56611 - History And Politics Of The United States

Academic Year 2021/2022

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the most important historical events of the United States history from the Revolution through the 1990s. At the end of the course, the students knows the main aspects of the American history from a political, social, economic and cultural perspective. He/she is able to critically analyze the most relevant periods of the American historical development, to know the most important events and to contextualize them.

Course contents

The course will examine the most relevant problems of the American political and social history. Particular emphasis will be on the transatlantic and global dimensions of American historical events. The course will be organized in lectures and in seminars that will focus on a specific topic concerning the US history and politics. A special emphasis will be devoted to the contested problem of the citizenship rights in the US historical experience, in terms of race, ethnicity, class and gender differences.

Contents and syllabus of the seminar will be illustrated in class. Please, check web platform Virtuale for more information.

Students are required to attend all classes (at least 80% of them). Attending students will be required to pass the oral exam within the February 2022 session. After that date, they will be admitted as non-attending students. More details will be provided in class. However, students are required to check the information sheet uploaded on the platform Virtuale.

No recording will be available

Non-attending students: oral exam

The course is organized with lectures taught in presence, if the health-related conditions will allow it. 

Readings/Bibliography

Readings assigned to attending students

 Robert V. Remini, Breve Storia degli Stati Uniti, Milano, Bompiani, 2017.
Essays discussed in class; notes.

Readings for non-attending students.

Mandatory readings:

Robert V. Remini, Breve Storia degli Stati Uniti, Milano, Bompiani, 2017

Plus two volumes to be chosen in the following list:

Raffaella Baritono, Eleanor Roosevelt. Una biografia politica, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2021, capitoli 1,2 e 3.

Raffaella Baritono e Elisabetta Vezzosi, a cura di, Oltre il secolo americano? Gli Stati Uniti prima e dopo l'11 settembre, Roma, Carocci, 2011.

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

Matteo Battistini, Storia di un feticcio. La classe media americana dalle origini alla globalizzazione, Milano, Mimesis, 2020

Duccio Basosi, Finanza e petrolio. Gli Stati Uniti, l'oro nero e l'economia politica internazionale, Venezia, Edizione Studio LT2, 2012

Claudia Bernardi, Una storia di confine. Frontiere e lavoratori migranti tra Messico e Stati Uniti (1836-1964), Roma, Carocci, 2018.

Elisabetta Bini, La potente benzina italiana. Guerra fredda e consumi di massa tra Italia, Stati Uniti e Terzo Mondo (1945-1973), Roma, Carocci, 2013

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

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

Giovanni Borgognone, Tecnocrati del progresso. Il pensiero americano del Novecento tra capitalismo, liberalismo e democrazia, Torino, Utet Università, 2015

Benedetta Calandra, Il corpo del Caribe. Le politiche sulla riproduzione tra Puerto Rico e Stati Uniti (1898-1993), Verona, ombre corte, 2020

Stefano Cambi, Diplomazia di celluloide? Hollywood dalla seconda guerra mondiale alla guerra fredda, Milano, FrancoAngeli, 2014

Bruno Cartosio, I lunghi anni Sessanta, Milano Feltrinelli, 2012

Mario Del Pero, Henry Kissinger e l'ascesa dei neoconservatori. Alle origini della politica estera americana, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2006.

David Ellwood, Una sfida per la modernità. Europa e America nel lungo Novecento, Roma, Carocci, 2012

Ferdinando Fasce, Le anime del commercio. Pubblicità e consumi nel secolo americano, Carocci, 2012

Stefano Luconi e Matteo Pretelli, L'immigrazione negli Stati Uniti, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008

Marco Mariano, L'America nell'Occidente. Storia della dottrina Monroe (1823-1963), Roma, Carocci, 2013

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

Anders Stephanson, Destino Manifesto: l'espansionismo americano e l'impero del bene, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2004.

Umberto Tulli, Tra diritti umani e distensione: l'amministrazione Carter e il dissenso in URSS, Milano, Angeli, 2013

Nadia Venturini,Con gli occhi fissi alla meta. Il movimento afroamericano per i diritti civili, 1940-1955, Milano, FrancoAngeli, 2010

Nadia Venturini, La strada per Selma. La mobilitazione afroamericana e il Voting Rights Act del 1965, Milano, FrancoAngeli, 2015

Teaching methods

Lectures and seminars

Assessment methods

For attending students: The examination will consist of an oral exam to be passed within the February 2022 session. The oral exam will focus on Remini's book, on notes concerning the topics discussed in class and materials concerning the seminar. After that date, students will be admitted to the oral exam as non-attending students.

 

For non-attending students: oral exam on Remini's book and on the two monographs chosen among those listed above.

Teaching tools

power point presentations

Office hours

See the website of Raffaella Baritono

SDGs

Gender equality Reduced inequalities Peace, justice and strong institutions Partnerships for the goals

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.