspectives. The goals of the course include a fundamental understanding of major events that shaped the period, a sense of the sources of contemporary issues and their interrelated circumstances within and without the United States, exposure to artistic and cultural developments and their historical context, the development of a chronological sense of the period, and an understanding how historiographical interpretations of events change over time. As a culminating project, students will develop an historiography on a topic relevant to the course.
Spring semester. Fulfills Social Science requirement.