General
Course Information
Western Civilization I
Western Civilization II
Cultural Studies
United States History I
United States History II
Global Issues
Global Business Issues
World History
This course begins in the in the late 1800s with an exploration of the frontier community and the expansion and intensification of industrialization and urbanization. The progressives respond to industrialization with sweeping political, economic, and social changes to moderate the abuses. During this period the US embarks on its own form of imperialism leading to entry into World War I in 1917. However, the US rejects world leadership at this point and turns inward in the frivolous pursuit of pleasure and profits during the roaring 20s. The excesses of the 20s plunge the country into a devastating Great Depression lasting until entrance into a second horrendous world war. Emerging victorious from World War II in 1945 the US pursues until 1989 a costly "Cold War" with their communist enemy, the Soviet Union. Postwar America experiences a 25 year economic expansion, until growth sputters in the early 1970s. Liberation movements by African-Americans, women, Native-Americans, Latinos, gays, colonial people and others, deconstruct the prevailing power structures. The liberalism of the 1960s and early 1970s turns conservative as many concentrate on making money and pursuing self-interest. At the end of the millennium the US spreads the gospel of world globalization and hegemony around the globe. At the beginning of the 21st century Americans are confronted with crucial choices about the kind of world they wish to create: global capitalism/world hegemony, traditional, or alternative sustainable structures.
Reading for Passport 14 and 15: Global Wave