In the years immediately following World War II, the United States transitioned from backwater to a frontrunner in the fields of design, technology, arts, and letters. In this seminar we will explore how the concept of American "cool" was the product of postwar prosperity as well as cold war conflict. We will use cultural analysis of the 1950s and 1960s to examine issues such as internal migration, foreign policy, gender, race relations, and presidential politics. Students will engage a wide variety of textual and visual sources, from novels like Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit and films such as Rebel Without A Cause to scholarly works on the period. 3 hrs. sem.