HIST 301B(F) Autobiography as History: An American Character?

Historians have long debated whether it makes sense to speak of distinctive national characters-tendencies to think and behave in particular ways that are endemic to specific nations or peoples. In the United States, with its high degree of racial and ethnic diversity, such notions seem especially problematic. Through a reading of selected autobiographies supplemented by other materials we will seek to test the validity of historical concepts of American national character by looking at how individual Americans, in different eras and circumstances, have attempted to understand and interpret their own life experiences. Readings will include autobiographies by William Bradford, Benjamin Franklin, Lucy Larcom, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Henry Adams, Jane Addams, Jerry Rubin, Michael Herr, Richard Rodriguez, and Maxine Hong Kingston. Evaluation will be based on a series of 3- to 5-page written assignments and a longer essay due at the end of the semester. Restricted to junior History majors.

Hour: R. DALZELL