Suggestions for brief US Social History reading list

[Kirobaito]

Hi guys,

 

I've got an independent readings class this quarter, and I need to finish off a very generalized US social reading list for it. I still need 2 more, preferably from the 20th century.

 

Here's what I'm sure of so far, in chronological order::

 

Appleby, Capitalism and the New Social Order

Blumin, Emergence of the Middle Class

Johnson, A Shopkeeper's Millennium

Lebsock, The Free Women of Petersburg

Jackson Lears, No Place of Grace

Cohen, Making a New Deal

Lassiter, The Silent Majority

Payne, I've Got the Light of Freedom

 

Things I'm thinking about:

 

Farber, Chicago '68

Self, All in the Family

Schulman, The Seventies

Pells, Radical Visions, American Dreams (is this even social history?)

 

I've read Sugrue, Canaday, Gutman, Chauncey, Hirsch, Sanchez, most of the Whiteness historiography, and others already. I'll take any suggestions from my possibilities list or your own thoughts. Most of my struggle is from the reality that social histories of the post-1950 era are hard to identify as such. Self and Schulman, for example, delve rather deeply into assumptions about the family, religion, and culture, but are also very focused on its effect in politics.

 

Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

[canadiensfan13]

Just off the top of my head, Cohen's Consumers Republic is worth reading and really picks up where Making a New Deal leaves off. Roedigger's Wages of Whiteness is a great read if you haven't got to it already. David Kennedy's Over Hear is a pretty good history of the First World War. I also am a big fan of Nancy Maclean's Freedom is Not Enough and Lisa McGirr's Suburban Warriors. Most of these border social history, some more than others.

Hope that helps!

[Kirobaito]

Thanks for the Kennedy suggestion. That might pair nicely with No Place of Grace chronologically, as I'm pairing these off to do every other week. But I'm not sure if it's a little too conventionally political. Though something from the Progressive era would make sense. (Also add Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings, to my previously-read.)

 

I've read Roediger (and Ignatiev, Foley, Jacobson, Guglielmo, etc., etc.), and Suburban Warriors is on my list for my political and policy history readings course this quarter - plus it'd be a little too similar to The Silent Majority. Maybe MacLean would pair with Cohen, since they're both about the workplace? Thanks for your help!

Edited October 3, 2013 by Kirobaito

[canadiensfan13]

MacLean does have a lot of political undertones, so you might want something else if you are looking for diversity. Have you read Trachtenberg's The Incorporation of America? It fits into the time period and might fit well with Lears and Kennedy (Although I think Lears' Rebirth of a Nation and Kern's Culture of Time and Space are better, they may not fit into your scope). Something like Peiss' Cheap Amusements might be a fit and move away from the political and towards the cultural with a focus on gender.

[Riotbeard]

D'Emilio!  Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities is essential reading in my opinion.  It is really the foundational text of gay history, and I would definitely describe D'Emilio as a social historian.  Daniel Hurewitz.  Bohemian Los Angeles and the Making of Modern Politics is also quite good.  I would reccomend Glenda Gilmore's Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights.  It is quite good, which deal a lot with Union organizing and the rise of the Southern communist party (many forget that Birmingham, Alabama was the second biggest chapter of communist party quite some time!).  Dan Carter's The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of New Conservativism, and the Transformation of American Politics is a good book on the Southern Strategy.  Also Martin Meeker's Contacts Desired: Gay and Lesbian Communications and Communities, 1940s-1970s is a really strong book.

[Sigaba]

Most of my struggle is from the reality that social histories of the post-1950 era are hard to identify as such. Self and Schulman, for example, delve rather deeply into assumptions about the family, religion, and culture, but are also very focused on its effect in politics.

 

 

 

The dynamic you describe above sounds like a worthwhile theme to explore as you read your selected works and, time permitting, do some additional historiographical research in the relevant journals.

 

That is, while you learn the social history of twentieth century America, also focus on how the field itself has changed over time.

 

HTH

[JacksonBaby]

Perhaps you could get some value out of Douglas Field's Cold War Culture. It is broken up very well and considering how quick a read it is, does the job pretty well.

[poliscar]

How about Elaine Tyler May's Homeward Bound?