Spring 2025 - HIST 213 BLS1
The United States Since 1877 (3)
Class Number: 3853
Delivery Method: Blended
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: TBA, TBA
Burnaby -
Exam Times + Location:
Apr 14, 2025
Mon, 11:59–11:59 p.m.
Burnaby
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Instructor:
Joseph Taylor
taylorj@sfu.ca
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Prerequisites:
Recommended: HIST 212.
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
An analysis of the transformation of American culture from post-Civil War to modern forms. Topics to be discussed will include industrialization, urbanization, foreign policy, cultural and political antagonisms. Breadth-Humanities.
COURSE DETAILS:
Overview: This course surveys United States history from the end of Reconstruction to the rise of the MAGA movement. Lectures and readings trace key social and cultural themes, all stressing the importance of temporal reasoning and analysis. Students need to understand not only what happened and why, but how contexts shaped events as something more than inevitability or destiny. The course goal is to understand the past on its terms. This requires mastering the personal and specific as well as the general and conceptual. Students will engage materials ranging from lectures and primary documents to secondary essays and videos. Discussions and exams will focus on main themes in the course. The two five-page papers will analyze pre-selected documents available through Canvas.
Mode: Recorded lectures will be accessible through a MyMedia site. The scheduled tutorial on Monday mornings will focus on the lectures and readings. Weekly quizzes, papers, and exams will be administered through the Canvas “assignments” platform.
Topics: Colonialism, environmental contingencies, industrialism, nationalism, political culture, racialism and racism, religion
Grading
- Weekly Quizzes 10%
- First Paper 15%
- Midterm Exam 30%
- Second Paper 15%
- Final Exam 30%
NOTES:
2025 Alert: In Spring 2025 this course will be conducted remotely. Enrollment in this course acknowledges that remote study may entail different modes of learning, interaction with your instructor, and ways of getting feedback on your work than may be the case for in-person classes.
Students with hidden or visible disabilities who believe they need class or exam accommodations, including in the current context of remote learning, should register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca or 778-782-3112) as soon as possible to ensure that they are eligible and that approved accommodations and services are implemented in a timely fashion.
Materials
REQUIRED READING:
Love, Nat, The Life and Adventures of Nat Love
Brandeis, Louis, Other People’s Money, And How Bankers Use It
King, Martin Luther, Jr. Why We Can’t Wait
RECOMMENDED READING:
REQUIRED READING NOTES:
Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.
Registrar Notes:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS
SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION
Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.