READING LIST

Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (Library of America, 1983). [ISBN: 0940450127]

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie (Penguin Classics, 1994).  [ISBN: 0140188282]

Malcolm Cowley,  Exile's Return (Penguin Classics, 1994).  [ISBN: 0140187766]

James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (Library of America, 2005).  [ISBN: 1931082812]

Neil Jumonville, ed., The New York Intellectuals Reader (Routledge, 2007). [ISBN: 0415952654]

Ann Charters, ed., The Portable Beat Reader (Penguin Classics, 2003).  [ISBN: 0142437530]

James Baldwin, Collected Essays (Library of America, 1998).  [ISBN: 1883011523]

Robert Wright, The Moral Animal (Vintage, 1995). [ISBN: 0679763996]

Russell Jacoby, The Last Intellectuals (Basic Books, 2001).  [ISBN: 0465036252]

COURSE OBJECTIVES
Employing an interdisciplinary approach, this course will familiarize students with the major themes in American ideas after 1880. After completion of the course the students will be able recognize the history of the particular ideas they encounter and will understand how to join in the nation’s cultural conversation.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Read these requirements closely, because they tell you all you need to know about the operation of the class and the requirements for your paper.  Don't read these once and then forget them, because you'll be judged on the basis of them. 

ATTENDANCE: Part of your discussion grade is also a grade for attendance.  And if you're someone who makes a habit of walking in after I begin lecturing it will reflect in your grade.

READING: All students must complete the reading for the course.  (Note that manyl of the books are heavily abridged and are much shorter than they appear).  Weekly assignments are indicated in the syllabus.  It is very important for you to complete the reading in time for the Friday discussion.

DISCUSSIONS: On Fridays, class will be devoted to a discussion of the issues raised in lectures and in the reading.  You will not be able to do well in the discussions if you haven't kept up with your reading.  It is expected that you will have finished the week's reading assignment by the time of the Friday discussion.  As much as possible, the discussions will be a friendly exchange of ideas and opinions.  The discussions are intended to be fun and enriching, not threatening.  Don't feel intimidated by a lack of background in history; often there is no one "right" answer to the questions being discussed, and undergraduates always do as well as graduate students in these sessions.  Part of your grade for the semester will be based on your active participation (talking) in the discussions, so it is important to show up and take part.  Their purpose is to give you practice speaking about and challenging ideas, instead of just memorizing them.

PAPERS: There will be one paper, DUE IN CLASS ON MONDAY NOV 19.  Undergraduate papers are to be 8 pages and graduate papers are to be 12 pages. All papers must be double-spaced, and either type-written or printed by computer.  Handwritten papers will not be accepted.  Papers should be stapled together; please do not use paper or plastic folders to bind them.  Papers should be submitted with a separate title page on the front, with a title, the student's name, and the name of the course. No paper extensions, even in the event of a nuclear war. For every day the paper is late, it will drop a full grade (for example, from a B+ to a C+).

The papers will be graded on the strength of their ideas, their ability to advance a thesis or interpretation, and on how well they are written (their use of language, spelling, punctuation, and syntax). I want to know your perceptions and ideas. Naturally, any plagiarism (having someone write the paper for you, or copying it from another source without attribution) will result in a heavy penalty and perhaps failure of the entire course.  Use endnotes to indicate page numbers for any quotes you use, or to tell the reader when you have borrowed ideas from another author.

PAPER TOPIC (for all students, undergraduate and graduate): Choose a topic related to any of the books we read and find three or four scholarly articles on it. Since this is an intellectual history course, make sure your topic deals at least partly with ideas. Although you may venture into any areas the books have covered, the easiest essays to write would deal with large issues we have addressed on pragmatism, bohemianism, communism and anticommunism, behaviorism, sociobiology, etc. The articles you use must be from journals in Strozier library, not articles from the internet. (Although I encourage you to use online indexes through Web Luis to locate these articles.) Write an essay on the strengths and weaknesses of the book and the articles with respect to the topic you have chosen. Because I am interested in your ideas, too, you are expected to interact with the authors and texts.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: Students with disabilities covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act should follow these steps: 1) Provide documentation of your disability to the Office of Disabled Student Services (08 Kellum Hall, 644-9566).  2) Bring a statement from the Office of Disabled Student Services indicating that you have registered with them to your instructor the first week of class.  The statement should indicate the special accommodations you require.

EXAMS: There will be two exams during the course of the semester‑-a midterm and a final.  Both tests will be a combination of ten short identifications and one essay question.  The exams will be judged on the strength of their ideas, their ability to advance a thesis or interpretation, and their use of language, spelling, punctuation, and syntax.  Make sure to write legibly enough to be understood.  Bring blue books for the exam.  Put your name on the front, but not inside--to insure a neutral reading.

GRADES (FOR UNDERGRADUATES): Each of the four components of the class will count 25% toward the final grade: the two exams, the paper, and class discussion.

GRADES (FOR GRADUATES): Each of the five components of the class will count 20% toward the final grade: the two exams, the class paper, class discussion, and the graduate project, which will be a research and writing assignment.

COURSE WEB SITE: This course has its own page, linked through my web site at: http://mailer.fsu.edu/~njumonvi

OFFICE HOURS: Weds, 9:30-10:30 BEL 401

CLASS SCHEDULE  

THE RESPONSE TO INDUSTRIALISM

Week 1
Mon, Aug 27:   The agrarian impulse, 1880-1920.
Wed, Aug 29:  Social Darwinism, 1880-1920.
Fri, Aug 31:     Discussion.
Reading:         Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, chapters 1, 19-20.
                       Online: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HADAMS/ha_home.html

Week 2
Mon, Sep 3:   LABOR DAY HOLIDAY
Wed, Sep 5:   Henry Adams.
Fri, Sep 7:      Discussion.
Reading:        Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, chapters 22, 25-26, and 31.
                      Online: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HADAMS/ha_home.html

PRAGMATISM IN CULTURE AND POLITICS

Week 3
Mon, Sep 10:  Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois.
Wed, Sep 12:  Peirce, James, and Pragmatism.
Fri, Sep 14:     Discussion.
Reading:         Readings by Charles Sanders Peirce and William James.
                       http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/p-ideas.htm
                       http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/james.htm

Week 4
Mon, Sep 17: Thorstein Veblen, John Dewey, and the pragmatic revolution, 1900-1920.
Wed, Sep 19: New Nationalism, New Freedom, and the crossroads of liberalism, 1900-1920.
Fri, Sep 21:    Discussion.
Reading:        Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie.  Read the first half.
                       http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DREISER/carrie.html

Week 5
Mon, Sep 24: Jane Addams, the Settlement House movement, and protective legislation, 1880-1920.
Wed, Sep 26: Theodore Dreiser and American naturalism.
Fri, Sep 28:     Discussion.
Reading:         Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie.  Read the second half.
                        http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DREISER/carrie.ht

AMERICAN CULTURE: LOST AND FOUND

 Week 6
Mon, Oct 1:  The culture of consumption.
Wed, Oct 3:  George Santayana, Van Wyck Brooks, and Harold Stearns: America's cultural coming- of-age, 1910-1922.
Fri, Oct 5:     Discussion.
Reading:       Malcolm Cowley,  Exile's Return. Read chapters 1-5. 

Week 7
Mon, Oct 8:     Malcolm Cowley, Gertrude Stein, and the Lost Generation.
Wed, Oct 10:  The Harlem Renaissance, 1920-1935.
Fri, Oct 12:      Discussion.
Reading:         Malcolm Cowley, Exile's Return. Read chapter 6 and Epilogue.
                       Also read from the Survey on the Harlem Renaissance:
                             http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/harlem/LocEnteF.html
                       http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/harlem/LocYoutF.html

Week 8
Mon, Oct 15:  The crisis of capitalism: Southern Agrarians, Edmund Wilson, James Agee.
Wed, Oct 17: The rediscovery of American culture.
Fri, Oct 19:     Discussion.
Reading:        James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.  Read from the beginning Preface to "Shelter."  Skim "Shelter" quickly, riffling through it to get the overall idea.
                    Read also the intro to I’ll Take My Stand: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/White/anthology/agrarian.html.

IDEOLOGY AND MASS SOCIETIES

Week 9
Mon, Oct 22: Intellectuals and the political left, 1930-1950.
Wed, Oct 24: Discussion.
Fri, Oct 26:    MIDTERM EXAM.
Reading: Neil Jumonville, ed., The New York Intellectuals Reader. Read the Introduction and essays 1-8.

Week 10
Mon, Oct 29:  The reaction to mass society and mass culture: 1950-1965.
Wed, Oct 31:  Discussion.
Fri, Nov 2:      No class. Work on your papers.
Reading:        Jumonville, NYIR, essays  9, 10, 12, 16-18, 21-24.

Week 11
Mon, Nov 5: Human nature: Boas, Watson, Skinner, 1920 and after.
Wed, Nov 7: Black intellectuals and postwar issues, 1955-1990.
Thr, Nov 8:  Video of James Baldwin, at Jumonville's house. Directions.
Fri, Nov 9:    No class--because of last night's video and discussion.
Reading:      James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son, pp. 3-45, 57-72, 85-123. Jumonville, NYIR, essays 27-28. Read also Amiri Baraka’s eulogy for Miles Davis: http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/baraka-miles.htm and this article on diversity and civic involvement: http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/diversity-putnam.htm
                   

Week 12
Mon, Nov 12:  VETERANS DAY HOLIDAY
Wed, Nov 14: The Beats
Fri, Nov 16:    Discussion.
Reading:        Ann Charters, ed., The Portable Beat Reader, pages , pages 10-77, 289-304, 340-53, 370-75, 384-94, 477-505, 524-25, 543, 548, 569-79. Jumonville, NYIR, essay 25.

Week 13
Mon, Nov 19: Existentialism and Freudianism in American culture.
PAPER DUE IN CLASS TODAY
Wed, Nov 21: Postmodernism.
Fri, Nov 23:   THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
Reading: none     

UNITY OR DIVERSITY?

Week 14
Mon, Nov 26: Women and feminism in recent decades.
Wed, Nov 28: Sociobiology, 1975-2002.
Fri, Nov 30:    Discussion
Reading: Robert Wright, The Moral Animal; read chapters 2-4, 12-13.

Week 15
Mon, Dec 3:  Conservatism, 1964 to the present.
Wed, Dec 5:  Liberalism, 1964 to the present.
Fri, Dec 7:     Discussion.
Reading:     Russell Jacoby, The Last Intellectuals; read chapters 1, 6-7.
                   Jumonville, NYIR, essays 19, 26, 30-33.

Week 16
Tue, Dec 11: FINAL EXAM, 5:30 pm until 7:30 pm in this room.