Who Was Book Club – Cold War Edition

Our book club will meet for 8 weeks and discuss the Cold War, the great space race, and the Berlin Wall.  Students will be assigned reading weekly between our meetings and should arrive to class ready to discuss topics from the reading.  We will use three books as a springboard for discussing this fascinating period in history on a broader scale.  Students will need to read approximately 5 chapters (equally approximately 50 pages each) each week to prepare for class.  Who Was books are an easy read and are rich with graphs, images, maps, etc.  

The general breakdown for class will be as follows:
Week One:  What led to the Cold War?
We’ll build a foundation for our discussion and reading in the weeks to come by understanding what the world looked like after WWII, how these circumstances gave rise to the Cold War, the difference between Communism and Capitalism, and the countries/leaders who were involved.  

Weeks Two and Three:  What Was the Berlin Wall?  
We’ll learn about what life was like on each side of a very divided Berlin.  How were families affected and how is the Berlin Wall finally taken down?

Weeks Four and Five:  Who Was Neil Artmstrong?  
Neil Armstrong will set the stage for our discussion of the Great Space Race and pressure to beat Russia to the moon.  This will also include discussion of JFK, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon.

Week Six and Seven:  Who Was Ronald Reagan?
“Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate!  Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”  After decades of tension between the United States and Russia we’ll explore the presidency of Ronald Reagan and the end of the Cold War.  

We'll bring the Cold War to life through these amazing books!  I offer two World War II book clubs, as well as one on the Holocaust that make great pre-cursors to this class.  However, the classes are independent of one another and can be taken in any order. 

Class will include photos/videos to support the reading and news footage.  

My classes are largely discussion based and require learning engagement and interaction.  As I tell my learners, “Book club is not a spectator’s sport!”  Participants should come ready to share their thoughts and ask questions about the assigned reading during our session.  I require cameras to be on throughout class.  If extenuating circumstances prevent a learner from turning their camera on, please send me a message to discuss it prior to enrolling.   

Please note that I do allow for deviations from the schedule.  Sometimes the group wants to go deeper on one particular aspect of our content, requires more time on a topic to truly grasp it, or gets so engaged in rich conversation that it requires us to adjust our agenda.   

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Thank you for your interest in my classes. If the time slot listed doesn't work for you, I understand. Please submit a scheduling request. With the volume that I receive I cannot reply to each one individually, but I do look for overall trends and utilize that data to guide my scheduling process going forward.