Writing Assignments

Cold War America
History 622-0727, Summer 2000
Professor Lavender


13 June: Get a valid library card for the New York Branch Libraries and for the College of Staten Island Library (you will be asked to verify that you have both at class). Then, check out one primary account of life in America during the Cold War period to bring with you to class. You will submit a page with the following information, in the following format:
Author, Title (City Where Published: Publisher, Date Published).
One sentence summary of what the primary account covers.
For example:
Lillian Hellman, Scoundrel Time (Boston: Little, Brown, 1976).
Playwright Hellman, a prominent leftist, gives her account of the Red Scare of the 1940s and 1950s; this volume of memoir combines with two others--An Unfinished Woman (Boston: Little, Brown, 1969) and Pentimento (Boston: Little, Brown, 1973).
Due: Tuesday, 13 June 2000.

15 June: Identify the ten most important and interesting events which took place between 1940 and 1975, and provide the significance for each. Due 15 June 2000.

20 June: Identify the thesis of Paul Boyer's By the Bomb's Early Light. Restate that thesis in one to two sentences. Due 20 June 2000.

22 June: Answer the following question in a brief (two paragraphs) essay: What one event do you believe was the key to creating Cold War hostilities between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.? What was the domestic expression of that event in the United States? Be sure to support your argument with specific evidence. Due 22 June 2000.

27 June: Identify the thesis and provide a brief outline of the argument in Stephen J. Whitfield's The Culture of the Cold War. Due 27 June 2000.

29 June: What are the sources used by Peter Biskind in Seeing is Believing? Does he use those sources accurately? What other sources might be used to discuss this topic? Due 29 July 2000.

11 July: By now, you should have selected your artifact for the artifact assignment. Provide a thesis statement for your paper, along with a bibliography of primary and secondary sources which you will be using. Due 11 July 2000.

13 July: Trace the historiography behind George Herring's "The Vietnam War." In what ways is his perspective new or original, a departure from the traditional view, or a continuation of it? Is Herring's perspective on the war Traditionalist, Revisionist, or Post-Revisionist? Examine this in a brief (2-3 pages) essay. Due 13 July 2000.

18 July: According to Anne Moody in her memoir, Coming of Age in Mississippi, what were the barriers she faced as an African American woman? Which of these was the most difficult for her to overcome, and how did she do so? Why does she identify several barriers, and what does this reveal about her experiences? Examine this in a brief (2-3 pages) essay. Due 18 July 2000.


Prepared by Professor Catherine Lavender for HST 622 (Cold War America), at The College of Staten Island of The City University of New York, Summer Semester 2000. Send email to lavender@postbox.csi.cuny.edu
Last modified: Tuesday 6 June 2000.