LISTEN

While the course is loosely organized around major political events, our interests will be far broader than elections and political parties. We begin by examining the position of the United States in 1945, when it emerged confident and strengthened from the chaos of World War II. Next we will follow different ways the Cold War played out at home, influencing domestic politics and intellectual life through McCarthyism and the emergence of conservatism. We will examine the Civil Rights movement as a political, social, and religious phenomenon. Looking at “the sixties,” lectures will pay special attention to the origin and growth of social movements like the New Left, feminism, black power, and the rise of the New Right, while also tracing our expanding military involvement in Vietnam. Coming into more recent history, the course will examine transformations in the U.S. economy, the culture wars of the 1980s, and the growing geopolitical importance of the Middle East.

To download a course syllabus that includes assigned readings and movies, click above. Though you don’t need to do the reading to benefit from the lectures, reading some selections will enhance your listening experience.

Also, please note that due technical error, five lectures out of the series are missing. I hope to re-record these lectures in the near future. Fellow scholars should be aware these lectures have not been edited or revised and thus should not be equated with, or cited as, peer reviewed, published work.