HIST 370 - Crime, Corruption, & Scandal

4 credit(s)
Using newspapers, speeches, sensational public trials, fiction, film, and scholarship this class will trace shifting concerns about crime and corruption from the Salem Witch trials through Jackson’s “Corrupt Bargain,” Indian wars, the lawless “Wild West,” as well as the Robber Barons of the Gilded Age. We will analyze how reform efforts from the Progressive era until today reflect convictions about human nature, gender, race, sexuality, class, and age. Primary topics include historical patterns of violence, the role and organization of the police, origins of the 2008 economic crash, and the National Security Agency’s unchecked surveillance of private citizens.
Offered: Offered alternate years.

Core Requirement(s): Counts toward core requirements: Diverse Perspectives and Historical Context.
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing (60 or more completed credits).