HIST 115 The Great Depression: Culture, Society, and Politics in the 1930s (Not offered 1999-2000)

The economic collapse of the 1930s set social, cultural, and political changes in motion that transformed the character of American life. This course focuses on the ways contemporaries encountered, participated in, and resisted those changes, as well as on the ways in which historians interpret the Great Depression. Through the use of a variety of sources-memoirs, films, oral histories, fiction, photography-we will explore the breadth of responses to the Depression, shaped as they were by region, class, race, ethnicity, and gender. Most broadly, we will consider the meaning of the Great Depression to American culture, society, and politics. Evaluation will be based on class discussion, two short essays, and a research paper. Enrollment limited. Preference to first-year students.

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