Prof. Greg Hall
Department of History
Spring 2008
American West
History 308
1. Explain the historical significance of the Chicano Movement.
2. Explain the evolution of human adaptation to the arid West.
3. Explain the evolution of the “Visual West.”
4. Explain the historical significance of conservationism and environmentalism in the twentieth century American West.
5. Evaluate the popular myth of the American West (part of your analysis should include film).
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Prof. Greg Hall
Department of History
Spring 2008
American West
History 308
Exam Questions:
(Three of these questions will be on the final exam.)
1. Evaluate federal Indian policy in the 19th century. Be sure to treat political, military, socioeconomic, and cultural ramifications for Native Americans.
2. Explain and evaluate Richard Brown’s theory of the “Western Civil War of Incorporation” as an organizing principle for understanding violence in the American West.
3. Explain the unique features of western immigration and the wageworkers’ frontier, and explain their impact on labor history in the American West.
4. Based on Carl Abbot’s essay, evaluate the impact of the “federal presence” in the American West.
5. Explain the impact of the Great Depression and New Deal in the American West.
************************************************************************************************************************
Prof. Greg Hall
Department of History
Spring 2008
American West
History 308
Exam Questions:
(Three of these questions will be on the final exam.)
1. Compare and contrast Native American adaptive strategies to the pre-contact natural environment in the West.
2. Compare and contrast Spanish expeditions and settlements in northern New Spain (American Southwest) before Mexican independence.
3. Explain the rise and fall of the fur trade in the West and the historical significance of “mountain men.”
4. Explain the process by which the United States conquered and began to settle the West before 1850.
5. Explain the role that mining played in the capitalist transformation of the West.