This unit of study examines the United States in the years in which Americans felt their society, culture, politics and individual and national identities were taking new, 'modern,' forms. We will explore topics such as the rise and fall of the segregated South, immigration and the nature of ethnic identity, social reform movements from Populism and Progressivism to the Civil Rights movement, feminism and gay liberation, the rise of a consumer culture of movies, advertising and standardized products, and the changing stance of the United States in the world, from late starting imperialist aggressor to isolationist economic power and then Cold War superpower. When we explore the past we will be concerned not only with the ideas and policies which came to dominance at different times in the past, but also with alternatives -- ideas which attracted support, but did not succeed in defining the shape of modern America. Wherever possible, the unit of study will also look at history 'from the bottom up', studying the ideas and behavior of ordinary people as well as those of politicians, business leaders and members of the dominant groups in American society.