American Dream
TASK: write a c.500-word evaluation of one film/TV show and one book (can be fiction or non-fiction)
Film and TV
The Great Gatsby (2013) - Provides a look into the Roaring Twenties, exploring themes of wealth, excess, and the American Dream.
Selma (2014) - Focuses on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by Martin Luther King Jr., highlighting the Civil Rights Movement.
Hidden Figures (2016) - Tells the story of African-American female mathematicians who worked at NASA during the Space Race in the 1960s, highlighting issues of race and gender.
13th (2016) - A documentary exploring the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States, tracing the history from the 13th Amendment to the present day.
All the President's Men (1976) - Follows the investigative journalism of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they uncover the Watergate scandal, providing insight into political corruption in the 1970s.
Malcolm X (1992) - Biographical film about the life of civil rights leader Malcolm X, covering his transformation from petty criminal to influential activist.
Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) - Chronicles journalist Edward R. Murrow's stand against Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch hunts in the 1950s, focusing on media and political climate.
The Butler (2013) – Loosely based on the real story of an African-American butler serving at the White House, the film provides an overview of 8 different presidential administrations’ attitude to civil rights.
Milk (2008) - Biographical film about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person elected to public office in California, exploring LGBT rights and activism in the 1970s.
American Graffiti (1973) - Offers a nostalgic look at teenage life in the early 1960s, capturing the culture and music of the era
Fiction
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - A classic novel that explores racial injustice in the American South during the 1930s, through the eyes of Scout Finch, a young girl whose father defends a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - Set during the Great Depression, this novel follows the Joad family as they migrate from Oklahoma to California in search of a better life, highlighting the struggles of migrant workers and economic hardship.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - A portrayal of the Jazz Age in the 1920s, focusing on themes of wealth, excess, and the American Dream through the eyes of narrator Nick Carraway and the mysterious Jay Gatsby.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor - Set in Mississippi during the Great Depression, this novel follows the Logan family, African-American landowners facing racism and injustice, as seen through the eyes of their daughter Cassie
Advise and Consent by Allen Drury - A political novel that delves into the behind-the-scenes maneuverings of U.S. Senators during the confirmation process of a controversial Secretary of State nominee. It offers insights into political intrigue and power struggles in Washington, D.C. during the Cold War era
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - A classic novel that explores the disillusionment and angst of teenage protagonist Holden Caulfield in post-World War II America, addressing themes of identity, alienation, and societal expectations.
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan - A novel that follows the lives of four Chinese-American immigrant families in San Francisco who start a club called the Joy Luck Club. Through their stories, it explores themes of cultural identity, generational conflict, and the immigrant experience.
Non-Fiction
"A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn - This book offers a different perspective on American history, focusing on the experiences of ordinary people, marginalized groups, and social movements throughout the 20th century.
"Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement" by Ann Bausum - Focuses on the Freedom Rides of 1961, telling the stories of activists who challenged segregation and contributed to the Civil Rights Movement.
"The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan - A seminal work of feminist literature that critiques the traditional roles of women in American society and helped spark the second-wave feminist movement in the 1960s.
"The Great Depression: A Diary" by Benjamin Roth, edited by James Ledbetter - A collection of diary entries from a lawyer who lived through the Great Depression, offering a firsthand account of its impact on everyday Americans.
This list is not exhaustive! In terms of popular culture, this is probably one of the most well-resourced topics you could hope to study, so if you would like to find your own, then please do!
India
Task One
Watch ‘The Story of India’ episodes 5 and 6 (2007) available on video.gdst.net. It covers a long time span, this is deliberate as it sets up some vital context and key dynamics. After you watch, create an A4 brainstorm considering ‘What is the story of India?’.
Task Two
Choose one of the books below to read and write a c.500 word evaluation considering its utility to an historian studying the relative power of the Indians and British in India.
This is, of course, not an exhaustive list – and do read more if you’d like to. With these and anything else, be very aware that national and imperial histories are contested, controversial and shifting, and that long-held prejudices and attitudes that we would now reject can be evident. Always engage critically, bearing in mind that all representations of the past are interpretation and, for many of these, fictional ones at that. What they do achieve, however, is to give you a sense of period, and of views and attitudes.
Fiction
EM Forster - A Passage to India (1924) A classic novel set in India in the 1920s, examining racial tensions and prejudices through the lens of a court case,
Veera Hiranandani – The Night Diary (2018) A YA novel told through the letters of a 12 year old half-Muslim, half-Hindu girl to her mother, as she becomes a refugee during Partition.
Abir Mukherjee - A Rising Man (2016) and sequels Set in post-WW1 Calcutta, this is a murder mystery which engages with the tensions over Indian independence in the period.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala – Heat and Dust (1975) A British woman travels to India to investigate her grandmother’s life there in the 1920s.
Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children (1981) Follows the life of Saleem, born at midnight on the day of independence in 1947.
Abraham Verghese – The Covenant of Water (2023) Epic novel spanning from 1900 to 1977, following a single family afflicted by a terrible fate.
Non-Fiction
Mishal Husain – Broken Threads: My Family From Empire to Independence (2024) Husain, who you might be familiar with from her work as a journalist, uncovers the stories of her grandparents lives as they are changed forever by Partition.
Sunilk Khilnani – Incarnations (2016) A History of India in 50 lives, the figures from our period (you could just read these, not the whole book) span a range of themes and this would be a great introduction
Kavita Puri – Partition Voices (2022) An enormously moving book, collecting together the stories of those who experienced Partition and now live in the UK.
John Zubrzycki – The Shortest History of India (2023) This accessible survey would give you an overview of Indian history to contextualise the course.