American Histories

Through works of nonfiction, fiction, film, and memoir, this course will explore themes —freedom, family, displacement, violence, and memory that cut across US history and human experience. We will tease out the various strands of culture, class, geography, and identity that shape US history. Even more, we will analyze how writers—historians and otherwise—draw on the entangled past to make sense of the world or highlight its mystery. As a final assignment, students will produce their own piece of historical writing, rooted in original research.