Core Topic Guide Vol.2

I. Basic Economics
1. The silver standard
2. Decimal coinage
3. Why did the Great Depression happen?
4. Oil and the U.S. economy
5. Thorstein Veblen
6. John Kenneth Galbraith
7. Supply-side economics
8. The trouble with paper money
9. Wampum

II. Political Science
1. The separation of powers
2. Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence
3. The 'two-party system'
4. Who really elects a president?
5. When are 'rights' wrong?
6. The lobbying industry
7. The rise and fall of populism
8. The art of making enemies
9. Who are 'we the people'?
10. Roosevelt's 'New Deal': was it a good idea?
11. Disputed elections

III. Psychology
1. The elusive 'American character'
2. Americans and 'aliens'
3. The need for a frontier
4. 'Star Trek' and American thinking
5. Shaping public opinion
6. How to sell anything
7. The UFO phenomenon
8. What folk heroes tell us
9. National villains
10. The Lincoln cult
11. 'Environmental awareness'
12. Americans and the 'underdog'
13. The importance of Uncle Sam

IV. Sociology
1. Is the 'melting pot' an illusion?
2. The Irish in America
3. The Japanese-American experience
4. America's urban underclass
5. Who pays for public schools?
6. Boss Tweed and the culture of corruption
7. The 1960s counterculture
8. A society on drugs
9. 'Equality' and reality
10. The effects of automation
11. Conformists and rebels
12. How real is the 'American dream'?
13. Class lines
14. Schools for the rich and poor
15. The academic class
16. Intellectuals in America: powerful or powerless?
17. Superstar scientists

V. Communications
1. 'Ebonics'
2. 'Spanglish'
3. The Internet and language
4. American slang
5. 'Post-literate' America
6. Image and message in the video age
7. Acronyms and everyday speech
8. 'Ameringlish' versus 'Britglish'
9. Communication by song
10. The decline of the letter