This course provides an interdisciplinary perspective on the American urban experience. Using historical, literary, and visual materials, it traces the development of the late 20th century city as a physical and work environment, social milieu, political entity, economic center, and cultural symbol. It considers what the term urban means today and whether cities are still viable, focusing on the conflict between the promise of American cities at the end of WWII and the reality at the beginning of a new millennium. Topics include immigration and migration, race and ethnicity, education and social reform, poverty and wealth, urban decline and revitalization, deindustrialization, planning, ecology, and suburbanization.