Michael Barnhart



Distinguished Teaching Professor (Ph.D. Harvard University, 1980)
E-Mail
michael.barnhart@sunysb.edu
Office
SBS N-321
Phone
631-632-7508
Fax
631-632-7367
Research Interests

US foreign relations, especially US-Japan relations

Current project: E Pluribus Unum: A Political History of American Foreign Relationsfrom Jamestown to the Present

Publications

"Domestic Politics, Interservice Rivalry, and Japan's Decisions for War," History and Neorealism, ed. Richard Rosecrance, Ernest May, & Zara Steiner. (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming)

"History as Victim: The Sorry State of the Study of US-Japanese Relations, 1900-1945," A Companion to American Foreign Relations, ed. Robert D. Schulzinger. (Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2003).

"From Hershey Bars to Motor Cars: America's Economic Policy Toward Japan, 1945-1976," Partnership: The United States and Japan, 1951-2001, eds. Akira Iriye and Robert A. Wampler. (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2001).

"Hirohito and His Army," The International History Review 21 (September 1999).

Japan and the World Since 1868 (London: E. Arnold Books, 1995)

Blog by Michael Barnhart

U.S. History since the Civil War

Friday, January 11th, 2008

An advanced survey of American history from Reconstruction to the present. This is a reading-intensive course designed to familiarize the student with most major issues of this period, with special emphasis on the intersection of politics and society. Assignments will average over 300 pages per week of core readings. In addition, each student will deliver at least two presentation over the course of the semester on books of her or his choosing in consultation with the instructor. A final, interpretive essay is also required. For MA and PhD Students only.

Posted in Undergraduate |

U.S. History Since 1877

Friday, January 11th, 2008

This course surveys American history from the end of Reconstruction in 1877 to the end of the Cold War in the early 1990’s. It explores the consequences of a federal victory in the Civil War and the incomplete reconstruction that followed in shaping the emergence of a distinctly American state and society that came to affect the world through application of American power and means less direct yet as comprehensive. Some themes stressed include the development of mass consumerism, the distinctiveness of the American South, and the politicization of social issues from Prohibition to desegregation to abortion. Readings will be drawn from a textbook and two supplements of historical documents and essays, amounting to about eighty pages of reading per week. Participation and writing in recitation section discussions, two in-class quizzes and a final examination serve as a basis for evaluation.

Posted in Home Page |