My Idea Of A Great College History Course

In my former life at the Collegium Excellens, I taught the survey course in U.S. history and used The American People by Gary Nash and several other lesser lights as the textbook. Among the supporting cast was a gifted teacher at Wabash College named Peter Frederick. Dr. Frederick devised a textbook feature he called "Recovering The Past" and there was an RTP in every chapter. The rationale was to illustrate the diverse kinds of evidence historians use to reconstruct the past. In the chapter on the on post-WWII social history, Dr. Frederick created an RTP entitled, "Popular Music." The illustrations in that section included Bob Dylan, The Supremes, and Joan Baez. I always asked my students, "Who's missing?" Usually, one student would help with "Elvis Presley" or "The King." Sometimes, though, I would hear the sounds of silence. I was rummaging around on the Web this AM and I found the online syllabus for a history course built around Elvis Presley at Indiana University. The course was designed and taught by the chair of the history department at IU: Dr. John Bodnar. I knew the name because Bodnar's revisionist monograph on immigration was featured in the anthology that I also used in my classes: Taking Sides: Controversial Issues in American History. A chapter from Bodnar's book, The Transplanted, was the counterpoise to Oscar Handlin's The Uprooted in a question about the assimilation patterns of 19th century immigrants. I would surmise that Dr. Bodnar got away with offering a history course built around Elvis Presley is that Bodnar was the department chair. Whenever I tried something innovative at the Collegium Excellens, I came to grief over it. If this is (fair & balanced) rock'n roll, so be it.

Elvis Aron Presley 

Elvis Presley HISTORY A225: ELVIS AND POSTWAR AMERICA

Indiana University Bloomington, Spring 2003
Class Meetings: Ballantine Hall 013, Tuesday and Thursday, 1 p.m.-2:15 p.m.
Instructor: John Bodnar

Office: Ballantine Hall 742; 812-855-3226
Office Hours: Wed. 9-12 a.m.
E-Mail John Bodnar

Go to John Bodnar's Home Page
Go to History Department Home Page

Visit the STUDY QUESTIONS for this course.
Visit the FILM NOTES for this course.

Course Description

This course surveys changes in American society from World War II to the end of the 1950s. In this era Americans altered their thinking about ideals that had dominated public opinion during the war such as the acceptance of traditional forms of authority, loving and supportive relations between men and women, and ideas of generational harmony and white supremacy. These transformations are depicted nicely in postwar films such as It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) and film characters like George Bailey who represented a hope that some of those ideals would be preserved after the war. Other images in the postwar period, however, subverted the dreams for a “wonderful life.” In films like A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and Blackboard Jungle (1955) we get a different picture of the times, one that reveals more discord, pessimism, and turbulence than citizens had expected once the “good war” was won. At the end of the course we will examine the most famous symbol of change and social disorder in the fifties: Elvis Presley. We will explore the manner in which Elvis represented broader changes that were taking place in American society after 1945. George Bailey ended up curbing his personal desires for the sake of family and community needs. Elvis struggled with those ideals; he tried to remain attached to his home and family but at the same time aggressively pursued a personal agenda of fame and self-fulfillment that took him away from older ideals. Bailey was a symbol from the 1940s that in the tension between community need and personal ambition the former would win out. Elvis told Americans in the 1950s that the latter was preeminent.

Recommended Books:

There will be assigned readings, class discussions, and test or quiz questions from the books that are recommended. Visit the STUDY QUESTIONS for this course for points to consider in your readings.

Daniels, Pete. Lost Revolutions: The South in the 1950s (University of North Carolina Press, paper). On Reserve.

Guralnick, Peter. Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley (Little Brown, paper). On Reserve.

Weiss, Jessica. To Have and to Hold: Marriage, the Baby Boom and Social Change (University of Chicago Press, paper). On Reserve.

*To read more on much of the material discussed in this class, see David Halberstam, The Fifties (Fawcett, paper--On Reserve). Relevant chapters in Halberstam are indicated on your syllabus next to specific lecture topics. Readings in this book are not part of your course requirements and are suggested only for further edification. Additional readings useful for an elaboration of issues discussed in class (but not required for class use) include: for racial issues--Stephen Whitfield, A Death in the Delta: The Story of Emmett Till (Johns Hopkins); for the 1940s--William Graebner, The Age of Doubt (Waveland Press); for film and politics in the forties and fifties--John Bodnar, Blue-Collar Hollywood (Johns Hopkins); for Elvis after the fifties--Peter Guralnick, Careless Love (Little, Brown).

Key Points and Summaries for Films Shown in Class:

Key points and summaries are to be found in the FILM NOTES for this course.

Test, Quizzes, and Grades:

There will be three tests and three quizzes for the course. Each test will include at least one essay question that will require you to link lecture, reading and film material. Thus, you should take careful notes of the films you watch in class. Each of the quizzes will be about a book we discuss in class and will consist of one short essay question. You will receive a list of possible questions in advance for each book or section of a book you are assigned to read. The quizzes will come from these lists. See your syllabus for the dates of tests and quizzes including the final exam. Each test will be worth a total of 25 points. Each quiz will be worth a total of 8 points. Your goal should be to accumulate 100 points for the course. You will receive one point just for taking all the tests and quizzes.

Make-Up Tests and Quizzes:

Make-up tests and quizzes are given only with the permission of the instructor and only for very good reasons. See me after class or send me an e-mail if you want to get permission for a make-up. Only one make-up test and one make-up quiz will be allowed per student.

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism, which is the representation of someone else’s work as your own, will not be tolerated and can be grounds for failing the entire course.

Disruptive Behavior:

The Indiana University “Guidelines for Dealing with Disruptive Students in Academic Settings” states that “all students are expected to be in compliance with Indiana University’s “Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct.” Misconduct may be personal as well as academic and include sexual and racial harassment or behavior that interferes with the learning process. If a student becomes disruptive or engages in any form of misconduct, he or she can be removed from the class. For a complete description of the “Guidelines” and “Code” please contact the Office of the Dean of Students.

Weekly Lecture Topics and Assignments:

Week 1:

Jan. 14: Introduction to Course Contents and Requirements

Jan. 16 Lecture: Unity in World War II: Start Reading To Have and To Hold: Marriage, the Baby Boom, and Social Change, pp. 1-113.

Week 2:

Jan. 21: Lecture: Hollywood and Wartime Unity. Film Clip: Tender Comrade

Jan. 23: Lecture: Postwar Optimism: Men and Women United

Week 3:

Jan. 28: Lecture: Postwar Optimism: Babies and Suburbs

Jan. 30: Class Discussion and Quiz I on To Have and To Hold (pp. 1-113).

Week 4:

Feb. 4: Discuss and View: It’s A Wonderful Life (part I)

Feb. 6: Discuss and View: It’s A Wonderful Life (part II. Total film is 132 minutes)

Week 5:

Feb. 11: Test I

Feb. 13: Lecture: Violence, the Bomb, and the End of Optimism

Week 6:

Feb. 18: Lecture: The Cold War and the End of Unity (Suggested reading: Halberstam, ch. 3)

Feb. 20: Lecture: The Cold War and Hollywood

Week 7:

Feb. 25: Lecture: Insanity at Home and Film Clip: Sunset Boulevard

Feb. 27: Lecture: The Decline of Family Values (Halberstam, suggested reading: chaps. 20, 21, 22, 27)

Week 8:

Mar. 4: Lecture: Fifties Television and the Debate Over Family Values

Mar. 6: Discuss and View: A Streetcar Named Desire (part I; suggested reading: Halberstam, ch. 19).

Week 9:

Mar. 11: Discuss and View: A Streetcar Named Desire (part II; total film is 125 minutes)

Mar. 13: Test II. (airline reservations that conflict with this test will not be accepted as a valid excuse for missing the test since you have this date far in advance of your spring break.)(Start reading Pete Daniel, Lost Revolutions: The South in the 1950s over the break, chaps: 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11)

Week 10:

Mar. 18: Spring Break

Mar. 20: Spring Break

Week 11:

Mar. 25: Lecture: Changing Attitudes Toward Race (film clip: Home of the Brave)

Mar. 27: Lecture: Changing Attitudes Toward Race

Week 12:

Apr. 1: Discussion and Quiz II on Daniel, Lost Revolutions (chaps: 1, 5-7, 9-11)

Apr. 3: Lecture: The End of Movie Censorship

Week 13:

Apr. 8: Lecture: The Rise of Teenage Culture

Apr. 10: Lecture: The Rise of Rock 'n' Roll (Start Reading Guralnick, The Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, entire book.

Week 14:

Apr. 15 Discuss and View: Blackboard Jungle

Apr. 17: Discuss and View: Blackboard Jungle (part II; film is 102 minutes).

Week 15:

Apr. 22: Discuss Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley

Apr. 24: Quiz III on Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis

(entire book). Film Clip: “Elvis ’56.

Week 16:

Apr. 29: Discuss and Partial Viewing of film: Jailhouse Rock

May 1: Last Class: Lecture: Elvis after the Fifties

Week 17:

FINAL EXAM: TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2003; BH 013; 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.

Return to John Bodnar's Home Page
Last updated: January 9, 2003
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