MAKING MODERN AMERICA
Professor Margaret O’Mara (she/her/hers)
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.
Readings:
Required books are available for sale at the University Bookstore and on reserve at Odegaard Library:
Jefferson Cowie, Stayin’ Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class
Doug Rossinow, The Reagan Era: A History of the 1980s
Kathleen Belew, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Military America
Michael Lewis, The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story
Beth Bailey and Richard Immerman, eds., Understanding the U.S. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Additional articles and multimedia materials will be accessed via the course Canvas page. To obtain access to online sources, please make sure you are signed into your computer with your UWnet ID.
Assignments:
- Reading discussion posts of at least 250 words responding to specific prompts on the week’s reading assignments and/or to your classmate’s observations on the discussion thread. Posts must demonstrate critical reading, e.g., include specific references and examples from the reading material. You are required to post at least eight of the ten weeks of the quarter, and may take two “bye” weeks of your choice. Post by noon Thursday to receive credit for the week, and come to class Thursday ready to talk and write more about the reading (including on weeks that you don't post). (5% per week, 40% of class grade total)
- Lecture quick writes, a half-page of quick reactions to the day’s lecture content in response to instructor prompt(s) at the end of class. Submit as you leave, complete fifteen over the course of the quarter. (1% per post, for 15% total)
- Participation, consisting of engagement in class Q&A, in-class assignments, and online homework activities. (ongoing; 10% of grade)
- Final project (35% of grade) that historicizes a contemporary issue by tracing its origins and influences over the last fifty years of American history. A research proposal (worth 5%) is due Tuesday May 26, and the final project (worth 30%) is due Thursday June 11. You choose the format for this project:
- a paper of 10-15 double-spaced pages in length, using Chicago-style footnotes*;
- a scripted, edited podcast of 10-12 minutes in length, accompanied by a written script and bibliography; or
- a scripted, edited video of 10-12 minutes in length, accompanied by a written script and bibliography.
*This course is W optional. If you would like W credit for the course, you should choose the paper option and submit a full draft of the paper for feedback no later than Tuesday June 2. Students should notify the instructors of their interest in W credit at the start of the quarter.
This course is not open to auditors.
Full syllabus with class logistics, weekly schedule, and assignment details will be available on this site to registered students by the end of Winter Quarter.