US History II

In this unit we study World War II (both abroad and at home) and the transition to the Cold War (both abroad and at home) and end with middle-class culture of the 1950s. We’re drawing mainly from Chapters 24 -26. During this unit you’ll have two workshops, two SkillBuilders, an online quiz (on Chapter 27) and an exam. Some of you were given the option to revise your Primary Source papers – if so, the revision packets are due back to me on Mon, April 1st.

Mon 3/25 – Road to War, Organizing for Victory. Reading ACH Ch 24 p. 724-739. Handout: Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech, January 1941

Today’s link: Simon Schama, “The Power of Art: Picasso’s Guernica” (on Youtube, in 4 parts – we watched a bit of Parts 1 and 4 in class, but the whole show is terrific)

Wed 3/27 – Life on the WW2 Homefront. Reading ACH Ch 24 p. 739-745. Handout on Gordon Hirabayashi

Links for today:

“It’s Everybody’s War” (1945) – 15 minute OWI promo showing homefront civilian commitment to the war effort, narrated by Henry Fonda

NPR Fresh Air interview with Lynne Olsen, author of a new book on the America First committee and the debate over whether the US should enter WW2 1939-1941 (3/26/13)

Fri 3/29 – Fighting and Winning the War. Reading ACH Ch 24 p. 745-756. SkillBuilder #5 due. Handout: Adam Kirsch, “Is World War II Still ‘The Good War’?” (NYT, 5/27/11)

Mon 4/1 – Cold War America. Reading: ACH Ch 25 (skim/take notes on entire chapter) 

Wed 4/3 – Workshop Day: McCarthyism. Review ACH Ch 24-25 – BRING LAPTOPS, please

Fri 4/5 – The Middle Class Triumphant. Reading ACH Ch 26 p. 787-806. Quiz opens up, on Chapter 27. SkillBuilder #6 due.

Mon 4/8 – Gender, Sex and the Family in the ’50s. Reading: ACH Ch 26 p. 807-815

Wed 4/10 – Workshop Day: the Suburbs. Review ACH Ch 26

Fri 4/12 – Exam #3 in class. Online Quiz closes at 9:00 am.

(Photo credit: from here)