The class will discuss the assigned readings. Students’ active participation in discussions is absolutely necessary to making the course work well. The very high percentage of the final grade will be based on class participation. There will be two class meetings per week. Lectures will be followed by questions and discussion. All assigned readings should be completed before each class meeting.

Students who achieve high levels of academic excellence (minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5) have the option of taking specially designated Honors Courses. These may also include occasional interdisciplinary seminars open only to such students. More frequently, regular John Cabot University courses may be offered with an option of taking them for four academic credits as Honors Courses. Students who register for such courses as Honors Courses must complete additional assignments (e.g., research papers or portfolios) in which they delve more deeply into the subject matter in question. These additional assignments are graded on a "grant of Honors credit/no grant of Honors credit" basis and are not calculated into the final grade for the course. For the granting of Honors credit, students should produce work of a quality that would receive a B (3.00/4.00) or higher and this will be noted on their transcripts. Students taking a course as an Honors Course also enjoy additional mentoring time with the instructor. Instructors for Honors Courses are chosen by the Dean of Academic Affairs in conjunction with the Department Chair, based on their expertise and teaching excellence.

The seminar provides the student with a deep and critical understanding of United States History in terms of historical events, social systems, economic processes and ideologies. One of the aims of the course is to enhance student's skills in critical thinking and reading. To this end, students shall investigate one key event in the recent American history. Group discussions will be a central part of the course structure. By the end of the course, students will:

1) have a comprehensive knowledge of the subject;

2) know how to engage with historical debates in secondary literature;

3) have gained experience in investigating primary materials;

Through class discussions and seminar presentations, students will advance their skills in orally explaining an argument while through their paper they will develop the most important academic requirements such as analytical and critical thinking, research and problem-solving skills.

More than one unexcused absence will have a negative effect on the grade, the more absences, the negative-er the effect.

Letter grades and corresponding percentages for this class

94 – 100 points = A

90 – 93.99 pts = A-

87 – 89.99 = B+

83 – 86.99 = B

80 – 82.99 = B-

77 – 79.99 = C+

70 – 76.99 = C

60 – 69.99 = D

59.99 – 0 = F

week 1 - Identity, Democracy & American Dream

week 1 -The End: John Lennon in New York City

week 2 - History of Counterculture: Indians, African-Americans and European immigrants

week 3 - Sacco and Vanzetti

week 4 -Steinbeck, the 1930s and Bruce Springsteen: the American migrants

week 5 -American Poetry: From Whitman to Kerouac

week 5 -Portrait of the Beat Generation

week 6 -1950’s: Cultural Revolution

week 6 -America Divided: the 1960s

week 7 -Mario Savio and the Making of a Youth Culture

week 8 - Midterm Exam

week 9 -War on Poverty: The Other America

week 9 -Civil Rights

week 10 -Martin Luther King and Malcolm X

week 11 -The Vietnam War

week 11 -The Sixties in Sport: Cassius Clay

week 12 -The Sixties in Music: Woodstock

week 12- Black Panther's Party and American Indian Movement

week 13 -Winners, Loosers and Consequences

Final Exam