History

While grading is primarily based upon your understanding and critical analysis of the issue, good form will also be taken into account. Please check carefully for spelling and grammatical errors before submitting your essay.   Remember to cite direct quotations.  As a rule they can be valuable in underscoring a point, but avoid lengthy and excessive quotations: they are boring.  With regard to formatting, you should simply note the author and page number in a parenthetical reference.  For example, “The 1880s witnessed a new wave of labor organizing.  At its center stood the Knights of Labor” (Foner 629).  Finally, do not plagiarize.  No credit will be given for dishonest work.

Here are your prompts: (YOU CAN CHOOSE ONE)

1.  The 1920s witnessed such dramatic technological and social change that it has been called the birth of modern America. And yet there was as much reaction to such changes.  Discuss the tensions between fundamentalism and pluralism in the culture wars of the 1920s.

2.  Did the New Deal solve the problem of the Great Depression? If not, why is it so important?  Discuss the short-term and long-term significance of Roosevelt’s approach to the crisis of the l930s.

3.  According to Eric Foner, “the unprecedented attention to freedom as the defining characteristic of American life had implications that went far beyond wartime mobilization” during World War II. Discuss the ways the war revealed “the American dilemma” and in turn shaped the experience of African Americans and other minorities.

4.  Discuss the rise of containment following World War II. What were the ideas surrounding this emerging Cold War policy? Who were the major players? Was it successful?