AMST206

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AMST206

Born Rich: Wealth in America AMST206 SP

Next Offered in 9899 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 some of the cultural 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, the nation, the fortune). Misbehavior of the descendents, curmudgeons, myth of founding mothers and fathers, and sudden loss are also matters for occasional examination. Group projects and presentations, term paper.

MAJOR 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,
Hearsts.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Projects, presentations, term paper.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Class time 1:10-2:30 p.m., MW; film showing M 4:30-6:30. Course fee $40.00. 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 Gen Ed Area & Dept: SBS HIST

Prerequisites: None

Last Updated on MAR-03-1998

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