Engl 2013-Syllabus

American Studies 2003: The Sixties

	Instructor:		Carl Brucker
	Phone:		(479) 968-0484
	Office Hours:		M-F: 8-10 and 2-3
	E-mail Address:		cbrucker@atu.edu

	Scroll down to read assignments or click below to jump to specific weeks: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
	Required Texts
	Bloom, Alexander and Wini Breines, Takin’ It to the Streets, Second Edition, Oxford (2003). Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat’s Cradle, Dell. (1963). Brautigan, Donald. Trout Fishing in America; The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster; In Watermelon Sugar, Mariner-Houghton Mifflin (1967, 1968, 1968). Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, Harper Collins (1963 in England as Victoria Lucas) (1971 in U.S. as Sylvia Plath).

Weekly Assignment Schedule

	Week One return to top of page
Thurs Aug 23	Introduction--Why study the Sixties? What is interdisciplinary study? How to use the course’s online Discussion Board. Presentation: Presidents and Vice Presidents of the 1960s
	WeekTwo return to top of page
Tues Aug 28	Read: Bloom, “Past as Prologue,” pp. 1-11. Video: “Seeds of the Sixties” Presentation: Seeds of the Sixties Presentation: Beach Boys, “Fun, Fun, Fun” “Get Around.”
Thurs Aug 29	Read: Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle, pages 1-140. Presentation: Kurt Vonnegut Login: to Blackboard and review the Forum One questions on the Class Discussion Board. Post a 150+ word response to one of the questions by 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 6. Click here for suggestions on how to write a better response.
	Week Three return to top of page
Tues Sept 4	Read: Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle, pages 141-287. To read an article that I published on Vonnegut and Cat's Cradle click here. Presentation: The Absurd, Nihilism, Black Humor, and Existentialism
Thurs Sep 6	Presentation: Dr. Strangelove Film: Dr. Strangelove (1964) Discussion Board Response 1 due
	Week Four return to top of page
Tues Sept 11	Read: Bloom, “Civil Rights to 1966,” Martin Luther King, Jr. “The Power of Nonviolence,” Anne Moody, “The Jackson Sit-In,” “SNCC: Founding Statement,” James Farmer and John Lewis, “The Freedom Rides” pp. 13-27 Presentation: Elizabeth Eckford Presentation: We Can Change the World Video: “We Can Change the World”
Thurs Sep 13	Read: Bloom, “The Student Movement and the New Left,” “The Port Huron Statement” pp. 49-61, “The Sharon Statement” pp. 290-291, Michael Rossman “The Wedding Within the War,” Mario Savio “An End to History,” “Free Speech Movement Leaflets,” pp. 81-96. Presentation: Port Huron and Sharon Statements Presentation: Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, and “Protest” Music Presentation: Music Business and Technology in the 1960s Login: to Blackboard and review the Forum Two questions on the Class Discussion Board. Post a 150+ word response to one of the questions by 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 18. Click here for suggestions on how to write a better response.
	Week Five return to top of page
Tues Sept 18	Read: Bloom, “The Counterculture,” pp. 227-229, Janis Joplin “Love, Janis” pp. 240-242, John Sincliar “Rock and Roll is a Weapon of Cultural Revolution” pp. 243-245, “Air Pollution?” “Re. David A. Noebel “Rhythm, Riots and Revolution” pp. 324-329. Video: “Breaking Boundaries, Testing Limits.” Discussion Board Response 2 due
Thurs Sep 20	Read: Bloom, Gary Snyder “Buddhism and the Coming Revolution,” pp. Malcolm Boyd, “Are You Running With Me Jesus?” 246-254, “Unstructured Relations,” “The Free-Sex Movement,” Guy Strait “What is a Hippie?” pp. 264-270, “The Digger Paper,” “Yippie Manifesto,” Jerry Rubin “Do It” pp. 273-282. Presentation: Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, “Almost Cut My Hair”, The Barbarians “Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?” Presentation: Lonnie Frisbee and the Jesus Movement. Presentation: Sex and the Supreme Court in the Sixties
	Week Six return to top of page
Tues Sept 25	Presentation: Television in the Sixties Review for Examination # 1. Topics and Guidelines for Research Report
Thurs Sep 27	Examination # 1
	Week Seven return to top of page
Tues Oct 2	Read: Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America , pp. 1-52. Presentation: Brautigan
Thurs Oct 4	Read: Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America , pp. 53-112 Login: to Blackboard and review the Forum Three questions on the Class Discussion Board. Post a 150+ word response to one of the questions by 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 11. Click here for suggestions on how to write a better response.
	Week Eight return to top of page
Tues Oct 9	Read: Brautigan, The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster, pp. 1-108. Presentation: Art in 1960s
Thurs Oct 11	Presentation: The Graduate and the New Directors Film: The Graduate (1967) Discussion Board Response 3 due
	Week Nine return to top of page
Tues Oct 16	Read: Bloom “Black Nationalism and Ethnic Consciousness,” Malcolm X “The Ballot or the BulletPaul Bullock “Watts: The Aftermath,” SNCC “The Basis for Black Power” pp. 103-121, National Council of American Indians “Watts and Little Big Horn” pp. 150-152. Presentation: Race and Ethnicity
Thurs Oct 18	Video:“In a Dark Time.” Music: Buffalo Springfield “For What It’s Worth” Crosby Stills Nash Young “Teach Your Children Well.” Login: to Blackboard and review the Forum Four questions on the Class Discussion Board. Post a 150+ word response to one of the questions by 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 25. Click here for suggestions on how to write a better response.
	Week Ten return to top of page
Tues Oct 23	Read: Bloom “Vietnam and the Antiwar Movement,” “The Vietnamese Declaration of Independence” pp. 153-157, Lyndon Johnson “Why Fight in vietnam,” George Skakel “One Soldier’s View,” Paul Potter “The Incredible War” pp. 166-178, Martin Luther King, Jr. “Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam,’ Daniel Berrigan “Berrigan at Cornell, “ “Channeling” pp.186-194. Presentation: Vietnam Music: Jimi Hendrix, “Star-Spangled Banner”; Country Joe McDonald, “Fixin’ to Die Rag.”
Thurs Oct 25	Read: Bloom, “My Lai,” Lynda Van Devanter “Home Before Morning, John Kerry “Vietnam Veterans Against the War,” Robert Cagle “One Vet Remembers” pp. 209-226. Music: Barry Sadler, “The Ballad of the Green Berets,” Credence Clearwater Revival, “Fortunate Son,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” “Run Through the Jungle.” Presentation: Media and Vietnam. Discussion Board Response 4 due
	Week Eleven return to top of page
Tues Oct 30	Examination # 2
Thurs Nov 1	Read: Bloom, Chapter Seven: “1968 and After” pp. 331-333, “Harvard University Strike Poster” p. 341, Ronald Fraser “Voices” pp. 348-353, Lewis Chester, Godfrey Hodgson, and Bruce Page “An American Melodrama” pp. 358-364. Presentations: 1968
	Week Twelve return to top of page
Tues Nov 6	Read: Bloom, “”The Conservative Impulse in a Radical Age” pp. 287-289, Richard Nixon, If Mob Rules Take Hold in the U.S.,” Ronald Reagan “FreedomVs. Anarchy on Campus,” Pete Hamill “Wallace,” Michael Novak “Why Wallace?” pp. 294-304, Spiro T. Agnew “Impudence in the Streets”, Paul Goldfinger “Tony Imperiale Stands Vigilant for Law and Order” pp. 310-317.
Thurs Nov 8	Read: Bloom, “The President’s Commision of Campus Unrest “Kent State,” Tom Grace “Get Off Our Campus,” James Michiner “What Did they Expect Spitballs?” The President’s Commission on Campus Unrest “Jackson State” pp. 476-493 Video: “Picking Up the Pieces.” Music: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, “Ohio.”
	Week Thirteen return to top of page
Tues Nov 13	Read: Bloom, “The Women’s Liberation Movement,” Betty Friedan “The Problem That Has No Name,” pp. 387-393, Gloria Steinem “What Would It Be Like If Women Win,” “No More Miss America” pp. 399-406, Pat Mainardi “The Politics of Housework” pp. 409-415, Robin Morgan “Goodby to All That,” Anne Koedt “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” pp. 418-434. Presentation: Feminism in the 1960s Music: Aretha Franklin, “Respect.”
Thurs Nov 15	Presentation: 1960s Advertisements Music: Janis Joplin (Big Brother and the Holding Company) “Me and Bobby McGee”
	Week Fourteen return to top of page
Tues Nov 20	Read: Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, chs. 1-10, pp. 1-103 Presentation: Sylivia Plath Login: to Blackboard and review the Forum Five questions on the Class Discussion Board. Post a 150+ word response to one of the questions by 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 29. Click here for suggestions on how to write a better response. Research paper due
Thurs Nov 22	No Class–Thanksgiving
	Week Fifteen return to top of page
Tues Nov 27	Read: Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, chs. 11-20, pp. 104-200
Thurs Nov 29	Film: Easy Rider (1969) Login: to Blackboard and review the Forum Six questions on the Class Discussion Board. Post a 150+ word response to one of the questions by 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 6. Click here for suggestions on how to write a better response. Discussion Board Response 5 due
	Week Sixteen
Tues Dec 4	Read: Bloom, Lucian Truscott “Gay Power Comes to Sheridan Square” pp. 499-502, Paul Ehrlich “The Population Bomb” pp. 520-523, Frances Moore Lappé “Diet for a Small Planet” pp. 526-529. Presentation: Gay Liberation Presentation: Regulations and Environmentalism
Thurs Dec 6	Video: “Legacies of the Sixties” Review for final Discussion Board Response 6 due
	Finals Week
Thur Dec 13	10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Final Examination

Grade Computation
	each	total
Reading Quizzes (unannounced)	5 pts. @	50 pts.
Discussion Board Responses	10 points @	50 points
Examinations # 1 and # 2	100 points @	200 points
Research report (500-750 words)		100 points
Final Examination		100 points
		500 points

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updated: December 6, 2007