History 1BB3: America and the World: The Twentieth Century

Dr. Stephen M. Streeter

McMaster University, Winter 2002

 

Tutorial 10

Using Statistics To Determine Historical Trends: Is America In Decline?

Introduction:

Although history as a discipline does not have the mathematical precision of physics, statistics can be helpful in determining historical trends. This tutorial explores an ongoing debate among social scientists about whether the United States has declined as a great power since the 1970s. The background reading is an excerpt from a New York Times best seller that generated the controversy about America as a declining empire. The sources are from a work book in American history that provides statistical evidence about the United States in comparison to other countries.

Background Reading:

Paul Kennedy, Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (1987), pp. 514-35

Sources:

Peter Charles Hoffer and William W. Stueck, Reading and Writing American History: An Introduction to the Historian's Craft, vol. 2 (1994), pp. 151-68

Discussion Questions:

Sketch out answers to the questions in this workbook. Although you won't be handing them in, these answers should help inform the class discussion about this controversy.

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