Early XX century Leading world economy: new techniques of mass production (Ford, Carnegie) + Giant...

Early XX centuryLeading world economy: new techniques of mass

production (Ford, Carnegie) + Giant Corporations (Standard Oil, US Steel)

From isolationism to participation in World Wars; The Roaring ‘20s: economic expansion and prosperity Spread of proverty

restriction of immigrationsegregation of minorities in slumslow wages, corruption, prohibitionism and gangsterism)

Investments in booming Wall Street Stock ExchangeThe Red Scare (The Sacco and Vanzetti case – execution of Italian

anarchists)Contradictions within the Am. Society (late XIX c. -early

XX c) => “the Gilded Age” (M. Twain) + The Lost Generation.

The 30s: from boom to bust 1929: the Great Crash < over-confidence +

mismanagement1930s The Great Depression

Ruined businesses (bankrupt)Bank crashesGoods piled up in warehouses8ml Americans unemployed“bread” lines for food rations

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1932 President) => New Deal: Relief, Recovery, ReformPublic works and conservation of natural resourcesNew impulse to factories because of WWII

The 50sNATO : North Atlantic Treaty Organization

(mutual defence)U.N.O.: replaced the League of nations

devised by Woodrow Wilson after WWI

Representatives of the world’s nations should try to discuss and settle differences instead of resorting to war US never joined the League of Nation because the Senate voted agaist it

The 50s

Senator McCarthy => “witch hunt” : fear of Communism (censured by mid-50s)

Harry Truman Democrat (1945-53)Dwaight Eisenhoewr (1953-60) : a war hero

republican

1947-1991: Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union.

The USA controlled the military affairs of Europe through NATO, while the Soviet Union did it through Warsaw Pact.

UK and USA history and economy

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American and Soviet allies and areas of influence during the Cold War.

Refusal of traditional forms.

Divided into “beat

generation” and

“confessional poetry”. Rebellion: happiness ≠wealth

+ solcial prestige Reflective and denunciatory

attitude.

American literature after the war

Poetry

Jack Kerouac’s 1959 album Poetry for the Beat Generation

UK and USA society

• Main themes: journey, rebellion, drugs, the generation gap, dystopia

• Experimentation.

• Afro-American identity.

American literature after the war

Fiction

The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J.D. Salinger

UK and USA society

1961: the Soviets launched the first manned spaceflight.

John Kennedy (1961-63): Democratic, the first catholic; the youngest : “ New Frontier”: social cause/ justice against poverty and discrimination

1962: President Kennedy faced a tense nuclear showdown with Soviet forces in Cuba.

1969: the USA succeeded in sending two astronauts on to the Moon.


Neil Armstrong on the surface of the Moon

The 60s

Civil rights movement led by African Americans (Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks) fought against segregation and discrimination.

1964-1965: Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act granted freedom for the blacks.

Protests in universities and among minorities- riots and violence


Martin Luther King

the 60s : social unrest

1959-1975: Vietnam War.

A widespread countercultural movement grew, mixing opposition to war, black nationalism and feminism.


An anti-war protest

the 60s : social unrest

He became famous in the 1960s.

He painted dollar bills,

celebrities, brand name

products.

His most important works are:

Marilyn Monroe, Green Coca-

Cola bottles and Big Campbell’s

Soup cans.

Andy Warhol : pop art

Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Can, 1962.

UK and USA society

“ Me-decade” 1972-1974: Watergate

scandal the FBI, the Parliament and the press discovered a series of crimes and abuses committed by Nixon’s staff.

The President was forced to resign.

1970s: Carter’s administration marked by stagflation.


The Watergate hotel in Washington

The 70s

1980s: Ronald Reagan (Republican)

Aggressiveess Favoured big

corporations. “stand on your own feet

and act tough” Free enterprise missiles and space

research Encouraged Yuppies

1991: the Soviet Union collapsed, thus ending the Cold War.


The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989

the 80s : “go-getting America”

George Bush (1989-1993): 1990 -Iraq’s president Saddam Hussein invaded and annexed Kuwait

US General Schwarzkopf – operation Desert Storm (1991) dictated cease fire

Yugoslav Wars

Democrat Bill Clinton (1993-2001): “the third way”: liberal policies and reform

Peace agreement between Arafat’s PLO and Rabin (Israel) 1993


A photo shot from the 1991 Gulf War

The 90s The USA maintain the position of a superpower

Republican George W. Bush (2000-2008)

September 11th, 2001: al-Qaeda terrorists struck WTC in New York and Pentagon in Washington DC.

2001 attack on Afghanistan (supposed basis of Al Quaeda)

2003: Bush invaded

Saddam Hussein’s Iraq (accused of having large quantities of weapons of mass destruction)

Loss of lives, money and international prestige

The 9/11/2001 attack on World Trade Center

He has promised to provide:

a. tax cuts;

b. aids to cities and states;

c. the creation of 4 million jobs by the end of 2010;


November 2008: Barack Hussein Obama, a young, democratic, black man, became the 44th U.S President.

Barack Obama


He has promised to provide:

d. the reduction of Carbon emissions;

e. the improvement of health care;

f. the reduction of Bush’s administration deficit.

November 2008: Barack Hussein Obama, a young, democratic, black man, became the 44th U.S President.

Barack Obama

Time chose Barack Obama as the 2008 Person of the Year

UK and USA society

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Early XX century Leading world economy: new techniques of mass production (Ford, Carnegie) + Giant...

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