The period 1914-1945 confronted Americans with a series of challenges to their traditional ways of thinking, about morality, science, the role of the government, the nature of the economy, and the country's place in the world. This course will survey the important events, personalities, and trends of the age. Part of the mission of this class is to provide you with the details of American history during this critical period, but the goals of the course go beyond this.
History is one of several disciplines that encourage critical thinking.
You will be reading a variety of primary and secondary sources, and will be asked regularly to comment on them, both orally and in written form. Do not accept blindly everything you read even in the assigned texts or everything you hear even from me. Historians generally agree on what the facts are, but they often differ widely and significantly on what the facts mean. It is my hope, then, that this course will not only convey the details, but also that it will actually help you to use the facts to form coherent arguments. This class will rely on discussion, not lecture.