The United States Since 1974

Description of Course Goals and Curriculum

• A) Professor Julian Zelizer’s main goal for this course is for students to examine United States history from this time period with an objective lense, in regards to the rapid political, social and economic change that has formed the United States since 1974. -
• B) The course goes through information chronologically, but focuses upon big, main ideas. Zelizer focuses more upon issues, changes and events that are taking place than the actual time that it was happening in. In reality - the time only has a little importance. -
• C) Themes are broken into three areas: social, political and economic. Once again, these are big ideas - not times that these things happened.
  • - I. Lectures - Lectures are focused upon a central idea, ie, “Distrusting Institutions” was about how in the late 70’s, U.S citizens began to distrust the U.S government . Zelizer shows this theme through political, social and economic problems, changes and events that happen in this time period The lectures were more like stories, which often helped the students place themselves in the time period.
  • - II. Readings - Based on the themes, not necessarily the times. These readings were often connected to the lectures. About 200-250 pages a week.
  • - III. Precepts - Discusses the readings - more about the big picture ideas once again.

Learning From Classroom Instruction

• i) Lectures - First, recognize that you will not grab everything the Professor Zelizer says. It is hard to write everything that he says - and it’s not necessarily that important to write it all down. One good key to remember is to try to condense what is talked about into big ideas, events, issues. Keeping track of these ideas, events, issues is a good way to connect other aspects of the course together. The lectures are the core of the course. You cannot skip lecture and understand everything.
  • - A small note: There are certain clips and slides that Zelizer shows during lecture, but they are filled with video clips or photos that act as added information to Zelizer’s primary information - given through his own lecture. Lectures also begin with a song from the time period - often circulating around the big idea that will be spoken about at lecture - and end with a song - most often a song that gave off how society was feeling at the time, or just a song popular at the time period. These are not important to learn from but add a bit of fun and added connection to the information.
• ii) Readings - Readings act as a supplement to the lectures in this course, often connecting certain big topics to lectures, digging deeper into these important parts of the course. Taking good notes will not only help you when it comes to discussions in precepts, but will also act as a connection to the lectures - which will help when it comes time to study for tests. One thing that may be challenging is when these readings are due for you - they all depend on precept schedules. For me personally, I had precept Monday night, so I was often ahead by one book because I had to be. But it was nice because the book was keyed in more during the lectures, and I was able to create a stronger understanding of the material from it. I would recommend trying to read the book before the second lecture of the week, this way you too can have this stronger connection to the material. While reading, take notes as you would in lecture - big picture events, issues and ideas. People and places are also important. One good way to do this is to have a classmate or two share notes on what they read, this way you can also grab things you may have missed in your reading.
  • - Big Key for Success: Stay on top of the reading - depending on your background, 250 pages is a lot of reading.
• iii) Precept - Precept is a place for questions about lectures and more-so the book. It comes as an aid for any confusion during the reading/lectures. Once again, depending on when one’s precept is - it could add a difficulty to the class. However, with office hours - these difficulties can be averted.

Learning For and From Assignments

• i) Tests - There are only two tests in the entire course - a midterm and final. The midterm was 1974 up to about 1990. The final was mostly about after 1992, with little information from the first half of the course. The exams are broken up the same. The first part is a number of ID’s - ideas, events, people, issues. The second part is a long essay - one that would be created upon a main idea and would need knowledge of political, social and economic happenings of certain time periods. However, the possible ID’s and test questions are given in advance, so it is absolutely important that you study them before the test. They are basically giving you the test in advance, so there is no need to not be prepared. This is also why it is important to take good notes in your readings, lectures and precepts. In preparing for these tests, I would look back at my notes for readings, lectures and precepts. Ideas, events, people, etc., that come up more than once I would study and try to understand for the ID’s section. In preparing for the essay questions, I would outline my answers and if having the time, taking a stab at writing a practice essay for the exam. I found that doing this allowed me to recognize how long it would take me and would also allow me to really back up the arguments that I was going to make . A way to find success in studying for these terms is to recognize your advantages. By this I mean pay attention to the number of essay questions that you actually need to study. There will be two given on the test and three are given to you in the study guide before the midterm/final. ONLY STUDY TWO ESSAY Q’s and make it easier on yourself! There will always be at least one question that you will know the answer to. Less stress and more time to focus on two questions, which at least one is guaranteed to be on the exam.
• ii) Papers - There is a dean’s date paper that is regarded upon a certain speech given in the time period between 1974 and today. Using knowledge from the course and researching newspaper articles - one writes a paper making an argument about the speech. There is really no way to prepare before this essay. Using notes from lectures when you receive your speech though is highly critical and I recommend discussing the notes that you will use in writing this essay with a classmate to make sure you fully understand them.

External Resources

• GOOGLE! It’s your best friend and it’ll help give background upon certain events and facts. It’s important to get the background information first.
• Also, searching for youtube videos will also allow for setting up background information too.

What Students Should Know About This Course For Purposes Of Course Selection

In this course, you will learn a great amount about not only United States history since 1974 to now, but about movements, ideas and arguments that historians have made regarding the time period. It’s a good course to take if you want to take a history course at all, or even if you’re looking to fulfill a requirement. The one thing to consider, (which may not actually need to be considered) is background information. I may not recognize this as a U.S citizen but it may be different for an international student. I already had some background knowledge about what had happened in this time period, especially from 2008 to now. It may be a bit tougher for students who don’t have this background information. In regards to time, reading 250 pages a week all depends on your reading speed. For me, I was able to read in total about 3 to 4 hours. I made sure to chunk it up in order to not burn out. Other than that, I thought that the course wasn’t that time demanding, especially with how easy it is to study for the course. You will not spend hours and hours working on items for this course. The greatest benefit from this class will be the enrichment of literature and ideas from this course. This course does not shy away from any viewpoint and will take an objective look at all objects, whether it be the “religious right”, student riots, 9/11 or “Reganism” - one will be able to look at the information objectively without making a political statement or judgement. On top of this, you will have the skills to make an argument based off of historical facts - skills that are important for writing papers and projects in the future. If you’re interested in this course - take it! The lectures are intriguing and the readings are interesting. There isn’t a large time commitment and you will enjoy coming to lecture.