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The United States Since World War Two - MHIS271

This unit provides an in-depth examination of American history since 1945, including an analysis of the profound political, economic, and social changes within the United States, along with the transformation of America's role in world affairs following World War II. Although most lectures will deal in turn with domestic and foreign aspects of modern US history, the unit also explores their interactions at every stage from the era of McCarthyism, when Cold War paranoia produced social and political repression at home, to the 1960s with its challenges to the prevailing order and values, through the post-Cold War period, characterized by uncertainties in foreign policy and ongoing domestic divisions. The unit concludes with an examination of the post-9/11 period, which has posed new challenges to American foreign policy, and tested the social, political, and cultural fabric of what Winston Churchill once described as “the great republic.” Considerable attention will be given to the aspirations and activism of African-Americans, other minorities, and women, whose experiences have often been at odds with American ideology and rhetoric about national uniqueness based on freedom and democracy.

Credit Points: 3
When Offered:

S2 Day - Session 2, North Ryde, Day

S2 External - Session 2, External (On-campus sessions: None)

Staff Contact(s): Professor Chris Dixon
Prerequisites:

12cp at 100 level or above or (3cp in HIST or MHIS or POL units) Prerequisite Information

Corequisites:

NCCW(s): MHIS203
Unit Designation(s):
Unit Type:
Assessed As: Graded
Offered By:

Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations

Faculty of Arts

Course structures, including unit offerings, are subject to change.
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