21H.209

America in Depression and War

Undergraduate · Historical course

Spring 2012

This course focuses on the Great Depression and World War II and how they led to a major reordering of American politics and society. We will examine how ordinary people experienced these crises and how those experiences changed their outlook on politics and the world around them.

Readings

[Galbraith] = Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Great Crash of 1929 . Mariner Books, 1997. ISBN: 9780395859995. [Preview with Google Books ] ↗
Listed reading
[McElvaine] = McElvaine, Robert. Down and Out in the Great Depression . The University of North Carolina Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780807858912. [Preview with Google Books ] ↗
Listed reading
[Brinkley] = Brinkley, Alan. Voices of Protest . Vintage, 1983. ISBN: 9780394716282.
Listed reading
[Terkel] = Terkel, Studs. The Good War . New Press, 1997. ISBN: 9781565843431.
Listed reading
[Polenberg] = Polenberg, Richard. The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt . Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. ISBN: 9780312133108.
Listed reading
SES #: 2 · TOPICS: The End of Prosperity · READINGS: [Galbraith], 1–42, 66–143, 168–194
Reading assignment
SES #: 4 · TOPICS: The Unemployed · READINGS: [McElvaine], pp. 33–119
Reading assignment
SES #: 16 · TOPICS: D-Day · READINGS: [Terkel], pp. 38–58, 166–97, 254–93
Reading assignment
SES #: 17 · TOPICS: Hiroshima · READINGS: [Terkel], pp. 59–66, 69–79, 85–97, 505–30, 545–55
Reading assignment

Sources

Course catalogue ↗Historical OpenCourseWare
MIT OCW readings ↗
MIT OCW syllabus ↗
Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.