All history is composed of stories.
The stories which historical actors told to themselves and others in the midst of past events form the most basic building blocks of history. Historians later weigh, evaluate, and reconcile these stories to construct their own narratives. This seminar surveys the social, political and cultural history of British North America and the United States from the colonial period to the eve of the Civil War, with particular focus on American narratives. Students will follow a group of Americans of diverse ethnic and social backgrounds and of both sexes, all of whom struggled to construct their individual or collective identities as Americans, and then sought to communicate their experiences through personal or public narratives. Studying American history through the lens of narrative allows students to absorb, but also to transcend, the material transmitted in a traditional American history survey.