History 171 - American Peoples Since 1865

This course introduces the history of the United States from Reconstruction to the present. Our themes include the nation's relationship to the world; the evolution of racial, gendered, and class hierarchies; the transformation of the federal government; and the changing forms of domestic life, work, consumer capitalism, politics, social protest, and cultural expression. How have the people of the United States struggled over such values as freedom, equality, prosperity, and progress? How have ideas about citizenship, manhood, and motherhood served to police the boundaries of national belonging? We will be concerned throughout with the role of storytelling in history.