HIS 503SEM - Amer Hist Core Sem 2

The graduate core is a survey of U.S. historiography in the long 20th century (i.e., since the Civil War). We will read books and articles that introduce us to some of the major topics and fields, themes and issues, and research and analytical methods from this time period. The goal is not primarily to increase your factual knowledge of U.S. history, but to get a sense of the relationship between history and historians. What kinds of questions do historians ask of the past? How do they go about answering them? What kinds of evidence do they look at, how do they choose, and how do they interpret it? How do historians build on and/or challenge each others¿ work and interpretations? If history only happened once, why does history as written by historians change over time? What are some of the most active and exciting subjects and approaches in 20thcentury U.S. history today? These kinds of questions are central to critical reading and thinking, i.e., figuring out how to take apart and (hopefully) put back together again the kinds of narratives¿stories¿that we are all familiar with as the stuff of ¿history.¿

Credits: 3