HIS236 US History:
Since 1945
This course is for people who want to study American history and America’s role in the world from the end of World War II to the present day. Some of the larger in depth themes this course will cover are African American history and culture and the development of the Civil Rights Movement, global European imperialism and colonialism, the World Wars and the Cold War.
Others themes of this course include women’s rights and history, the changes of the decade of the 1960s, the Great Depression, FDR and the New Deal, JFK and the New Frontier, Nixon and Watergate, Reagan and the waning of the Cold War, Bill Clinton and his presidency, the rise of Islamic Terrorism on the West, Globalization, America’s role in the modern, industrialized, and global world, and many others. Students who take this course will read and analyze a plethora of historical data including both primary and secondary written and visual sources, but the ultimate goal of the course is to better understand America as it is today, and, its role in the 21st century and beyond.
The essential difference between 237 and 202 is one of depth and time. In the History 202 course it is common to get to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but it is very difficult because of time restrictions to get beyond that point. History 237 is a much more in depth look at America’s role in the world today and includes more depth on the World Wars, Vietnam, and even assesses events as recently as the 2009 Presidential Inauguration and the War in Iraq today. In addition, there is a heavy research and writing component for this course.
