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HIST333
American Radicalism: The Interwar Years
HIST333 FA
Crosslistings: AMST255
Not Currently Offered
To get a better understanding of the nature of political
radicalism in the United States and its impact on the
political system, this seminar will focus on the era between
the First and Second World Wars: an extremely volatile
period. We will begin by studying the main trends in the
political center to provide a context and then will switch
to the radical movements and organizations themselves. We
will cover the entire spectrum of politics including right
to left movement and both the secular and the
religiously-inspired. Thus we will be studying, inter alia,
the Ku Klux Klan, Gerald L.K. Smith, Father Coughlin, Gov.
Huey Long, the Socialist and Communist parties, the American
brigade in Spain, and Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker
Movement. We will conclude by considering the general
political trends in the United States just before the war,
federal policies, and the way in which radicals of both the
left and right were imprisoned, shoved aside or
incorporated.
MAJOR READINGS
(partial list):
Alan Brinkley, HUEY LONG, FATHER COUGHLIN & THE GREAT
DEPRESSION (1982)
William Ivy Hair, THE KINGFISH AND HIS REALM: THE LIFE AND
TIMES OF HUEY LONG
Robin Kelley, HAMMER AND HOE: ALABAMA COMMUNISTS DURING THE
GREAT DEPRESSION
Kathleen M. Blee, WOMEN OF THE KLAN: RACISM AND GENDER IN
THE 1920s.
Judith Stein, THE WORLD OF MARCUS GARVEY: RACE AND CLASS
IN MODERN SOCIETY
Barry D. Karl, THE UNEASY STATE: THE UNITED STATES FROM 1915
TO 1945 (1983)
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Five five-page essays based on
assignments for the weekly reading and due at time of class
meeting, plus brief reading notes for the other sessions.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS
Students required
to have had at least one and preferably two previous courses
in modern American history, classes in modern European
history, political science, 20th-century literature, or
other relevant work. Admission by interview.
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: Seminar
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level: UG Credit: 1.00
Gen Ed Area & Dept: SBS HIST
Prerequisites:
None
Last Updated on MAR-22-1999
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Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459