23960 - History of the United States

Learning outcomes

The course will study the history of the United States, looking at the political institutions and the economic, social and cultural understandings that have shaped the making of the American State, from the revolutionary birth of the Republic up today. At the end of the course students will be expected to know the US constitution and the political system, to identify and interpret the key events of the national history, its economic and political continuities and fractures, and to know the main themes of historiographical debates on the American history.

 

Course contents

The course will study the history of the United States, looking at the political institutions and the economic, social and cultural understandings that have shaped the making of the American State, from the revolutionary birth of the Republic up today. At the end of the course students will be expected to know the US constitution and the political system, to identify and interpret the key events of the national history, its economic, cultural and political continuities and fractures, to know the main political cultures that have characterized the American democracy and its party system, and to know the main themes of historiographical debates on the making of the American State and nation. The course is divided in two parts: 1) from the Revolution to the Civil War; 2) from the Gilded Age to nowadays. The course consists on traditional lectures, seminar discussions and papers' presentations.

Readings/Bibliography

PROGRAM FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS

1) Arnaldo Testi, La formazione degli Stati Uniti, Bologna, Il Mulino 2003;

2) Arnaldo Testi, Il secolo degli Stati Uniti, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2017

Attending students will also study essays that will be provided and discussed in class. 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS SCHEDULE:

1) Arnaldo Testi, La formazione degli Stati Uniti, Il Mulino 2003

2) Arnaldo Testi, Il secolo degli Stati Uniti, Il Mulino, 2017

3) And two between:

Matteo Battistini, Una Rivoluzione per lo Stato. Thomas Paine e la Rivoluzione americana nel Mondo Atlantico, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2012

Tiziano Bonazzi, Abraham Lincoln. Un dramma americano, Il Mulino, 2016

Tiziano Bonazzi, La rivoluzione americana, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2018

Bruno Cartosio, I lunghi anni Sessanta: movimenti sociali e cultura politica negli Stati Uniti, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2012.

Bruno Cartosio, La grande frattura: concentrazione della ricchezza e disuguaglianze negli Stati Uniti, Verona, Ombre corte, 2013.

Mario Del Pero, Era Obama. Dalla speranza del cambiamento all'elezione di Trump, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2017.

Nadia Venturini, La strada per Selma: la mobilitazione afroamericana e il Voting Rights Act del 1965, Milano, Angeli, 2015

A. Santese, La pace atomica. Ronald Reagan e il movimento antinucleare (1979-1987), Le Monnier, 2016

Elisabetta Vezzosi, Madri e Stato. Politiche sociali negli Stati Uniti del Novecento, Roma, Carocci, 2002

Robert Wiebe, La democrazia americana, a cura di Tiziano Bonazzi, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures and seminar discussions

Assessment methods

For Attending Students: two written text and a final oral test.

For Non-Attending Students: final oral test.

Teaching tools

Essays, Power Point.

Office hours

See the website of Matteo Battistini