LS 695 - Books in Context: The American Best Seller, 1960-1990

(3.00 cr.)

This seminar examines a series of popular American books published during a time of rapid and continuing change. It seeks to discover how these works reflected values and attitudes that prevailed when they were published, and how they may have contributed to the mass culture we live in today. Students are asked to participate in seminar-style discussions and research-based activities that help to illuminate the mental atmosphere in which these works appeared, while also showing how these works influenced continuing intellectual, artistic, and social trends. Along the way, the phenomenon of the best seller is discussed, assisted by appropriate readings from social critics and literary historians. Titles include William Lederer's A Nation of Sheep (1960), John Updike's Couples (1968), Mario Puzo's The Godfather (1969), Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch (1970), Charles Reich's The Greening of America (1970), and Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind (1988).