HIST73200 – the history of North America since 1945
You are required to write a persuasive essay for this course, which includes a strong thesis as your roadmap for what you are arguing in your paper. It must be 2,000 words, double spaced, 12-font and in Arial. The page length does not include your cover page, your citations or your reference pages. The assignments must be posted in our drop box before class on the day it is due.
You can choose a general topic from the list below as I’d like you to pick something that is meaningful and interesting to you. The specific focus of the paper is up to you and if you aren’t sure what to select, feel free to come to me with ideas about what you’d like to do. You must include in your essay, all three nations that make up North America. This is not a paper about the United States alone or Canada alone or Mexico alone. Admittedly, some of the topics will have more relevance in one or two of the countries but you must discuss why the topic is not as relevant to the country that is left out of the main analysis. In other words, keep your focus on North American history.
In-text citations: In history, it is essential that you cite what you use from authors. Any idea that is not original to you MUST be cited. Plagiarism is a serious offence and will result in a mark of zero and will face further consequences under our rules of academic offenses. That means you quote all ideas, facts, quotes and things you paraphrased in your essay, that are not your own unique idea. Regardless of whether you are using in-text citations or endnotes or footnotes (you choose) = but choose only one of these methods, I require you to include the page or paragraph number from which you found your reference (so I don’t have to read the entire source to find where you got the idea from).
If you are writing your essay on the subject that you did your interview on, you may use the interview as one of your sources – as oral interviews are important sources in history. You must cite the interview by citing the individual, the date of the interview and the location of the interview, plus any other pertinent information.
You are required to use a minimum of 5 scholarly sources. In addition, you may use any sources we discussed in class. The paper must be cited using APA format.
The essay is due by the beginning of our scheduled class in week 13
This assignment is worth 20% of your final grade. You will receive a deduction of 10% per day that your essay is late, for up to one week, then the grade will be zero.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Suggested topics for the essay:
- Post-war economic development and policy – topics here include the development of Free Trade in North America or Politics such as the Reagan years, the Clinton years or the post-war years
- Military engagement in all three countries – specific topics here include: the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Iraq war or the Afghanistan war
- American, Canadian and Mexican history – specific topics here include: reform, poverty, social mobility, immigrant and ethnic groups, the city and law enforcement
- The Homefront – An exploration of the impact of WWII on North American culture and social thought. Topics include the effects of war on civil liberties and civil rights, the uses of nationalism, patriotism, and racial ideology, the internment of Japanese-Americans, responses to the Holocaust, and the effects of war on social life
- The Holocaust and its impact on North American life. Topics here can incorporate film, literature, journalism, social scientific writing, diaries, court cases, and other primary sources to examine how events in Europe affected and were affected by developments in North American history
- Race and power. Topics here include the impact of slavery and civil rights, Japanese and Chinese: Gender and class differences, as well as such constructs as “community,” “race,” and “blackness.”
- Class, Labor, and Capitalism. Topics here consider the interaction of class with race, ethnicity, gender, and political culture within the context of North American economic development; the role of unions, labor politics, and/or radical movements
- Culture, Politics, and Film in Twentieth Century. Topics here consider the relationship between film and twentieth century U.S. cultural, social, and political history; it can examine the ways that films responded to, participated in, and helped shape understandings of modernity, national identity, political power, race and ethnic relations, gender, and crises such as economic depression and war
- The history of women since 1945. Topics here include feminism within various contexts; themes include family and community formation, social activism, education, paid and unpaid labor patterns, war, migration, and changing conceptions of womanhood and femininity in the twentieth century
- North American urban society. Topics include physical development, immigration, politics, and changes in society and culture
- The Environmental history of North America. Topics here should include an overview of land use and environmental change in North America; and it could include ideas and practices that shaped indigenous and non-indigenous resource exploitation, and discusses management and activism to the end of the twentieth century
- Topics here explore immigration policies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It emphasizes the implications of these policies for domestic politics and international relations in each country, the effect on relations among them, and prospects for immigration in North America as a region
- Counter-cultures in North America after WWII. Topics here are widespread but could explore sex, drugs, rock and roll, as well as technology and capitalism
- Mass consumerism in North America. Topics here are numerous and could include anything from Walt Disney to technological change to how and why there has been so much change since 1945.
- How historically accurate is Hollywood in the way it portrays the military? Compare and contrast 3 movies/biographies and discuss this question in an essay. Don’t forget a thesis and strong research to show it is more than just your ideas about the topic. Suggested movie titles include, but are not limited to: Bridge of Spies; The Right Stuff; Shake Hands with the Devil.