This lecture course traces the work of leading American thinkers since the Civil War. The cast of characters includes Mark Twain, William James, W. E. B. Du Bois, Henry Adams, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Thorstein Veblen, Margaret Mead, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dewey, James Baldwin, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Betty Friedan, Thomas Kuhn, Richard Rorty, John Rawls, and Sam Harris . Among the episodes addressed are Victorianism and the revolt against it, the decline of Protestant cultural hegemony, the emergence of an ethno-religiously diverse intelligentsia, and the debates over Darwinism, modernism, pragmatism, communism, postmodernism, feminism, racism, and multiculturalism. Readings include selections from Hollinger and Capper, The American Intellectual Tradition: A Sourcebook (6th edition, 2011). Midterm, 10-page paper, final exam.