History of the United States 3301-L1HUSW
The lecture is a survey of major themes and events in American history from the colonial times to the present. It examines the origins and development of American institutions and how they continue to shape contemporary politics, economy, and social relations. It covers the following topics: colonial North America - social, economic, and religious life under the British colonial system; settler-indigenous relationships; slavery as an economic and social institution; the American Revolution; American nationalism; territorial expansion and Manifest Destiny; the Civil War and Reconstruction in the South; the struggle for civil rights for African Americans; Jim Crow laws and racial segregation; settlement in the West; political and reform movements at the turn of the 19th and 20th century; immigration and industrial growth of American cities in the Gilded Age; the U.S. as an imperial power; the Great Depression and New Deal program; U.S. political and economic history from the 1950s to the 1990s; U.S. military engagement in the international arena from WWI until the Cold War; the rise of the consumer society; social life from the 1950s until the Clinton era; minority groups’ struggle for civil rights; socio-demographic trends at the end of 20th century; from industrial to post-industrial economies; U.S. before and after 9/11 attacks; mass society and politics in the age of social media.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Mode
General: Remote learning Classroom | Term 2023Z: Blended learning |
Learning outcomes
The graduate will be able to:
K_W01 Identify the place and specificity of American Studies against the background of other academic disciplines within the humanities
K_W09 identify on an advanced level the multiplicity of cultures and their complexity, cultural codes, as well as structural and institutional background of culture, especially with regard to the United States
K_W10 describe on an advanced level the geography, history, politics, economy, as well as cultural and societal problems of the United States
The graduate is able to:
K_U03 analyze content, phenomena and processes pertaining to American culture and draw generalizations on their basis with respect to the social, historical, and economic context
Assessment criteria
Students are required to attend the lectures.
Written exam.
Bibliography
Outline of U.S. History (Department of State, 2011)
https://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/history/toc.htm
Brogan, Hugh. The Penguin History of the United States of America, 2001 (1991)
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. Vol 1&2.W.W. Norton & Company 2017 (2005).
Lepore, Jill. These Truths: A History of the United States. W.W. Norton & Company, 2018.
Zinn, Howard, A People's History of the Unites States. Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Reissue edition 2015 (1980)
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: