In a well-written and thoughtfully organized essay, answer ONE of the questions listed below. The essay is to be SEVEN to EIGHT pages in length, double-spaced, with 1” margins and 12-point Times or Times Roman font. You must number your pages and use a proper citation method. If you choose in-text parenthetical citations, i.e. (Hayden, 209), you must include a bibliography in addition to your seven to eight pages of text. If you choose Chicago-style footnotes using your Microsoft Word footnote function, you do not need an additional bibliography. Excellent essays will demonstrate proficiency with all of the reading assignments since the midterm and draw smart connections between the readings, films, and lectures. Be sure to establish a clear historical context in your answer.
1) Post-World War II United States urbanization patterns can be characterized by the interrelated processes of suburbanization and segregation. What social and political factors contributed to the growth of American suburbia after World War II? How did suburban life represent Cold War domestic ideologies? Postwar gender roles? Ideas about race and class? Which federal policies promoted the growth of suburbia? How were these policies implemented and what were their implications for the American inner city? How has suburbia proven a disappointing manifestation of the “American dream?” Be sure to consider suburbia’s relationship to consumerism, family life, and the construction of living space. You might consider drawing upon the Dolores Hayden’s Building Suburbia, Jon C. Teaford’s The Twentieth Century American City, lecture materials, and other course readings and in-class films.
2) United States cities, since the 1960s, can be understood in the political economic terms of deindustrialization, globalization, and postmodernity. Giant shifts in the world economy have affected how our cities grow and change. How do you characterize these processes? How do these massive political and economic processes affect the American city? What cities experience this change most drastically? How have urban identities changed? Hal Rothman’s Playing the Odds, Jon C. Teaford’s The Twentieth Century American City, and Dolores Hayden’s Building Suburbia along with lectures, films, and other course materials will help you construct an essay addressing the social, cultural, and economic features of the post-1960s American city.
Readings Read:
The Twentieth-Century American City, Jon C. Teaford 3rd Edition 2016.
Going Out: The Rise and Fall of Public Amusements, David Nasaw
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Eric Larson
Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820-2000, Dolores Hayden
American Urban Form: A representative history, Warner, Sam Bass
Correct Citation:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/11/
