This course will consider the major themes of U.S. urban history within the broader context of social and political analysis and discuss the basic as well as the more specialized literature of the field. It will investigate the essential forces leading to urbanization and suburbanization in the 19th and 20th centuries and analyze the institutions and social divisions of the American city. Student participation is essential in class discussion, and students are generally responsible for several papers of reasonable length. There also will be a final examination. In at least one topic area there will be substantial attention to primary sources.
Assignments emphasize careful reading and analysis, and short written exercises.
This course will focus on the relationship of American families to politics, society, and the economy at pivotal points in American History. While considering the structure of families and households and the construction of family value systems, we will not neglect internal dynamics within families. Of particular interest will be the intersection between internal dynamics and the relationship of families to the larger society. In addition to reading in theoretical issues we will focus on several specific case studies at seminal points, for example, the scandal surrounding Andrew Jackson's administration which raises questions of patriarchal power within families. The course will involve intensive reading and discussion as well as a brief research paper using primary documents.