AMS.1000 The American Dream
This course introduces the methods, materials, and theoretical approaches used in the interdisciplinary study of American society and culture. Through close reading of selected texts (novels, films, essays), we will analyze the ideals and myths about America and the American dream which form the basis of American consciousness. Writers studied include John Winthrop, Thomas Jefferson, Alexis de Tocqueville, Henry Adams, Margaret Fuller, Mark Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Martin Luther King, Jr. The films of directors such as John Ford, Frank Capra, and Francis Ford Coppola will be examined.
LA