Syllabus
SCHEDULE
Week 1 Introduction
Week 2 mass media & the birth of "the public" (McLuhan)
Week 3 from expansionism to empire (Gore Vidal)
Week 4 Libertarianism & the failure of democracy (Rexroth)
Week 5 from Havana Harbor to Pearl Harbor: disinformation
Week 6 realestate & intellectual property (Chinatown)
Week 7 the McCarthy Era (Good Luck and Goodnight)
Week 8 Kennedy: Home of Conspiracies (JFK)
Week 9 poets, hippies and home-grown terrorism (Guerrilla)
Week 10 network news as "white knight" (The Network)
Week 11 Watergate (All the President's Men)
Week 12 Fear and Loathing (the Corporation)
Week 13 Arcadia Burning (An Inconvenient Truth)
Week 14 Conclusion
Annotation
OBJECTIVES
ASSESSMENT for this course will be in the form of a short seminar paper (2000-2500 words), as well as participation in class discussions.