674 "What Then is the American?": Some Socio-Historical Perspectives

Class | FULL (Membership Required)

ASBURY - RIVERWOODS Senior Living Community 270 RidgeCrest Circle Lewisburg, PA 17837 United States
Creative Arts Room
Wednesday, September 10, 2025-Wednesday, October 8, 2025
1:30 PM-3:30 PM on Wed
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$60.00

674 "What Then is the American?": Some Socio-Historical Perspectives

Class | FULL (Membership Required)

In the third of his influential “Letters from an American Farmer,” chronicling life in the British colonies in 1782, French writer J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur mused, “What then is the American?” Because the question seems especially relevant two-and-a-half centuries later, this course blends historical events and social currents in an attempt to better gauge “what then is the American” today.

I. Democracy: Interpreting the Bill of Rights, Then and Now

II. Egalitarianism: Equality in America (?)

III. Justice: Sense and Nonsense About Crime, Law, and Punishment

IV. Tolerance: “Witches”--From Rebecca Nurse to Enola Gay

V. Polarization: "What then is the American" in 2025?

Audience participation is encouraged and expected. With the exception of short readings, no outside preparation is required. The only prerequisite is an intellectual curiosity about the world we live in.


  • There are no required texts for this course; the readings will be provided by the instructor.
John McWilliams

JOHN C. MCWILLIAMS is associate professor emeritus at Penn State University, where he taught American history and sociology courses. As a visiting professor, he also taught criminology and law & society courses at Bucknell University. At Penn State he was the recipient of the university-wide George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has published numerous articles and books on diverse subjects, including federal drug control, the intelligence community in the Cold War, Black firefighters in Philadelphia, the history of corrections in Pennsylvania, and a social history of the 1960s.