Second Semester Course Outline

U.S. History and American Literature

Second Semester Syllabus

This semester, we will write our academic paragraphs in response to our class discussions and assigned literature. I will assign these each week in class, due the following meeting, and I will also post these prompts on the weekly review for those of you following along on the blog. Other readings may be added. 

January 9^th: Literary Circle on Jack London’s Call of the Wild. This book was the assigned reading over the Christmas break. Please come to class with your position’s work complete. I will take up your written work for this position after your group meeting. 

History: The Era of Reconstruction, Lincoln’s Assassination, Andrew Johnson’s presidency and impeachment, Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

Literature: Bring OBSS to class. William Faulkner “The Evening Sun” pp. 335, Charlotte Perkins Gilman “The Yellow Wallpaper” pp. 191, Shirley Jackson “The Lottery” pp. 464

January 16^th: (1860-1900)

History: Business and Labor in the Industrial Era /The New South and the New West

Literature: In Class, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” “A Late Encounter with the Enemy” pp. 514, OBSS, Southern Gothic Genre, and one of my favorite writers, Flannery O’Connor

January 23^rd: Political Stalemate and the Rural Revolt

History: Seizing an American Empire (Modern America)

Literature: Modernism: The Great Gatsby Chapters 1-3

January 30^th: The Progressive Era

History: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, The Women’s Suffrage Movement, Settlement Houses

Literature: The Great Gatsby Chapters 4-6

February 6^th:  America and the Great War

Literature: The Great Gatsby Chapters 7-9

                                                                                                      

February 13^th: A Clash of Cultures, 1920-1929: A “New Era” of Consumption, The Jazz Age, The Modernist Revolt, Rise of Mass Consumption (Kellogg’s, GE toasters, etc)

Charlie Chaplin and the movies

Literature: Langston Hughes, “The Weary Blues” OBAP pp.468, “Juke Box Love Song” pp. 469, “Harlem” 472

February 20^th: The Reactionary Twenties: Reactionary Conservatism and Immigration Restriction, A Republican Resurgence, The Rise of Herbert Hoover, The Great Depression

Literature: To Kill a Mockingbird

February 27^th: The Second World War, 1933-1945, The Rise of Fascism in Europe, Isolationism and Intervention, The Pacific War

Literature: To Kill a Mockingbird

March 6^th: The American Age: The Cold War and the Fair Deal, 1945-1952, Truman, Containment, the New Deal, and the Red Scare

Literature: To Kill a Mockingbird

March 13^th: Spring Break: NO CLASS/NO HOMEWORK

March 20^th: A New Frontier and a Great Society, 1960-1968, Civil Rights, The Great Society, Vietnam, the Sixties

Literature: “The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien, OBSS 688,

Beat Generation/Bob Dylan

March 27^th: Rebellion and Reaction, 1960s and 1970s, “The Youth Revolt,” Social Activism Spreads, Nixon and the Revival of Conservatism, Thawing Cold War, Watergate

Literature: The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian

April 3^rd: Conservative Revival, 1977-1990, Carter Presidency, Rise of Ronald Reagan, Anti-Soviet Foreign Policy, George H.W. Bush

Literature: The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian

April 10^th: Twenty-first Century America, 1993-Present, Clinton Presidency, A Chaotic Start to a New Century, Second-Term Blues, and Obama Presidency

Final essay due

April 17^th: Final exam (Jeopardy Style + In Class Essay) 

April 24^th: Last Day of Class (End of Year Party)/Parent conferences