The MAGA movement: explaining Donald Trump's America

Module overview

This module draws upon the expertise of three US historians to explore different dimensions of the American past, from the founding of the republic forward. This year, we will be focusing on the theme: ‘The other among us: conspiracies, cults and counterradicalism in US history’. It will explore the concept of an American ‘paranoid style’ and its application to a range of different movements, crusades and moral panics from the post-bellum period through to the present day. Topics will include: the Ku Klux Klan, Voodoo, Anarchism and populist anti-capitalism, Red Summer/Red Scare: white violence and state repression 1919-20, McCarthyism, Black Panthers/COINTELPRO, Waco and its consequences, the FBI entrapment of American Muslims, and QAnon.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

Knowledge and understanding of diverse subject fields in and variety of approaches to American history
Detailed comprehension of and critical intellectual engagement with one particular subject field or approach in coursework
Knowledge and understanding of key shifts in interpretations of American history

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

analyse critically a variety of textual, visual and material culture sources
engage with the secondary literature on conspiracies, cults and counterradicalism, and contribute to the debates relating to the historiography of such movements, crusades and moral panics
structure your ideas and research findings into a well-ordered written assignment

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

utilise and develop your time-management skills
locate and use effective textual, visual and material culture sources in the library and on-line, synthesising this material in order to develop cogent arguments
research historical questions and communicate your findings convincingly and concisely.

Learning and Teaching

Study time
Type	Hours
Independent Study	130
Teaching	20
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

Internet Resources

America's authoritarian turn.

Journal Articles

Jefferson Cowie and Nick Salvatore (2008). The Long Exception: Rethinking the Place of the New Deal in American History. International Labor and Working Class History, 74(1).

Michael McQuarrie (2017). The revolt of the Rust Belt: place and politics in the age of anger. British Journal of Sociology.

Textbooks

Khalil Gibran Muhammad (2019). Condemnation of Blackness : Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America.

Kristin Kobes Du Mez (2020). Jesus and John Wayne.

Gavriel David Rosenfeld (2023). Fascism in America: Past and Present.

Donald Critchlow (2009). Debating the American Conservative Movement: 1945 to the Present.

Steven G. Calabresi; Christopher S. Yoo (2008). The Unitary Executive : Presidential Power from Washington to Bush.

Yocha Benkler (2018). Network Propaganda.

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Written assignment	100%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Written assignment	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Written assignment	100%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External