Professor Margaret O’Mara
Department of History
University of Washington
Spring 2026
This class is a history of the present, taking a deep dive into key events and debates in American economic and political history from the 1970s to the 2020s in order to better understand the current moment. The course moves chronologically as well as thematically, examining pivotal elections and realigning political moments from Watergate and the Iran hostage crisis to the end of the Cold War and the post-9/11 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Additional topics include climate change and energy politics, gun violence and political extremism, the decline of manufacturing and rise of tech, financial crises and economic booms, immigration and citizenship, and the transformation of mass media and entertainment. This is an upper-division course that dives deeper into a narrower time period than most surveys, engaging students in deep reading, writing, and historically-informed discussion of the recent past.
The full class syllabus, including readings and assignments, is HERE.
Further assignment details and class policies will be available to registered students on this Canvas page by the beginning of Spring Quarter.