21H.223 War & American Society (MIT)
Writing in the wake of the Civil War, poet Walt Whitman insisted that "the real war will never get in the books." Throughout American history, the experience of war has fundamentally shaped the ways that Americans think about themselves, their fellow Americans, and the meanings of national citizenship. War has also posed challenges of representation, both for those who fought as well as those who did not. This subject examines how Americans have told the stories of modern war in history, literat
21L.485 20th-Century Fiction (MIT)
Tradition and innovation in representative fiction of the early modern period. Recurring themes: the role of the artist in the modern period, the representation of psychological and sexual experience, the virtues (and defects) of the aggressively experimental character of so many modern books. Works by such writers as Conrad, Kipling, Isaac Babel, Kafka, James, Lawrence, Mann, Ford Madox Ford, Joyce, Woolf, Faulkner, and Nabokov.
21L.501 The American Novel (MIT)
The theme for this class is "American Revolution." We will read authors who record, on the one hand, the failures of the American revolution, with its dream of democracy and freedom for all, and on the other hand the potential for narrative to reenact that revolution successfully. In different ways, these authors overturn traditional or unethical authority through their literary innovations. Although certain classic American historical, political, and cultural issues will be at the center of our
21L.006 American Literature (MIT)
This is a HASS-D CI course. Like other communications-intensive courses in the humanities, arts, and social sciences, it allows students to produce 20 pages of polished writing with careful attention to revision. It also offers substantial opportunities for oral expression, through presentations of written work, student-led discussion, and class participation. The class has a low enrollment that ensures maximum attention to student writing and opportunity for oral expression, and a writing
21L.470 Eighteenth-Century Literature: Versions of the Self in 18th-C Britain (MIT)
When John Locke declared (in the 1690 Essay Concerning Human Understanding) that knowledge was derived solely from experience, he raised the possibility that human understanding and identity were not the products of God's will or of immutable laws of nature so much as of one's personal history and background. If on the one hand Locke's theory led some to pronounce that individuals could determine the course of their own lives, however, the idea that we are the products of our experience just as
21H.105 American Classics (MIT)
"What then is the American, this new man?" asked J. Hector St-John de Crèvecoeur in his Letters from an American Farmer in 1782. This subject takes Crèvecoeur's question as the starting point for an examination of the changing meanings of national identity in the American past. We will consider a diverse collection of classic texts in American history to see how Americans have defined themselves and their nation in politics, literature, art, and popular culture. As a communications
4.651 20th Century Art (MIT)
Critical examination of major developments in European and American art during the past century. Surveys art's engagements with modernization, radical politics, utopianism, mass culture, changing conceptions of mind and human nature, new technologies, colonialism and postcolonialism, and other significant aspects of recent history.
21H.615 The Middle East in 20th Century (MIT)
This course explores the 20th-century history of the Middle East, concentrating on the Fertile Crescent, Egypt, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, and Iran. We will begin by examining the late Ottoman Empire and close with the events of 9/11 and their aftermath. Readings will include historical surveys, novels, and primary source documents.
21F.730 Twentieth and Twentyfirst-Century Spanish American Literature (MIT)
Este semestre la materia combina obras ya canonizadas de finales del siglo XIX y del XX con algunas obras de reciente aparición. De los géneros literarios, vemos poesía, el cuento corto, la novela y la autobiografía. También vemos una película de tema ficticio y dos documentales. El estudiante que se interese por hacerlo puede usar los materiales en la Reserva y en la red para familiarizarse con la historia literaria y cinematográfica de este per&
21H.952J Readings in American History Since 1877 (MIT)
This seminar aims to develop a teaching knowledge of the field through extensive reading and discussion of major works. The reading covers a broad range of topics - political, economic, social, and cultural - and represents a variety of historical methods.
The American Novel Since 1945
In "The American Novel Since 1945" students will study a wide range of works from 1945 to the present. The course traces the formal and thematic developments of the novel in this period, focusing on the relationship between writers and readers, the conditions of publishing, innovations in the novel's form, fiction's engagement with history, and the changing place of literature in American culture. The reading list includes works by Richard Wright, Flannery O'Connor, Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Keroua
17.471 American National Security Policy (MIT)
This course examines the problems and issues confronting American national security policymakers and the many factors that influence the policies that emerge. But this is not a course about "threats," military strategies, or the exercise of military power.
What threatens those interests? How should the U.S. defend those interests? What kind of military should we build? Should the U.S. enter into alliances with other countries? Do we need a larger Navy? How much should we spend on weapons procure
17.037 American Political Thought (MIT)
This course surveys American political thought from the colonial era to the present. Required readings are drawn mainly from primary sources, including writings of politicians, activists, and theorists. Topics include the relationship between religion and politics, rights, federalism, national identity, republicanism versus liberalism, the relationship of subordinated groups to mainstream political discourse, and the role of ideas in politics. We will analyze the simultaneous radicalism and weak
15.391 Early Stage Capital (MIT)
15.391 examines the elements of raising early stage capital, focusing on start-up ventures and the early stages of company development. This course also prepares entrepreneurs to make the best use of outside advisors, and to negotiate effective long-term relationships with funding sources. Working in teams, students interact with venture capitalists and other professionals throughout the semester.
Disclaimer: The web sites for this course and the materials they offer are provided for educational
21A.230J The Contemporary American Family (MIT)
We begin by considering briefly the evolution of the family, its cross-cultural variability, and its history in the West. We next examine how the family is currently defined in the U.S., discussing different views about what families should look like. Class and ethnic variability and the effects of changing gender roles are discussed in this section. We next look at sexuality, traditional and non-traditional marriage, parenting, divorce, family violence, family economics, poverty, and famil
17.20 Introduction to the American Political Process (MIT)
This class introduces students to innovative as well as classic approaches to studying U.S. government. The writing assignments will help you explore, through a variety of lenses, statis and change in the American political system over the last three decades. In the end each student will have a solid grounding in our national political institutions and processes, sharper reading and writing skills, and insight into approaching politics critically and analytically.
Tapping the Roots of American Music
Teacher's Guide for using the American Roots Music documentary series in the classroom. The resources offered here are designed to help you use the PBS American Roots Music video series and companion Web site in middle school and high school social studies and history classes. American Roots Music may be taped off-air and used for up to a year following broadcast, or you may choose to purchase it through Shop PBS for Teachers.
Crucible of Empire: The Spanish-American War
The Spanish-American War was a complex and significant event that should be examined from all angles and perspectives. Students may be particularly interested in Spanish-American War issues that remain relevant today, namely the role of the media in the war and questions regarding foreign intervention. Educators are encouraged to use the film CRUCIBLE OF EMPIRE: THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR to complement their lessons in history, journalism, government, and political science classrooms.
17.428 American Foreign Policy: Theory and Method (MIT)
This course examines the causes and consequences of American foreign policy since 1898. Course readings cover both substantive and methods topics. Four substantive topics are covered:
major theories of American foreign policy;
major episodes in the history of American foreign policy and historical/interpretive controversies about them;
the evaluation of major past American foreign policies--were their results good or bad? and
current policy controversies, including means of evaluating proposed
21L.702 Studies in Fiction: Stowe, Twain, and the Transformation of 19th-Century America (MIT)
This seminar looks at two bestselling nineteenth-century American authors whose works made the subject of slavery popular among mainstream readers. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain have subsequently become canonized and reviled, embraced and banned by individuals and groups at both ends of the political and cultural spectrum and everywhere in between.
