Thinking+and+History

= Unit I: Thinking on History and America =

__On Blink - and "Thin-Slicing"__ Read

“'Blink': Hunch Power” by David Brooks, January 16, 2005
[] Optional: “'Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking' by Malcolm Gladwell - Experiences, environment influence first impressions, snap decisions” - Sunday, January 23, 2005, By Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [] “The Gladwell Effect” by Rachel Danadio – NYT February 5, 2006 - []

__How We See and Study History__ George Will on Time Magazine's Person of the Year

Sean Wilentz, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Thomas Jefferson: //How a slaveholder and ideologue was also a great democrat.,// The New Republic, March 10, 1997, 32-42.



__I and We - Being your brother's keeper and/or/versus your right to be left alone__

= __The American Dream__ =

Wikipedia (nice short entry) - [] From Parade Magazine - [] From the NYTimes, August 23, 2008



Dreams of Religious Liberty and A City Upon a Hill
The assignment covers two days of readings. Day 1: The Reilgious Literacy Quiz Robert Bellah "Jefferson's Bible" from the LA Times

Day 2: There are 5 required items here: 1. One from Stephen Prothero 2. One from Susan Jacoby 3. One from the Secular Coalition 4. A summary of a survey 5. The review of a book by Garry Wills

__Day 1:__ a) Go to [] - Scroll down three-quarters of the way and click on “Test Your Religious IQ”

The quiz is also at: []

b) Robert Bellah -

c)  “A Founding Father's view of God : Jefferson compiled a Bible without miracles that ended with Jesus' burial instead of resurrection.” - Beliefs, July 05, 2008 | Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writer - [|Jefferson's Bible] or at: []

__ Day 2: __ Read one about Stephen Prothero’s book on Religious Literacy and the other about Susan Jacoby and freethinkers. Each offers you the chance to explore the topic in more depth. a) __Required 1: Stephen Prothero__, author of //Religious Literacy//, published a compelling book arguing for the centrality of faith in our nation’s history and the need to intellectually understand the impact of, in particular, Christianity, but also other faiths in our nation’s and world history. =  Read “The Gospel of Prothero” at []   =    ([He] argues that Americans, though 'spiritual,' are woefully ignorant about religion. By [|Lisa Miller] )    Optional reading on Prothero’s views, if they intrigue you   Read the longer, cover story from //Time//: “ The Case for Teaching the Bible,” 3-22-07   []

Or, Prothero (Newsweek July 2007) - “True or False: The Major Religions Are Essentially Alike” [] b) __Required 2:__ - __Susan Jacoby__ describes her views of freethinking in America, and then offers a quick overview of the conflict between freethinkers and believers between the late 1800s and today.  __ Required __ “Freethought Revival” about Jacoby’s book on the site “Beliefnet” [|http:://www.beliefnet.com/story/144/story_14451_1.html]  Optional - If you desire, this article focuses on what she defines as the “golden age” of free thinking  [] []

__c). Required # 3__- Read the brief Position Statement on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Tolerance from the Secular Coalition for America at - (this link has been having trouble. See its contents on page 3 of the next word document)

[]
__d) Required # 4__ - Read this Word Document summarizing the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey.

e) __Required 5 - .PATRICK ALLITT__, NY Times, December 9, 2007, "A City Upon a Hill" [|City Upon a Hill - Garry Wills] or []

= Material Comfort, Independence and Home Ownership =

“For Sale: The American Dream”, Joshua Ruff, //American History// December 2007 []

From Vanity Fair, “Rethinking the American Dream” - [] Updatd Version of PowerPoint as PDF file -

__Optional items for deeper consideration__ From Vanity Fair, “Rethinking the American Dream” - [|[[http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/04/american-dream200904]]] The Center for a New American Dream []

= __**Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963**__ = I provide a few ways to read about and listen to this famous speech. I do so in case my suggested one does not work. If you search on your own, be careful using the internet. The speech lasts about 17 minutes, but many sites only give a portion of it. The best place to go to is the Stanford site below, where King’s papers are housed. Read: a) Context of Speech - []

b) The written text (Read along as you listen at the next link) - []

c) Audio version of the speech from Stanford []

or listen here: []