| Ranjit S. Dighe |
Mahar 425; 312-3480
|
| SUNY-Oswego | |
| Spring 2001 |
"The one duty we have to history is to revise it."
-- Oscar Wilde
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two
opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability
to function."
-- F. Scott Fitzgerald
Office hours: MW 2-4, and by appointment,
and anytime I'm here and the door is open, except for ...
... Anti-office hours: T Th 9:05-9:35,
12:15-12:45, W 5:30-6:00: At those times I am usually in my office but
focusing hard on the lecture I am about to deliver, so it's best not to
interrupt me then.
This course deals with 20th century United States economic history, in particular the evolution of the economy itself and the competing claims of various economic interests. We will cover a limited set of issues, such as the economic causes and consequences of the Great Depression and major wars, and the responses of American businesses and policymakers to those shocks. We will study these issues from a variety of perspectives: economic, historical, political, and literary. We will also study important economic trends and developments, along with the material progress of key subgroups such as blue-collar workers, women, and African-Americans.
Required books
This packet contains the required outside readings. One could get by without buying the packet, since two copies of each reading will be available at the reserve desk at Penfield Library for two-hour, in-library use. But I suggest you buy the reading packet, because: all of these readings are required; it's far more convenient to have them in your room than in the library; the packet is cheaper than photocopying these readings yourself.
Prerequisites
ECO 101 (introductory microeconomics) and ECO 200 (introductory macroeconomics); also, ENG 102 (Composition II) or ENG 204 (Writing About Literature) or passage of exemption examination.
Three things you should not be without as a college student
A good dictionary, a stapler, and a calculator.
Course web site: http://www.oswego.edu/~dighe/aeh2.htm
You should regularly check it for copies of various class handouts, future updates to this syllabus, a complete list of course materials on library reserve, and links to related sites.
Another recommended web site: http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/errors/index.html
This site is devoted entirely to "Common Errors in English" and was put together by an English professor named Paul Brians. Aside from a long list of common grammatical errors, it includes links to several online grammar books and resources. The guy has a pretty good sense of humor, too.
The College Writing Center
... is a strongly recommended resource for anyone who finds the writing component of this course to be a struggle. The tutors at the College Writing Center can offer valuable help in writing and revising your papers. The Center is located in room 203 of Swetman Hall and is reachable by phone at x5758. The writing tutors are also available at Penfield Library most evenings.
Assignments and grading
Since this course is an expository writing
class, written assignments will constitute the bulk of your grade. On every
written assignment, the quality of the writing will be an important determinant
of your grade. The single largest component of your course grade will be
a term paper (about 10 pages). You will start by writing a prospectus that
describes your term-paper topic and sources. Then you will write two drafts
of this paper, so when you turn in your final draft on the last day of
class, it will be a polished product. You will write other, shorter papers,
including a "team paper," as well. The course will also have a 55-minute
midterm and a two-hour final exam. The weighting of the different items
is as follows:
| Prep papers and class participation | 20% |
| Term-paper prospectus and miscellaneous assignments | 5-10% |
| Term paper (first draft) | 15% |
| Term paper (final draft) | 20-25% |
| Team paper | 10% |
| Midterm | 10% |
| Final exam | 15% |
Your term paper can be on any important topic in 20th-century American economic history, provided that you clear it with me first. The article by Robert Whaples (see "Course Outline and Schedule") is an excellent place to look for a topic, since it lists ten propositions in 20th-century American economic history on which there is at least some disagreement among economic historians.
You will also write a "team paper," together with four of your classmates, about a particular president's handling of economic policy. (The most logical candidates, in terms of the distinctiveness of their approaches to the economy, are probably Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy & Lyndon Johnson [jointly], Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan. But you may choose a different 20th-century president if you prefer.) This paper should have three to five pages of text, plus a bibliography and appropriate footnotes, endnotes, or in-text citations. One person from each team will do a short presentation of their paper in class.
Prep papers: You will write a short (1½- to 2-page) discussion prep paper, based on your reactions to the assigned reading for the week. The due date for each week's prep paper is Tuesday, in class and at the end of class, unless otherwise indicated. You are required to write five prep papers in all. The papers should include reactions to all of the assigned readings for the week at hand. At least three of these papers should be done in weeks for which there is some outside reading, i.e. an assigned paper or chapter that is not from the books by Stein, Stein & Foss, Zinn, or Strunk & White. (The Grapes of Wrath does count as an outside reading.) You can write up to three additional prep papers, though no more than one per week, for extra credit. Since the class will ideally include a lot of discussion -- in particular, the first half of every Tuesday's class will be devoted to discussion -- class participation will also enter into your final grade.
Draconian policy on cheating
Students who are caught cheating on either of the exams or the term paper will be punished severely. The penalty is a zero on the exam or paper and either (a) an E for the course or (b) prosecution by the college authorities. Students who are caught cheating on a prep paper or another small item will receive a zero for the item in question, as well as zeroes for two other, equivalently weighted items (e.g., the two prep papers before it; think of it as a "treble damages" policy).
Course outline and schedule
| Week | Dates | Topics |
| 1 | Jan. 23, 25 | What Is Economic History?
What Is Economic Welfare? What to read:
NOTE: Most of Thursday's class will be devoted to a diagnostic writing test. |
| 2 | Jan. 30,
Feb. 1 |
The Writing of Economics
* Strunk and White, The Elements of
Style
NOTE: This week's prep paper (on The Elements of Style) is mandatory and due on Tues., Jan. 30. (Your prep paper need not make any mention of the Hacker reading.) |
| 3 | Feb. 6, 8 | The Life Cycle of the American Economy:
Coming of Age
* Gene Smiley, "The American Economy Prior
to 1920," Chapter 1 of The American Economy in the Twentieth Century
(1990, pp. 1-11)
(This week would be a good time to start reading The Grapes of Wrath.) |
| 4 | Feb. 13, 15 | The Life Cycle of the American Economy:
Maturity
* Stein, Chapter 2 ("Hoover and Roosevelt:
The Depression Origins of Liberal Economics"; pp. 27-64)
|
| 5 | Feb. 20, 22 | The Life Cycle of the American Economy:
Middle Age and Beyond
* Paul Krugman, "Productivity Growth,"
Chapter 1 of The Age of Diminished Expectations (1997; pp. 11-20)
|
| 6 | Feb. 27,
March 1 |
Roadblocks on the Road to Plenty:
Financial Panics and the Causes of the Great Depression * Jeremy Atack & Peter Passell, pp.
514-20 and 566-70 of A New Economic View of American History (1994)
|
| 7 | March 6, 8 | Roadblocks on the Road to Plenty:
The Great Depression * Robert Whaples, "Where Is There Consensus
Among American Economic Historians? The Results of a Survey on Forty Propositions,"
Journal
of Economic History (1995; edited to include 20th-century
issues only; 7 pp.)
|
| 8 | March 13, 15 | Roadblocks on the Road to Plenty:
Stagflation and Disinflation, 1973-82 * Stein, Chapter 6 ("Ford and Carter: The Uncertain Transition"; pp. 209-33) THURSDAY, MARCH 15: MIDTERM EXAM |
| 9 | March 27, 29 | Prosperity With a Purpose:
The Evolution of Modern Labor Markets * Sumner H. Slichter, "The Current Labor
Policies of American Industries,"
Quarterly Journal of Economics
43:393-435 (1929).
|
| 10 | April 3, 5 | Prosperity With a Purpose:
Union Sundown; Trends in Income Inequality * Stein & Foss, pp. 162-63 (on declining
union membership)
|
| 11 | April 10, 12 | Prosperity With a Purpose:
The Economic Progress of Women and African-Americans * "A Man's Place" (panel discussion moderated
by Michael Weinstein), The New York Times Magazine, May 16, 1999
(6 pp.)
|
| 12 | April 17, 19 | Is War Really "the Health of the State"?
World War I
* George Soule, "The Army of Producers"
(Chapter III of Prosperity Decade; 1947, pp. 64-80)
|
| 13 | April, 24, 26*
(* no class on the 26th, since I'll be out of town) |
Is War Really "the Health of the State"?
World War II
* Robert Higgs, "Wartime Prosperity? A
Reassessment of the U.S. Economy in the 1940s," Journal of Economic
History 52:41-60 (1992).
|
| 14 | May 1, 3 | Is War Really "the Health of the State"? (Finish up the World Wars.) |
FINAL EXAM (COMPREHENSIVE): Thurs., May 10, 8:00-10:00 a.m.
Recommendations for further reading
Carnes, Mark C., ed. Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies (1996). Watching the movies will never be the same: several dozen distinguished historians discuss the historical accuracy (or lack thereof) of more than seventy historically-minded movies, from Gone With the Wind to The Grapes of Wrath to JFK to Apocalypse Now.
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (1995). Revisionist left-wing history at its best, this passionate and witty book practically out-Zinns Zinn, combining a critique of high school American history textbooks with renderings of numerous crucial events and details that those textbooks typically ignore.