HST6604 Approaches to the American Past

30 credits, Semester one
Module leader 2021-22: Simon Toner | Module leader 2022-23: Alex Ferguson

Module summary

This core module explores key themes in American history from the colonial through to the modern eras, introducing students to important debates in historical scholarship and giving them an awareness not only of the principal historiographical schools but also of the critical interrelationship between historical trends and events and scholarly interpretations of the past. Classes will be organised chronologically and thematically and will be taught through the examination of key historiographical approaches. Case studies covering topics such as Native American history, consumption, gender, class, slavery, immigration and ethnicity, the New Deal, revisionism and the Cold War, and the New Left will help students apply and critique the conceptual literature they are exploring.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, you will be able to:

Recognise and be aware of the distinctive presuppositions that underlie historical writing on American history and the notion of 'American exceptionalism'
Recognise the contribution made by other academic disciplines to the recent study of American history
Identify and engage critically with historiographical debates about American history from colonial through the modern period
Elaborate and defend an intellectual position to other members of the seminar group, presenting complex scholarly arguments succinctly and accurately
Present conclusions in a fluent written form, demonstrating a mastery of bibliographical materials (including electronic resources) referencing their sources appropriately
Evaluate a range of American history primary sources, including material culture, employing appropriate analytical techniques and theoretical approaches
Speak confidently, using technical language, when discussing American history sources of different types and using them to support scholarly argument
Work collaboratively in your research and understanding of American historical context and period
Develop your ability to present your historical conclusions to a non-specialist audience

Learning and teaching methods

This module will be taught in ten two-hour seminar classes. This includes:

1. a series of seminars critically exploring the development of American historiography; students will be encouraged here to draw on insights from their own work to link theory and practice.

2. series of seminars, looking at a range of historical topics, issues, methodologies, and problems. These will provide an opportunity for you to develop your historical and historiographical knowledge through practice-based research. They will help you prepare for the final essay by considering how we evaluate the development of subfields in American history. Some of these seminars will be student led.

3. the opportunity towards the end of the semester to present to their peers a progress report on their final essay.

You will be set preparatory reading in advance for all seminars and will be expected to share your knowledge of historiographical developments, debate controversial topics and listen and respond to the views of others in a structured environment.

In addition, you will attend regular individual tutorials, in which you will identify topics for written papers, develop your reading around these topics, and discuss the structure and content of your written work. Feedback on submitted work is again given in individual tutorials.

Assessment methods

Assessment type - % of final mark

Essay (4000 words) - 80%
Engagement and participation - 20%

You will complete a 4000 word essay and an engagement and participation exercise based on engagement in the learning activities and environment for the module. The essay will relate to at least one of the key concepts or themes of the module. It should demonstrate an advanced understanding of and critical engagement with current historiography, and advanced skills in the use of sources.

The engagement and participation exercise will be set by the module convenor and may assess your overall participation across the module (for example assessing your preparedness and participation) or may involve specific short tasks (for example presentations, reflective seminar diaries, contributions to discussion forums or collaborative documents).

You will also complete a formative assessment in advance of the final essay (LOs 1-3,5,6).

Additional learning and teaching information

Selected reading:

Greene, Jack and Philip Morgan, Atlantic History: A Critical Appraisal (2009)
Richter, Daniel, Before the Revolution: America’s Ancient Pasts (2011)
Tomlins, Christopher, Freedom Bound: Law, Labor, and Civic Identity in Colonizing English America, 1580 – 1865 (2010)
Morgan, Edmund, American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia (1975)
Breen, T.H., The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence (2004)
Holton, Woody, Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution (1999)
Hartz, Louis, The Liberal Tradition in America (1955)
Balogh, Brian, A Government Out of Sight: The Mystery of National Authority in Nineteenth-Century America (2009)
Howe, Daniel Walker, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815 – 1848 (2007)
Clark, Christopher, Social Change in America: From the Revolution to the Civil War (2007)
Levy, Jonathan, Freaks of Fortune: The Emerging World of Capitalism and Risk in America (2012)
Genovese, Eugene, Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made (1976)
Johnson, Walter, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom (2013)
Stansell, Christine, City of Women: Sex and Class in New York, 1789 – 1860 (1987)
McPherson, James, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988)
Foner, Eric, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863 – 1877 (1988)
Hahn, Stephen, A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration (2005)
Ayers, Edward, The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction (1992)
McGerr, Michael, The Decline of Popular Politics: The American North, 1865 – 1928 (1986)
Rodgers, Daniel, Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age (2000)
Jacoby, Karl, Crimes Against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden History of American Conservation (1998)
Peiss, Kathy, Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York (1986)
Montgomery, David, The Fall of the House of Labor: The Workplace, the State, and American Labor Activism, 1865 – 1925 (1988)
Gaddis, John Lewis, The Cold War: A New History (2006)
Cohen, Lizabeth, A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (2003)
Dudziak, Mary, Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy (2000)
Sugrue, Thomas, Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North (2008)
Sugrue, Thomas J., The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (1996)
Stein, Judith, Pivotal Decade: How the United States Traded Factories for Finance in the Seventies (2011)

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