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Academic Year 2003/2004

America at War: The United States and the Second World War
HIST 315 SP
Crosslistings:
AMST 315
Clusters:

Urban Studies

World War II had a profound effect on American society, the economy, and America's global status. This course examines the many ways in which World War II influenced and transformed America through a study of the military, social and political history of the United States during World War II. Topics we will discuss include the influence of the war on gender and race relations; the impact of the war on American social and sexual culture; the ways in which democracies mobilize for war and the "selling" of the war to the American people; the military conduct of the war; the internment of Japanese-Americans; current debates about how the war should be remembered; and the cultural depictions of the war, from CASABLANCA to SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. This is an upper-level research seminar. Students will be required to undertake independent research and to write a major research paper for the course.

MAJOR READINGS

Barbara Savage, BROADCASTING FREEDOM: RADIO, RACE AND WAR, 1938-1948
Linenthal & Engelhardt, ed., HISTORY WARS
Marilyn Johnson, THE SECOND GOLD RUSH
John Tateishi, AND JUSTICE FOR ALL: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE JAPANESE AMERICAN DETENTION CAMPS
Allan Berube, COMING OUT UNDER FIRE
Peter Novick, THE HOLOCAUST IN AMERICAN LIFE
Gerald Linderman, THE WORLD WITHIN WAR
Lewis Erenberg and Susan Hirsch, THE WAR IN AMERICAN CULTURE
Murray and Millett, A WAR TO BE WON: FIGHTING THE SEC OND WORLD WAR

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Weekly reading responses, oral presentation, 20 pg. research paper

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2004

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