History 283 - Topic: U.S. since 1945

The United States emerged from the Second World War as the most powerful nation on earth. This course explores American political, cultural, and social life in the postwar era, with an eye toward helping students gain a firmer understanding of contemporary issues and conflicts in our nation and around the world. Topics include birth of the national security state, the Cold War at home and abroad, popular culture and consumer society, the civil rights struggle, the political and cultural rebellions of the 1960s,the resurgence of conservatism, and America's changing relationship to the world in the post Cold War era. Students will have the opportunity to do a research paper on the topic of their choice.