Syllabus—Graduate Readings in Modern America

 22 November 2024

spring 2025 @ suny brockport.

Instructor info

Dr. Michael J. Kramer, Department of History, SUNY Brockport, mkramer@brockport.edu

Who is your instructor?

Michael J. Kramer specializes in modern US cultural and intellectual history, transnational history, public and digital history, and cultural criticism. He is an associate professor of history at the State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport, the author of The Republic of Rock: Music and Citizenship in the Sixties Counterculture(Oxford University Press, 2013), and the director of the Berkeley Folk Music Festival Project. He is currently working on a history of the 1976 United States bicentennial celebration and a study of folk music, technology, and cultural democracy in the United States. He edits The Carryall, an online journal of US cultural and intellectual history and maintains a blog of cultural criticism, Culture Rover. His website, with additional information about publications, projects, courses, talks, and more can be found at michaeljkramer.net.

What are we up to?

How do we make sense of the United States since the Civil War both historically and historiographically? What are the stories? What are the debates about the stories among historians? We will read widely and deeply in the course to explore particular eras as well as the larger historical narrative. Even with all our reading, we are only skimming the surface of the rich world of historical scholarship, so we will try, in our weekly meetings, to situate our readings in larger questions, debates, and issues. With whom is each author in dialogue? What is each author arguing? What evidence does the author marshal to support or give rise to the argument? What methods does each author use? Students will read, discuss, and develop both short written analyses and in-class presentations to improve their understanding of modern America and their own historical and historiographic knowledge and skills.

Things you are expected to do this term

  • Complete the readings
  • Participate in class discussions
  • Complete the assignments
  • Acquire a graduate student-level knowledge of US history since the Civil War
  • Improve critical thinking, communication, historiographic, research, and writing skills
  • See SUNY Brockport website for additional History Department course objectives

Online synchronous technology policy

Students in the online synchronous version of the course should log in to Zoom through a laptop or desktop computer with direct Ethernet or robust broadband wireless and, ideally, headphones with a microphone. Please be in a calm, quiet location (desk or table in a room, not in your car or out in the world). Keep your camera on during class if possible and mute your microphone when not speaking. In the case of unforeseen technology breakdown (sounds, video, etc.), students may be asked to makeup work during office hours or through an additional written assignment. Individual cases will be negotiated with the professor. Please consult with the professor about any questions concerning use of technology in the course.

Required materials

  1. Hahn, Steven. Illiberal America: A History. New York: W. W. Norton, 2024. 9780393635928
  2. Downs, Gregory P. and Kate Masur. The World the Civil War Made. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015. 9781469624181
  3. Cronon, William. Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. New York: W.W. Norton, 1991. ‎9780393308730
  4. Hunter, Tera W. To ’joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors after the Civil War. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, 1997. 9780674893085
  5. Kasson, John F. Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century. New York: Hill and Wang, 1978. 9780809001330
  6. Rodgers, Daniel T. Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000. 9780674002012
  7. Ngai, Mae M. Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America – Updated Edition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014. 9780691160825
  8. Cohen, Lizabeth. Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939. 1990; 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 2008. 9780521715355
  9. Delmont, Matthew F. Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad. New York: Viking, 2022. 9781984880413
  10. Payne, Charles M. I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. 9780520251762
  11. Frank, Thomas. The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1997. 9780226260129
  12. Zaretsky, Natasha. No Direction Home: The American Family and the Fear of National Decline, 1968-1980. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. 0807830941
  13. Moreton, Bethany. To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010. 9780674057401
  14. Hyden, Steven. There Was Nothing You Could Do: Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The U.S.A.” and the End of the Heartland. New York: Hachette Books, 2024. 9780306832062
  15. Lichtenstein, Nelson and Judith Stein. A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2023. 9780691245508
  16. Beck, Richard. Homeland: American Life in the War on Terror. New York: Crown, 2024. 9780593240229

Meetings and readings

The instructor may adjust the meetings schedule as needed during the term, but will give clear instructions about any changes.

Week 01

Tu 01/28

Week 02

Tu 02/04

  • Hahn, Steven. Illiberal America: A History. New York: W. W. Norton, 2024. 9780393635928, Ch 2-Conclusion

Week 03

Tu 02/11

  • Downs, Gregory P., and Kate Masur, eds. The World the Civil War Made. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015. 9781469624181

Week 04

Tu 02/18

  • Cronon, William. Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. New York: W.W. Norton, 1991. ‎ 9780393308730, especially Prologue-Part II, read all if you can.

Week 05

Tu 02/25

  • Hunter, Tera W. To ’joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors after the Civil War. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, 1997. 9780674893085
  • Kasson, John F. Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century. New York: Hill and Wang, 1978. 9780809001330

Week 06

Tu 03/04

  • Rodgers, Daniel T. Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000. 9780674002012, especially Prologue-Ch 5, 9-11, read all if you can.
  • McGreevey, Robert and Adam Hodges, Amy Kittelstrom, and Noam Maggor. “Atlantic Crossings Revisited.” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 22, 4 (October 2023): 512–32. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537781423000221

Week 07

Tu 03/11

  • Ngai, Mae M. Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America – Updated Edition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014. 9780691160825, especially Introduction-Part II, read all if you can.

Week 08

Spring Break

Week 09

Tu 03/25

  • Cohen, Lizabeth. Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939. 1990; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008, 2nd edition. 9780521715355

Week 10

Tu 04/01

  • Delmont, Matthew F. Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad. New York: Viking, 2022. 9781984880413

Week 11

Tu 04/08

  • Payne, Charles M. I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. 9780520251762, Preface, Introduction, especially Ch 1-7, 12-Epilogue, read all if you can.

Week 12

Tu 04/15

  • Frank, Thomas. The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. 9780226260129, especially Ch 1-3, 6, 10-11, read all if you can.
  • Zaretsky, Natasha. No Direction Home: The American Family and the Fear of National Decline, 1968-1980. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. 0807830941, especially Introduction-Ch 2, 5-Conclusion, read all if you can.

Week 13

Tu 04/22

  • Moreton, Bethany. To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009. 9780674057401, especially Prologue-Ch 9, Epilogue, read all if you can.
  • Hyden, Steven. There Was Nothing You Could Do: Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The U.S.A.” and the End of the Heartland. New York: Hachette Books, 2024. 9780306832062, especially Preface, Ch 3, 5, read all if you can.

Week 14

Tu 04/29

  • Lichtenstein, Nelson and Judith Stein. A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2023. 9780691245508, especially Introduction, Part 1-3, Epilogue, read all if you can.

Week 15

Tu 05/06

  • Beck, Richard. Homeland: American Life in the War on Terror. New York: Crown, 2024. 9780593240229

Assignments

  • Due Tu 02/04: Assignment 01—Student Introduction 5%
  • Due Tu 02/25: Assignment 02—Short Book Analysis Essay 15%
  • Due Tu 04/08: Assignment 03—Short Book Analysis Essay 20%
  • Due Tu 05/06: Assignment 04—Short Book Analysis Essay 20%
  • Final: Assignment 05—Historiographic Essay 25%
  • Participation: 15%

Evaluation

This course uses a simple evaluation process to help you improve your understanding of both US history since the Civil War and history as a method. Note that evaluations are never a judgment of you as a person; rather, they are meant to help you assess how you are processing material in the course and how you can keep improving college-level and lifelong skills of historical knowledge and skills. Remember that history is a craft and it takes practice and iteration to improve, as with any knowledge and skill you wish to develop; but, if you keep at it, thinking historically can help you understand the complexities of the world more powerfully.

There are four broad evaluations given for assignments—(1) Yes!; (2) Getting Closer; (3) Needs Work; (4) Nah—plus comments, based on the rubric below. Late assignments will lose one grade per each day they are late at the discretion of the instructor.

Remember to honor the Academic Honesty Policy at SUNY Brockport, including no plagiarism. In this course there is no need to use sources outside of the required ones for the class. The instructor recommends not using algorithmic software such as ChatGPT for your assignments, but rather working on your own writing skills. If you do use algorithmic software, you must cite it as you would any other secondary source that is not your own.

Overall course rubric

Yes! = A-level work. These show evidence of:

  • clear, compelling writing assignments that include:a credible, persuasive argument with some originality
  • argument persuasively supported by relevant, accurate and complete evidence
  • persuasive integration of argument and evidence in an insightful analysis
  • excellent organization: introduction, topic sentences, coherent paragraphs, use of evidence, contextualization, analysis, smooth transitions, conclusion
  • prose free of spelling and grammatical errors with lack of clichés
  • correct page formatting when relevant, with regular margins, 12-point font, double spaced
  • accurate formatting of footnotes and bibliography with required citation and documentation
  • on-time submission of assignments
  • Your essay should include (as per Joel M. Sipress, “Why Students Don’t Get Evidence and What We Can Do About It,”The History Teacher, 37, 3, May 2004, or on Brightspace):
    • Thesis—The “thesis” is the point that you are trying to prove. It is the thing of which you are trying to persuade the audience. It is your answer to the important question. A good thesis can usually be expressed in a sentence or two. The ability to formulate a clear and concise thesis is the fundamental skill of argumentation. One cannot argue effectively for a position unless it is clear what that position is.
    • Summary—Arguments often take the form of a response to another person’s argument. In order to respond effectively to an argument, one must first be able to effectively identify and summarize that other person’s argument, including the other person’s thesis.
    • Organization—In order to demonstrate a thesis, one must present points in support of that thesis. The persuasiveness of the argument depends largely upon the organization with which one presents the supporting points. The key to a well-organized argument is to present the supporting points one at a time in a logical order.
    • Evidence —The fundamental criteria by which the persuasiveness of an argument should be judged is the degree to which specific evidence is provided that demonstrates the thesis and supporting points. The ability to locate and present such evidence is thus a fundamental skill of argumentation.
  • Your essay should generally try to engage at least one, if not more than one, of the “5 C’s” as described in Thomas Andrews and Flannery Burke. “What Does It Mean to Think Historically?,” Perspectives on History, January 2007. These are:
    • Change over time (Also continuity over time)
    • Context
    • Causality
    • Contingency
    • Complexity
  • for class meetings, regular attendance and timely preparation overall, plus insightful, constructive, respectful, and regular participation in class discussions
  • overall, a thorough understanding of required course material

Getting Closer = B-level work, It is good, but with minor problems in one or more areas that need improvement.

Needs work = C-level work is acceptable, but with major problems in several areas or a major problem in one area.

Nah = D-level work. It shows major problems in multiple areas, including missing or late assignments, missed class meetings, and other shortcomings.

E-level work is unacceptable. It fails to meet basic course requirements and/or standards of academic integrity/honesty.

Successful assignments demonstrate:

  1. Argument – presence of an articulated, precise, compelling argument in response to assignment prompt; makes an evidence-based claim and expresses the significance of that claim; places argument in framework of existing interpretations and shows distinctive, nuanced perspective of argument. Your argument should engage at least one of the “how to think historically” categories: Change over time; context; causality; contingency; complexity. From Joel Sipress: Thesis—The “thesis” is the point that you are trying to prove. It is the thing of which you are trying to persuade the audience. It is your answer to the important question. A good thesis can usually be expressed in a sentence or two. The ability to formulate a clear and concise thesis is the fundamental skill of argumentation. One cannot argue effectively for a position unless it is clear what that position is.
  2. Evidence – presence of specific evidence from primary sources to support the argument. From Joel Sipress: Evidence—The fundamental criteria by which the persuasiveness of an argument should be judged is the degree to which specific evidence is provided that demonstrates the thesis and supporting points. The ability to locate and present such evidence is thus a fundamental skill of argumentation.
  3. Argumentation – presence of convincing, compelling connections between evidence and argument; effective explanation of the evidence that links specific details to larger argument and its sub-arguments with logic and precision
  4. Contextualization – presence of contextualization, which is to say an accurate portrayal of historical contexts in which evidence appeared and argument is being made. From Joel Sipress: Summary—Arguments often take the form of a response to another person’s argument. In order to respond effectively to an argument, one must first be able to effectively identify and summarize that other person’s argument, including the other person’s thesis.
  5. Citation – wields Chicago Manual of Style citation standards effectively to document use of primary and secondary sources
  6. Organization and Style – presence of logical flow of reasoning and grace of prose, including:
    1. an effective introduction that hooks the reader with originality and states the argument of the assignment and its significance
    2. clear topic sentences that provide sub-arguments and their significance in relation to the overall argument
    3. effective transitions between paragraphs
    4. a compelling conclusion that restates argument and adds a final point
    5. accurate phrasing and word choice
    6. use of active rather than passive voice sentence constructions
    7. From Joel Sipress: Organization—In order to demonstrate a thesis, one must present points in support of that thesis. The persuasiveness of the argument depends largely upon the organization with which one presents the supporting points. The key to a well-organized argument is to present the supporting points one at a time in a logical order.

Citation and style guide: Using Chicago Manual of Style

Writing consultation

Writing Tutoring is available through the Academic Success Center. It will help at any stage of writing. Be sure to show your tutor the assignment prompt and syllabus guidelines to help them help you.

Research consultation

The librarians at Drake Memorial Library are an incredible resource. You can consult with them remotely or in person. To schedule a meeting, go to the front desk at Drake Library or visit the library website’s Consultation page.

Attendance policy

You will certainly do better with evaluation in the course, learn more, and get more out of the class the more you attend meetings, participate in discussions, complete readings, and finish assignments. That said, lives get complicated. Therefore, you may miss up to three class meetings, with or without a justified reason (this includes travel, illness, or other reasons). You do not need to notify the instructor of your absences. If you miss more than four courses you have missed almost a third of the course, and might want to consider retaking it to get the full value of the educational experience. Generally, more than three absences results in the loss of one grade per additional absences from final course evaluation at the discretion of the instructor.

Disabilities and accommodations

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Brockport Faculty Senate legislation, students with documented disabilities may be entitled to specific accommodations. SUNY Brockport is committed to fostering an optimal learning environment by applying current principles and practices of equity, diversity, and inclusion. If you are a student with a disability and want to utilize academic accommodations, you must register with Student Accessibility Services (SAS) to obtain an official accommodation letter which must be submitted to faculty for accommodation implementation. If you think you have a disability, you may want to meet with SAS to learn about related resources. You can find out more about Student Accessibility Services or by contacting SAS via the email address sasoffice@brockport.edu or phone number (585) 395-5409. Students, faculty, staff, and SAS work together to create an inclusive learning environment. Feel free to contact the instructor with any questions.

Discrimination and harassment policies

Sex and Gender discrimination, including sexual harassment, are prohibited in educational programs and activities, including classes. Title IX legislation and College policy require the College to provide sex and gender equity in all areas of campus life. If you or someone you know has experienced sex or gender discrimination (including gender identity or non-conformity), discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or pregnancy, sexual harassment, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, or stalking, we encourage you to seek assistance and to report the incident through these resources. Confidential assistance is available on campus at Hazen Center for Integrated Care. Another resource is RESTORE. Note that by law faculty are mandatory reporters and cannot maintain confidentiality under Title IX; they will need to share information with the Title IX & College Compliance Officer.

Statement of equity and open communication

We recognize that each class we teach is composed of diverse populations and are aware of and attentive to inequities of experience based on social identities including but not limited to race, class, assigned gender, gender identity, sexuality, geographical background, language background, religion, disability, age, and nationality. This classroom operates on a model of equity and partnership, in which we expect and appreciate diverse perspectives and ideas and encourage spirited but respectful debate and dialogue. If anyone is experiencing exclusion, intentional or unintentional aggression, silencing, or any other form of oppression, please communicate with me and we will work with each other and with SUNY Brockport resources to address these serious problems.

Disruptive student behaviors

Please see SUNY Brockport’s procedures for dealing with students who are disruptive in class.

Emergency alert system

In case of emergency, the Emergency Alert System at The College at Brockport will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the College’s Emergency Information website.

Learning goals

The study of history is essential. By exploring how our world came to be, the study of history fosters the critical knowledge, breadth of perspective, intellectual growth, and communication and problem-solving skills that will help you lead purposeful lives, exercise responsible citizenship, and achieve career success. History Department learning goals include:

  • Articulate a historical question and thesis in response to it through analysis of empirical evidence
  • Advance in logical sequence principal arguments in defense of a historical thesis
  • Provide relevant evidence drawn from the evaluation of primary and/or secondary sources that supports the primary arguments in defense of a historical thesis
  • Evaluate the significance of a historical thesis by relating it to a broader field of historical knowledge
  • Express themselves clearly in writing that forwards a historical analysis.
  • Use disciplinary standards (Chicago Manual of Style) of documentation and citation when referencing historical sources
  • Identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments as they appear in their own and others’ work
  • Demonstrate understanding of the methods historians use to explore social phenomena, including observation, hypothesis development, measurement and data collection, experimentation, evaluation of evidence, and employment of interpretive analysis
  • Demonstrate knowledge of major concepts, models and issues of US history since the Civil War
  • Develop proficiency in oral discourse through class participation and discussion