Academics

BLS 382: The Sixties

This course examines the origins, impact, and consequences of the social and political upheaval of the period in American history stretching from the early 1960s through the early 1970s. It will cover the civil rights movement, in many of its forms; the Vietnam War and the accompanying antiwar movement; and the origins of some of the other major and minor movements of the period—the feminist, environmental, and gay liberation movements. Other topics will include changes in popular culture, the rise and fall of the New Left, and the conservative reaction to these ideas and events. The course will conclude with a look at the legacy of this unique period and its continuing influence on contemporary America.

Textbooks

• Ward, Brian, ed. The 1960s: A Documentary Reader. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. ISBN 978-1405163309
• Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. Norton 2001 (1963). ISBN 0393322572
• Gosse, Van. The Movements of the New Left, 1950-1975: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford/St.Martin’s 2005. ISBN 0312133979
• Haley, Alex. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Ballantine 1999 (1964). ISBN 0345350685
• Herr, Michael. Dispatches. Knopf Doubleday 1991. ISBN 9780679735250