Grade 11
This course aims to put context and nuance into the traditional American views of the Second World War. Although keeping the American experience at the center, it will always view that experience through a global lens. We will challenge some of the myths and half-truths that Hollywood has bequeathed to Americans about the war, while introducing students to some arguments that have emerged from the latest scholarship on themes like the home front, the actual fighting of the war, and the processes of peacemaking. This is not the course to learn more about George Patton and his tanks; it is intended to be a serious, scholarly, and objective analysis of the interplay between American, world, and military history during the most destructive war ever.