Course Description: Many researchers and educators document that current high school and college students are most uninformed about our recent past. The class will focus on how historians attempt to teach US institutions and develop respect for the past while also being critical. We will discuss some of the most controversial issues that occur since World War II and review the textbook approach as well as how the historians have tried to interpret the events and how that changes in time.. Included will be an examination of McCarthyism and the cold War, the Civil Rights movement, anti-war and Vietnam, the role of the Presidency, and how citizens become informed.

Course Instructor: A native of Idaho, Ross graduated from Utah State in 1965. He then completed a PhD at Washington State University in 1968. After three years at the University of Texas-Arlington, he returned to USU in 1971. He served as Department Head from 1976-1984. He returned to USU as Vice President of Advancement from 2007-2011. Peterson teaches Recent American History as well as courses in African American Studies. His publications include a biography of Idaho Senator Glen H. Taylor and histories of Idaho, Cache County, and Ogden, Utah. His wife Kay, and all three of his sons have USU degrees.
ross.peterson@usu.edu