Postwar America (1945-1975)
Assignment
Journal Articles
“Intimidation: Hiroshima, the Japanese, and the Soviets,” in Wilson Miscamble, From Roosevelt to Truman: Potsdam, Hiroshima, and the Cold War, (NY: Cambridge University Press, 2007.)
Dallek, “Three New Revelations About LBJ,” The Atlantic Monthly
Primary Source Analysis
U.S. Recognition of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948-
Executive Order 9981-Desegregation of the Armed Forces” (July 26, 1948)
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, August 5, 1964
“War on Poverty Speech,” March 16, 1964
Video Documentaries
“Who Killed Malcolm X”
“The Tet Offensive”
*You must respond to EVERY source above, each Journal Article (2), each Primary Source (3), and each Video Documentary (2). Please respond in essay form and use the guidelines below for clarity. *
Guidelines for Article Critiques (approximately 500 words)
First of all, for any type of journal article your critique should include some basic information:
- Name(s) of the author(s)
- Title of article
- Title of journal, volume number, date, month and page numbers
- Statement of the problem or issue discussed
- The author’s purpose, approach or me
thods, hypothesis, and major conclusions.
The bulk of your critique, however, should consist of your qualified opinion of the article. Read the article you are to critique once to get an overview. Then read it again, critically. At this point you may want to make some notes to yourself on your copy.
Guidelines for Primary Source Analysis (approximately 250 words)
Think about the purpose of the source. What was the author’s message or argument? What was he/she trying to get across? Is the message explicit, or are there implicit messages as well?
Guidelines for Documentary Critique (approximately 250 words)
- What were the major ideas and topics discussed in the documentary?
- What were some of the strengths and weaknesses of the documentary?
- What was the most important historical idea presented in the documentary
