Click on these to navigate the web site for History 387:

About the Course	Readings	The Schedule	The Assignments
The Team  Projects	The Teams	Assessment	Guide to Web Resources
HELP	Using Lotus Databases	Go to Lotus Databases	Graduate Assignments

The course is based on extensive readings, on seminar discussions, and on the intensive use of  both the AU Library and the world wide web. Because this is an upper division course, you will be expected to assume considerable responsibility for your own education, both individually and through work in groups.  Among other things, you will be expected:

• to attend class regularly
• to keep up with all assigned readings
• to complete class assignments in a timely fashion
• to actively participate  in the creation of  one or more major Team Projects
• to actively participate in discussions (both real and virtual)
• to  take a final exam that will include two parts: one designed to test your understanding of the basic material; the other to test your ability to integrate, evaluate and communicate what you have learned.
• Graduate students will be expected to do additional readings

                For more details, click on Assessment.

David S. Painter, The Cold War: An International History
John Hersey, Hiroshima
Ellen Schrecker, The Age of McCarthyism
Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era
Nick Cullather, Secret History : The CIA's Classified Account of Its Operations in Guatemala, 1952-1954
Robert Buzzanco, Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life
Robert Griffith, Major Problems in American History since 1945 (selected chapters available via Electronic Reserve).

Paul Boyer, Promises to Keep: The United States Since World War II (2nd. edition; Houghton
                    Mifflin, 1999).
Michael S. Sherry, In the Shadow of War: The United States Since the 1930s (1995)

See below for additional readings by topic.

AU Library --  the AU Library's home page, a good place to begin your library searches. We will visit the Library to learn more about its resources, but you should also avail yourself of the Library's "Virtual Tour."

A Guide to Web Resources for the Study of the United States and the Cold War -- a collection of useful web links designed to accompany this course.

New Media Center-- the New Media Center in Room 232 Mary Graydon Center, where you can get help with your web projects.

Click here to navigate the Schedule by class meeting:

August 29	September 5	September 12	September 19	September 26	October 3
October 17	October 24	October 31	November 7	November 14	November 21
November 28	December 5	Thanksgiving	Final Examination	Last Day of Finals

Class Meetings:

Tuesday, August 29:  Introduction to the Course.

Recommended Reading:  Promises to Keep, chapter 1; Major Problems, chapter 1 (available on Electronic Reserve).

Tuesday, September 5: The Atomic Bomb and the Origins of the Cold War

Required Reading:
Major Problems, chapter 2 (Electronic Reserve).
John Hersey, Hiroshima
John W. Dower, "Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Politics of Memory," and Alex Roland, "Keep the Bomb,"both in  Technology and Culture (1995).

Recommended Readings:
Gar Alperovitz, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb (1995)
Richard B. Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire (1999)
Michael J. Hogan (ed.), Hiroshima In History and Memory (1996)

Assignment One:  Part One: Due by Friday, September 1.  Part Two: Due by Tuesday, September 5.

Additional Resources:
For an outline of  the lecture, click on Atomic Bomb Outline.
For recommended readings, see the bibliographies in both Promises to Keep and Major Problems.
For more recently published works, click on Recent Studies on the Atomic Bombing of Japan.
For www links, click on Guide to Cold War Web Resources.

Tuesday, September 12:  The United States, The USSR and the Origins of the Cold War in Europe

Required Reading:
Major Problems, chapter 3 (Electronic Reserve).
Painter, The Cold War, pp. 1-23.

Recommended Readings:
John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking the Cold War (1997)
Michael J. Hogan (ed.), America in the World: The Historiography of American Foreign Relations since 1941 (1995)
Anna Nelson, "Illuminating the Twilight Struggle: New Interpretations of the Cold War", Chronicle of Higher Education (June 25, 1999)
Mark Trachtenberg, "Making Grand Strategy: The Early Cold War Experience in Retrospect," SAIS Review (winter-Spring, 1999), available via Project Muse.

Assignment Two:  Due by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday; comments due before the class meets on Tuesday.

Additional Resources:
Brookings Institution, The U.S. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project's Atomic Audit  -- sponsored by the Brookings Institution
Robert Higgs,  "U.S. Military Spending in the Cold War Era: Opportunity Costs, Foreign Crises and Domestic Constraints," Policy Analysis (November, 1988), The Cato Institute.
For a broad outline of  lectures on the Cold War, click on Cold War Outline.
For recommended readings, see the bibliographies in both Promises to Keep and Major Problems.  For recently published works, click on Recent Studies on the Cold War.
For www links, click on Guide to Cold War Web Resources.
 

Required Reading:
Painter, The Cold War, pp. 23-37.
Qiang Zhai, "Great Power Conflict and the Chinese Civil War," Reviews in American History (1995). Available via Project Muse.
Lloyd Gardner, "Korea's Martyrdom: The Unlimited "Limited War" Reviews in American History (1996). Available via Project Muse.

Assignment Three:  Due by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday; comments due before the class meets on Tuesday.

Recommended Readings:
Bruce Cummings, The Origins of the Korean War (1981, 1990)
Sergei Goncharov, John Lewis, and Xue Litai, Uncertain Partners, Stalin, Mao and the Korean War (1993).
Michael H. Hunt, Beijing and the Korean Crisis, June 1950-June 1951, Political Science Quarterly (Autumn, 1992).  Available via JSTOR.
Burton I. Kaufman, The Korean Conflict (1999)
Steven Hugh Lee, Outposts of Empire: Korea, Vietnam, and the Origins of the Cold War in Asia, 1949-1954 (1995).
William Stueck, The Korean War: An International History (1995)
 Philip West, "Interpreting the Korean War,"  The American Historical Review (Feb., 1989). Available via JSTOR.

Additional Resources:
Cold War International History Project -- a rich, if occasionally confusing source of documents and new interpretations based on new archival sources from the People's Republic of China and the former Soviet Union.
 

Required Reading:
Ellen Schrecker, The Age of McCarthyism

Assignment Four:  Due by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday; comments due before the class meets on Tuesday.

Recommended Readings:
Robert Griffith, "Two Decades of Scholarship on the Politics of Anti-Communism," in The Politics of Fear: Joseph R. McCarthy and the Senate (2nd edition, 1987), ix-xxix. Available via Electronic Reserve.
Promises to Keep, chapters 3,4;
Major Problems, chapters 4  Electronic Reserve
Document:  "Newly Declassified Annexes of A Report to the National Security Council by the  Executive Secretary on United States Objectives and Programs for National Security, (NSC-68) April 14, 1950, printed in SAIS Review (winter-Spring, 1999), available via Project Muse.

Additional Resources:
For an outline, see American Politics, 1945-1960;  See also, The Cold War At Home (outline).
For recommended readings, see the bibliographies in both Promises to Keep and Major Problems.
For www links, click on Guide to Cold War Web Resources.

The last 30 minutes of the class will be devoted to a preliminary discussion of  the Team Projects.     Topics include: Working in Teams.  Selecting a Topic. Introduction to Library Resources. Introduction to Web Resources.  See especially, Robert Griffith, Untangling the Web of Cold War Studies. For additional details, Click on Team Projects.

Required Reading:
Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era
Robert Griffith, "The Cultural Turn in Cold War Studies" (draft of an article which will appear in Reviews in American History).

Assignment Five:  Due by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday; comments due before the class meets on Tuesday.

Recommended Readings: Major Problems, chapter 5
Stephen Whitfield,  The Culture of the Cold War (2nd edition, 1996)

Additional Resources:
For recommended readings, see the bibliographies in both Promises to Keep and Major Problems.
For recently published works, click on New Studies of the Cold War Culture.
For www links, click on Guide to Cold War Web Resources.

Preliminary Discussion of  Team Projects (Continued). Click on Team Projects.

During the last 30 minutes the teams will meet to discuss the selection of their topic, individual assignments, scheduling of future meetings, etc.

Tuesday, October 10: Fall Break
 

Tuesday, October 17:   Workshop on Class Projects:

Assignment Six:  Due by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday; comments due before the class meets on Tuesday.

First Half of Class: SIS 203.Progress Reports on Class Projects.
Second Half of Class: The class will meet at the New Media Center (Mary Graydon 232). Orientation to the Center and its resources. *
                *Teams may schedule earlier orientation meetings at the New Media Center should they choose to do so.

        For details, click on The Projects.

Tuesday, October 31: The Cold War In Latin America: Guatemala, Cuba
 
 

Click Here to Listen to John F. Kennedy's speech to the Nation on the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 22, 1962.  Requires RealPlayer.

Required Reading:
Painter, pp. 31-55.
Nick Cullather, Secret History : The CIA's Classified Account of Its Operations in Guatemala, 1952-1954
Major Problems, chapter 6 (Electronic Reserve).

Assignment Seven:  Due by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday; comments due before the class meets on Tuesday.

Additional Resources:
For an outline, see The United States and Latin America: An Outline.
For recommended readings, see the bibliographies in both Promises to Keep and Major Problems.
For recently published works, click on New Studies on the US, Cuba and the Cuban Missile Crisis
For www links, click on Guide to Cold War Web Resources.
 

Required Reading:
Robert Buzzanco, Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life
Painter, pp. 56-76.
Major Problems, chapter 9 (Electronic Reserve).

 
Assignment Eight:  Due by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday; comments due before the class meets on Tuesday.

Additional Resources:
See also, The United States and Vietnam: An Outline.
For recommended readings, see the bibliographies in both Promises to Keep and Major Problems.
For recently published works, click on Recent Studies of the United States and Vietnam.
For www links, click on  A GUIDE TO WEB RESOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES AND VIETNAM (prepared originally for a Spring 2000 class).
 
 

Required Reading:
Painter, pp. 77-118
Major Problems, chapter 15 (Electronic Reserve)

Assignment Nine:  Due by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday; comments due before the class meets on Tuesday.

Recommended Readings:
Promises to Keep, chapters 13,14, 15.

Additional Resources:
For recommended readings, see the bibliographies in both Promises to Keep and Major Problems.
For recently published works, click on New Bibliography on the Reagan, Bush and Clinton Presidencies.
See also, U.S. Elections, 1976-1998
For www links, click on Guide to Cold War Web Resources.

Preliminary Discussion of  Team Projects (II). Click on Team Projects.

During the last 20 minutes the teams will meet to discuss the selection of their topic, individual assignments, scheduling of future meetings, etc.

Required Reading:
Benjamin R. Barber, "Jihad vs. McWorld," The Atlantic Monthly (March, 1992), 53-63.*
Andrew J. Bacevich, "Policing Utopia: The Military Imperatives of Globalization," The National Interest (Summer 1999).*
Alan Tonelson, "Globalization - The Great Non-Debate," Current History (November, 1997).**
            *Available via the Periodical Abstracts Database.
            ** Available on the Current History web site at: http://www.currenthistory.com/archivenov97/tonelson.html
 

Assignment Ten:  Due by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday; comments due before the class meets on Tuesday.

Recommended Readings: See recent studies of Globalization.

Additional Resources:
For www links, click on Guide to Cold War Web Resources.

Preliminary Discussion of  Team Projects (II). Click on Team Projects.

During the last 20 minutes the teams will meet to discuss the selection of their topic, individual assignments, scheduling of future meetings, etc.

Thanksgiving: November 22-26 
 

Tuesday, November 28:  Workshop on Class Projects

Team Meetings: I am scheduling this time for you to meet with your teams.
You may meet in the classroom, the library, the New Media Center or wherever else best meets your needs.
Remember, if you plan to use the NMC, you should make a reservation.
I will available at this time to meet with teams and/or individuals in my office, 209 McCabe.
    (Please let me know if you wish to schedule an appointment.)
 
 

FINAL EXAMINATION: December 19, 2000.  5:30 - 8:00 p.m.

The final examination will be in two parts:   The first part will feature identification and short answers drawn from the lectures, discussions, textbooks and team projects.  There will also be an essay section designed to test  your ability to integrate and communicate what you have learned during the semester.   For additional information, click on Assessment.

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