Commonalities

Georgia O'Keeffe, Red Poppies (1927)

All sections of American Studies share a great deal--including the Humanities rubric for academic writing, course guidelines, grading scale, and common textbooks. Starting from a shared belief in the value of reading texts closely, analyzing these texts within their historical context, and discussing ideas and questions raised by these texts, each American Studies instructor develops a course syllabus and plans engaging class activities based on the instructor's expertise and interest. All instructors meet individually with students to provide direct writing support.


Common Textbooks

Core Texts:

  • Cobbs, Elizabeth and Edward J. Bloom, editors. Major Problems in American History, Vols. 1 and 2. Cengage Learning, 2017.

  • Lauter, Paul, general editor. The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition, Vols. 1 and 2. Cengage Learning, 2014.

Additional Texts:

  • Binder, Frederick M. and David M. Reimers, editors. The Way We Lived, Vols. 1 and 2. Cengage Learning, 2017.

  • Gorn, Elliott J., and Randy Roberts, Susan Schulten, and Terry D. Bilhartz, editors. Constructing the American Past, Vols. 1 and 2. Oxford UP, 2017.

  • Hughes, Robert. American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America. Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.

  • Marcus, Greil, and Werner Sollors. A New Literary History of America. Harvard University Press, 2009.

  • Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States, 2005.

  • Novels, short fiction, and plays such as The Scarlet Letter, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Red Badge of Courage, The Awakening, My Antonia, The Great Gatsby, Beloved, The Sun Also Rises, Their Eyes Were Watching God, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Things They Carried, Beloved, and A Mercy.