Biography and History: Radicalism, Anti-Communism& Internationalism in the 1950s

This course explores biographies as a critical source for historical inquiry. Biographies provide a compelling way to ask important questions about the broader historical transformations and political debates that form the context of a person146s life. Indeed, some biographies, such as Taylor Branche146s 147Parting the Waters,148 attempt to define a particular epoch by a single person146s life history. This course will explore several biographies and memoirs written about individuals who experienced events several biographies and memoirs written about individuals who experienced events of the 1950s, a period when McCarthyism and anti-communism dominated U.S. politics and political radicals and dissenters came under extraordinary pressure. Our aim is to learn about the lives of interesting individuals, but also to question the ways that biographical narratives inform our understanding of the past. We will also try to understand how biographies are written, what kinds of sources are necessary, and how the historian creates an interpretative narrative. MCP, PRS, REA, WRI