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The "America at War" Series
HIST 242 – 99
America During World War II
Winter 2010: Register for section 191450
Welcome to HIST 242: America During World War II
HIST 242 is a 100% online course that is taught in the traditional16-week semester format. While HIST 242 focuses primarily on America’s role during World War II, beginning with the debates over American neutrality in the late 1930’s, the Pearl Harbor invasion, conducting a war on two fronts, and ending with the postwar challenges facing America, a nation which had inherited a superpower status as a result of the war.
There are three texts and a DVD featured in HIST 242. The first, Major Problems in the History of World War II, by Marc A. Stoler, provides the historical “backbone” for the course through a chronological series of topics which contain summaries, primary source excerpts, and scholarly essays. The second text, A Democracy at War, by William L. O’Neill, presents a compelling narrative of events pertaining primarily to America’s involvement in World War II. The third text, The Ghosts of Iwo Jima, by Robert S. Burrell, is a monograph dedicated to challenging many of the decisions made to invade Iwo Jima in 1945. The DVD set titled, Iwo Jima: 36 days of Hell, is a documentary featuring actual interviews, and war footage involving the sailors, soldiers, and airmen who fought in this terrible battle.
Using these texts and audio-visual aids, students are challenged through weekly readings that are organized around a specific chronological era to write several essays and to participate in Discussion Board activities. All course activities are organized into packets, which contain all related learning activities for any particular week. The essays serve to reinforce concepts found in the readings, while the Discussion Board allows students to exchange ideas with their classmates regarding controversial issues relevant to specific chapters in the course.
Each week’s work also contains a variety of other materials, such as links to internet-based sites relevant to the topic, maps, pictures, glossaries, quotations, and films relating to the subject as well. The links provided on the left hand side of this screen allow students to access all of the information and resources that are built into the course. These resources also include the course syllabus, a chat room, and a course email system that allows students to communicate with the instructor at any time.