In 2012, Mike Huckabee argued that Obama's "worldview is dramatically different than any president, Republican or Democrat, we've had. He grew up more as a globalist than an American." Huckabee intended to bring Obama's patriotism into question, but what does it mean to be an
"American"? Is being an "American" distinct from being "global"? And how is America intertwined with the rest of the world? This course will historicize the relationships between America and the globe and question whether they've ever been separate entities. We'll examine history from the turn of the 20th century to the present - a moment that includes world wars, the end of
"isolationism," the growth of the American economy, and the increased transnational reach of American culture. This course argues that a history of America in the twentieth century is, almost inevitably, a global history. Throughout the semester, we'll consider what exactly that means.