students walking through metro campus

This 15-credit interdisciplinary minor embraces American history, philosophy, literature, sociology, communication, and political science. This concentration is ideally suited for students seeking a deeper understanding of American culture and society, as well as an appreciation for the role, place, and perception of the United States in the world.

Choose any five courses from the following list that count toward the American Studies minor:

Course Descriptions

  • ENGL3049 A study of selected major figures, themes and genres.

  • ENGL3050 A study of selected major figures, themes and genres.

  • ENGL3131 Students will explore three American novels focusing on the world of work in America during the first half of the twentieth century. Students will read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and discuss these works in their social, historical, and political contexts.

  • ENGL3369 A chronological study of American literary history beginning with the colonial figures and concentrating on Puritanism, Unitarianism, romanticism and transcendentalism.

  • ENGL3370 A chronological study of American literary history, with an emphasis on such modern developments as realism, naturalism, Freudianism and existentialism.

  • ENGL3383 A study of works that reflect the ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity of America.

  • ENGL3388 A study of American writers who thematically reflect the American terrain in their works.

  • ENGL3409 Film adaptations - many Acadamy Award Winners - of great plays or novels that deal with major American social issues of the twentieth century, such as The Heiress (class and greed in the 1910s), Paths of Glory (World War I), Inherit the Wind (evolution vs. creationism in the 1920s), The Grapes of Wrath (the Depression), Elmer Gantry (political corruption), From Here to Eternity (pre-WWII), Watch on the Rhine (World War II), To Kill a Mockingbird (racial justic, 1950s), The Crucible (McCarthyism, 1950s) A Raisin in the Sun and Malcolm X (black history), Hair (1960s rebellion), Kramer vs. Kramer (family and gender identity, 1970s).

  • ENVR1205 Humans effect and are affected by natural environments. We shall study the ways in which the Pacific coasts' native and imported European cultures evolved to make use of a variety of environments, how Pacific coastal marine and forest environments are stressed by pollution, and how various technologies stress or protect the natural resources upon which life depends.

  • ENVR1215 Experiments illustrating the topics discussed in ENVR 1205 The Great Pacific Northwest: Environmental Issues and Cultural Perspecitives.

  • HIST1114 Significant themes (e.g., Puritanism, slavery, nationalism, sectionalism) in the development of the American nation from discovery through the Civil War.

  • HIST1115 Significant themes (e.g., industrialization, pragmatism, government centralization) in the development of the United States from Reconstruction to the present.

  • HIST2102 A study of the social history of American sports.

  • HIST2103 The history of the State of New Jersey from colonial times to the present.

  • HIST2104 Social and intellectual currents in American from the colonial period to the modern age, with particular reference to the interaction between ideas and social structure.

  • HIST2107 Analysis of the periods of growth of the U.S. economy. Industrial Revolution, impact of World depression and the post-industrial development.

  • HIST2189 Studies in an area of history for which no formal course is offered.

  • HIST2206 Analysis of the periods of growth of the U.S. economy. Indus- trial Revolution, impact of World depression and the post- industrial development.

  • HIST3101 The impact of immigration on the development of the United States.

  • HIST3102 In this course, we will analyze the idea of "race" in historical perspective and follow the history of racialized groups in the United States such as African- Americans, Latino/as, and Asian-Americans. Using primary sources, including visual and film sources, students will assess the importance of race in American history generally.

  • HIST3103 The changing dynamics of gender in U.S. History. The impact of gender on American Identity, public policy, foreign affairs and labor.

  • HIST3104 Development of foreign policy and diplomacy from independence to the modern period.

  • HIST3105 It examines the role of nature and environment in shaping American history and thought, i.e., white/Native American relations, nature writers, Westward expansion, the dust Bowl and the environmental movement

  • HIST3106 Background and development of American scientific and technological patterns and institutions through the present.

  • HIST3107 The evolution of the United States Constitution and modern challenges.

  • HIST3120 The history of the American colonies from 1450 to the Revolutionary War and the subsequent problems of creating an American union.

  • HIST3121 The United States during its first decades of freedom: development of national institutions and national consciousness from 1787 to the 1830s.

  • HIST3123 The rise of sectionalism, the election of Lincoln and the secession of the Southern states, the Civil War, Reconstruction and the return of Southern "home rule."

  • HIST3129 U.S. Political, economic and social history, 1890-1945.

  • HIST3130 U.S. Political, Economic and Social History since 1945.

  • HIST3134 This course examines the political and cultural history of the 1950's. Topics include the Cold War, anti-communism, Civil Rights, affluence, suburbanization, conformity, mass media, and popular culture.

  • HIST3137 This course covers the Vietnam War from 1954 to 1975, including military advisers, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, gradual escalation, the draft, the Tet Offensive, and eventual withdrawal. Other topics include the effect of the Vietnam conflict on America's social structures and on political institutions as well as the rise of the counter-culture.

  • HIST3189 Topic varies with instructor

  • HUMN2455 This course explores the many historical, cultural, and political connections between jazz and the American civil rights movement. The course draws upon jazz musical selections as well as readings on jazz and the struggle for civil rights to see how music reflects the social and political context of music makers and listeners and vice versa.

  • PHIL2443 This course explores the contributions of African American political thinkers to the development of American political thought in general, considers the tensions and conflicts within African American political thought, and explores the significance of these thinkers for our understanding of contemporary race relations.

  • PHIL2445 This course explores the theory and practice of American democracy from the nineteenth century to the present day through a documentary and Hollywood films. Questions include: What are the theoretical foundations of American democracy? How does the practice of democracy in America deviate from these foundations? How has American democracy evolved? Why do so many Americans appear to hate politics? How should democratic citizens be educated?

  • PHIL2545 This course explores some of the main sources of American social and political thought from the 18th century to the present, with particular emphasis on the relationship between democratic and individualistic principles. We also will investigate other major themes and problems in America social and political thought, including federalism, individualism, democracry, citizenship, American nationalism.

  • POLS3311 The role of great presidents in the expansion of presidential power.