Professor Jennifer Burns
Fall 2006
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course follows the history of intellectual life and culture in the United States, from roughly 1865 to the present. The term intellectual will be broadly defined to include social critics, essayists, artists, scientists, journalists, novelists, and sundry other thinkers who have made important contributions to the country’s intellectual life. Two basic approaches will structure our engagement with the material. On the one hand, we will look at the life of the mind as a narrative of ongoing yet contested secularization. But we will also look at United States intellectual history as a series of debates about the meaning and nature of truth, knowing, selfhood, and the American democratic experience.
We will begin with the Victorian context and the challenge of Darwinian ideas as played out in science, religion, and social thought. Next we will move to a consideration of modernism in art, literature, and morals, covering the time period from about 1900 through the second World War. In the latter third of the course we’ll consider postmodernism and the emergence of feminism and multiculturalism, along with the conservative opposition to these movements. Persistent themes throughout the semester will be the conflict between religious and secular perspectives, disagreements about the role of the United States in the world, and the importance of distinctions based on race, ethnicity, class, and gender. Key figures include William James, W.E.B. Du Bois, Jane Addams, Reinhold Niebuhr, Thomas Kuhn, Betty Friedan, Milton Friedman, Noam Chomsky, and Judith Butler, among many others.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Much of the course will be focused on reading and understanding key texts. Most weeks the reading load will be short in page length, but very dense. Students should be prepared to read each assignment before the relevant lecture and to read slowly, carefully, and attentively. It may be wise to read many of the assigned selections twice. Class requirements include regular attendance at lecture, a midterm, 2 short papers (only one of which will be graded), and a final exam. A basic familiarity with United States history during this time period will be assumed. Students who would like additional background information may wish to listen to the instructor’s lectures for History 7b: Introduction to the History of the United States, 1865-2005, available on iTunes.
BOOKS
The following books are required. Be advised that the Berkeley bookstores will not stock books beyond the first month of the semester. Students are responsible for purchasing books in a timely fashion, and are advised that these books can be purchased on-line at discounted prices.
Hollinger and Capper, Eds., The American Intellectual Tradition: Volume II, 5th Edition (Oxford University Press, 2006). Purchase this edition, not an earlier one!
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (any edition ok)
W.E.B. Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk (any edition)
Louis Menand, The Metaphysical Club (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2002)
William Graham Sumner, What Social Classes Owe To Each Other (Caxton Press, 1952)
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (any edition)
David Hollinger, Post-Ethnic America (Basic Books, 2006) purchase 2006 edition
Additional Readings
On occasion additional readings as noted on the syllabus will be distributed in class, and some lectures will feature supplementary handouts. Extra copies of these will be available at the history department main office (Dwinelle 3229). Students are responsible for obtaining copies of this material.
_____________________________________
SCHEDULE OF LECTURES AND MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS
THE VICTORIAN CRACK UP
Week One: The Victorian Context
Aug 28 – Introductory Lecture
Aug 30 – Victorian context and Mark Twain
No Lecture September 1
Readings: Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Week Two: The Darwinian Challenge
No Lecture September 4 – Labor Day
Sept 6 – Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sept 8 – Asa Gray, “Review of Darwin’s Origin of the Species” (1860), in Sourcebook (Hollinger and Capper), 5-10.
Week Three: The Darwinian Challenge, Cont.
Sept 11: Charles Augustus Briggs, “Biblical Study” (1883), in Sourcebook, 36-40.
Sept 13: Victorian Scientific Culture and the Development of Universities.
Sept 15: William James, “Will to Believe” (1897) in Sourcebook, 63-76.
Week Four: Pragmatism
Sept 18: Charles Pierce, “The Fixation of Belief” (1877), in Sourcebook, 15-25. Menand, The Metaphysical Club, ix-xii, 151-200.
Sept 20: William James, “What Pragmatism Means” (1907), in Sourcebook, 154-164. Menand, The Metaphysical Club, 347-375.
Sept 22: Menand, The Metaphysical Club, 435-442.
Week Five: Race and Gender in the Gilded Age
Sept 25: In Class film: “W. E. B. Du Bois, A Biography in 4 Voices,” Parts 1&2.
Sept 27: Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk (1903), Forethought, Chs. 1-3, 6, 14.
Sept 29: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Women’s Bible”(1895), and Jane Addams, “Subjective Necessity of Social Settlements” (1892), both in Sourcebook, 45, 50-53 and 120-125.
**First paper due in lecture September 29**
Week Six: Economics and Society
October 2: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “Women and Economics” (1898), Sourcebook 89-95.
Oct 4: William Graham Sumner, What Social Classes Owe To Each Other (1883), 7-50, 107-145.
Oct 6: Thorstein Veblen, “Theory of the Leisure Class” (1899), Sourcebook 126-139.
Week Seven: Midterm Week
Oct 9: Review Lecture
Oct 11: MIDTERM IN CLASS
Oct 13: No lecture
MODERNISM IN ART, LITERATURE, AND MORALS
Week Eight: Cosmopolitanism and Provincialism
October 16: Modern Art and the Armory Show of 1913
October 18: Randolph Bourne, “Trans-National America” (1916) and Woodrow Wilson, “Ideals of America” (1902) in Sourcebook, 170-180 and 140-147.
October 20: H.L. Mencken, “Puritanism as Literary Force” (1917), Sourcebook 188-196.
Week Nine: Modernist Morality
October 23: Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
October 25: Oliver Wendell Holmes, “Natural Law” (1918) and John Dewey, “Philosophy and Democracy” (1918) in Sourcebook, 197-209. Menand, Metaphysical Club, 3-69, 235-253, 409-442.
October 27: Margaret Mead, “Coming of Age in Samoa” (1928), Sourcebook 210-216.
Week Ten: The Red Decade
Oct 30: Sidney Hook, “Communism Without Dogmas” (1934), Sourcebook 229-238.
Nov 1: In-class film: “Arguing the World,” Part 1
Nov 3: Thurmond Arnold, “Symbols of Government” (1935), Sourcebook 239-243.
Week Eleven: American Responses to Totalitarianism
Nov 6: Reinhold Niebuhr, “Children of Light and the Children of Darkness” (1944), Sourcebook, 279-285.
Nov.8: Whittaker Chambers, “Witness” (1952), Sourcebook, 329-341.
No Lecture November 10 – Veteran’s Day
**Second paper due in lecture November 13**
POSTMODERNISM EMERGES
Week Twelve: Knowledge in the American Century
Nov 13: The Postwar University. **Second paper due in lecture**
Nov 15: Thomas Kuhn, “Structure of Scientific Revolutions” (1962), and Richard Rorty, “Science as Solidarity” (1986), in Sourcebook 403-413 and 488-498.
Nov 17: W.W. Rostow, “Stages of Economic Growth” (1960), Sourcebook 368-375.
Week Thirteen: Social Protest in the 1960s
Nov 20: Noam Chomsky, “The Responsibility of Intellectuals” (1967), Sourcebook 455-464 and C. Wright Mills, “Letter to the New Left” (class handout).
Nov 22: King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963) and Malcolm X, “Ballot or the Bullet” (1964) in Sourcebook, 414-421 and 437-444.
No Lecture November 24 – Thanksgiving Holiday
Week Fourteen: Feminism and Multiculturalism
Nov 27: Betty Friedan, “The Feminine Mystique” (1963) in Sourcebook 422-428 and Judith Butler, “Gender Trouble” (1990) (class handout).
Nov 29: Gloria Anzaldua, “Borderlands/La Frontera” (1987) in Sourcebook, 499-504.
December 1: David Hollinger, Postethnic America (1995), 1-17, 79-130, 165-218.
Week Fifteen: Conservatism Resurgent
Dec 4: Film: “Arguing the World,” Part II
Dec 6: Friedman, “Capitalism and Freedom” (1962), in Sourcebook, 390-402.
Dec 8: Concluding Lecture
FINAL EXAM DECEMBER 18th, 5-8pm
_____________________________________
GRADING
The grade percentages will be as follows:
Midterm: 30%
Paper: 30% Please see the following page for important information on this assignment.
Final Exam: 40%
SECTIONS
There will be optional section meetings for this course. Sections are interactive forums designed to foster greater understanding of assigned readings and major course themes through discussion and dialogue. They are also a place to seek support on major assignments such as papers and exams. The easiest way to do well in this course is to attend all lectures and every weekly section. Section times and further details will be announced during the first week of class.
GSI
Steven Macias. Please contact Steven with questions about section.
WEBSITE
Class website available to enrolled students on bspace. Announcements, handouts, and lecture power points will be posted to this site.
PAPER ASSIGNMENT
Students in this class will be required to write two 5-7 page papers.
Paper #1 is due in lecture September 29, and must be on one of the readings assigned up to that date (including Stanton and Addams).
Paper #2 is due in lecture November 13. This paper may analyze any one of the readings assigned up to November 8. Or, the paper may examine a selection from the Sourcebook (Hollinger and Capper) that has not been assigned, providing this selection falls within one of the weekly themes identified on the syllabus. With permission from the instructor, students may also write on a text of their own choosing, provided it relates to the weekly themes.
Although the form and structure may vary from student to student, both papers should address the following questions:
1. What is the primary argument of this text?
2. What is the social context in which this argument was articulated?
3. How does the author support his or her argument? (For example, with social scientific data, religion, appeals to tradition, logic, anecdotes, observations, etc.)
4. What is the ultimate significance of this text with reference to course themes and the time period we are studying?
You should answer these questions by quoting directly from the text under consideration. That is, you may use lectures and additional reading to enhance your understanding, but you should not cite these sources directly in your paper (you may attach a “works consulted” sheet at the end of the paper). This means that in order to discuss social context, for example, you must refer to the text of the piece itself – to other thinkers, events, places, ideas that the author references or historically specific language that he or she employs.
Your paper should have an overarching thesis that unifies your discussion. In most cases, this thesis will be the answer to question 4, but it may also flow from your answers to the other analytic questions.
Grading: Both papers must be completed and will be given a grade. However, only the highest grade received will be counted towards the final course grade. That is, if you receive a “B” on the first paper and an “A-” on the second paper, your overall paper grade will be an “A-”. This paper grade will be 30% of the overall course grade. In the event a student does not complete one of the papers, the final paper grade will be the average of an “F” and the grade received on the paper submitted. Students who receive an “F” grade on one of the completed papers will also receive this averaged final grade.
