Topics in North American History - Setting the Stage: Nevada (HIST*6290)

Code and section: HIST*6290*01

Term: Winter 2023

Instructor: Susan Nance

Details

Method of Delivery:

ZOOM / online seminar

Course Synopsis:  

This semester the course will train students in how to develop and convey a sense of region, place, setting, or context in historical writing.

In the first half of the course, as a case study, we will examine the history and historiography of Nevada. We will read about, research, and ask questions about “Nevada” as idea and reality, as well as the problems and opportunities for historical research presented by the state. You will work to identify the key types of primary and secondary sources in both monographical (books and journal articles) and synthetic works on the state, as well as the various techniques scholars use thereafter to provide a sense of region, place, setting, or context in historical writing.

In the second half of the semester, using the tools and insights developed earlier in the course, you will research and write about a region, place, setting, or context—whether cultural, environmental, political, social—crucial to your own historical thesis or MRP research.

Methods of Evaluation and Weights:

Class participation: 10%
Class presentations (3; 15% + 5% + 10%): 30%
Short Thematic Essay: 20% 
Research essay: 40% 

Texts and/or Resources Required:

Note: Students may acquire these required books in various ways, including interlibrary loan, as inexpensive Kindle books to read on a laptop, through new and used booksellers, etc. Where possible, copies will be placed on reserve at the Univ. of Guelph Library as well.

- Patricia Nelson Limerick, et al, ed., Trails: Toward a New Western History (Univ. Press of Kansas, 1991)
- Hal K. Rothman, The Making of Modern Nevada (Univ. of Nevada Press, 2010).
- Eugene P. Moehring, Reno, Las Vegas, and the Strip: A Tale of Three Cities (Univ. of Nevada Press, 2014).
- James W. Hulse, A Great Basin Mosaic: The Cultures of Rural Nevada (Univ. of Nevada Press, 2017).
- Andrew W. Kirk, Doom Towns: The People and Landscapes of Atomic Testing, A Graphic History (Oxford UP 2016).

All remaining course readings will be available through the HIST*6290 Courselink site.

**Please note: This is a preliminary web course description only. The department reserves the right to change without notice any information in this description. The final, binding course outline will be distributed in the first class of the semester.**