Assignment requirement:

In class, we discussed the contrast between a "progress narrative"--a story where things are getting better--or the "angel of history," who says that things are getting worse over time.

Imagine that you are discussing what you have learned in this class with someone from outside our class, like a friend or family member.

In 750-1000 words, choose ONE topic from this class that you think illustrates either an Angel of History moment or a progress narrative. Describe that topic to this outsider, and make an argument for why you see it as an example of progress or failure.

Course requirement:

This course examines the history of America from 1900 to the present. We will consider the twentieth century and the building of the modern world through key themes and interpretive debates, including industrialization, the changing role of the United States in the community of nation-states, developments in science and technology, the key ideological debates of the twentieth century, the nature of modern warfare, and conflicts over the application of state power by various groups for relative advantage (i.e. segregation and Jim Crow, in the South).

Topic from lecture

1. a philadelphia physician goes to war.

2. Radium reading.

3. Planet money , gold standard and great depression.

4. Planet money keynes podcast.

5. Yergin, the prize.

6. The atomic cafe.

7. Brown and 30 year mortgage.

8. Globalization and its discontent.

9. an affluent society.

10. business culture to great depression.