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AMST285
Born Rich: Wealth in America
AMST285 SP
Next Offered in 9798 SP
A study of the amassing and dispersal of great wealth in
America, primarily in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries: industrial money, money money, and other forms of
fortune. What we will study is the results of this money,
rather than its economic causes: mansion-building,
yacht-buying, eccentricity, collecting, fashion, causes, and
other forms of expenditure; charity and tax evasion as
investments in the future (of the hospital, of the nation,
of the fortune.) Misbehavior of the descendents,
curmudgeons, myth of founding mothers and fathers, and
sudden loss of wealth are also occasional matters for
examination. Group projects and presentations, term paper.
MAJOR READINGS
Some readings:
William Faulkner, ABSALOM, ABSALOM!
F. Scott Fitzgerald, THE GREAT GATSBY, "Rich Boy," "Diamond
as Big as the Ritz"
Thomas P. Hughes, AMERICAN GENESIS: A CENTURY OF INVENTION
AND TECHNOLOGICAL ENTHUSIASM
Henry James, THE GOLDEN BOWL
Katy Louchheim, THE GREAT COLLECTORS
William Manchester, THE ROCKEFELLERS: A PORTRAIT IN OILS
Ortega y Gasset, THE REVOLT OF THE MASSES
Edith Wharton, THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
Other readings on Vanderbilts, Morgans, Fords, Astors,
Hearst.
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Group projects, and
presentations, term paper.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS
Class time
2:40-4:00 p.m., MW; film showing M 4:30-6:30. Course fee
$35.00.
Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting
or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the
first class, they will be dropped from the class list.
NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form
to the Registrar's Office.
COURSE FORMAT: Discussion Fieldwork Lecture Seminar Group
Presentations
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level: UG Credit: 1.00
Prerequisites:
AMST154
Last Updated on MAR-10-1997
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