HIST 161 - From Gold Rush to Dust Bowl: Writing the American Frontier

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

This course considers episodes in the history of the United States and its Western frontiers from the California Gold Rush through the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Themes include economic risk-taking and cycles of boom and bust; racial and interpersonal violence; forced removal of native peoples and their responses; frontier myth-making; and the emergence of a wilderness ethos. As students investigate different strategies for telling about the past, readings include eyewitness accounts, historical narratives, and works of fiction. Ms. Edwards.

Open only to Freshmen; satisfies college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar.

Two 75-minute periods.