A city boss means graft and corruption--but perhaps there is more to it than that. Ask students to read parts of William L. Riordan, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall (1905), especially the portion that distinguishes between "honest" and "dishonest" graft. Ask them to read Anne Firor Scott, "Saint Joan and the Ward Boss," American Heritage (December 1960), detailing the struggle between Jane Addams and Alderman Johnny Powers in Chicago's nineteenth ward. Present these questions for a class discussion: are there circumstances in which a boss is desirable? How can the power of a boss be curbed? How can a boss be evicted from his place?

The Victorian ideal of the late nineteenth century--with its genteel cultural standards, restrictive code of feminine propriety, admiration for success, upward striving, and optimism--is related to other social emphases of the time. It encompassed the so-called Protestant work ethic. Its self-congratulatory character resembles that of Social Darwinism. Assign a group of six students to create a definition of Victorian morality; to show its relationship with the Protestant work ethic; to show its relationship with Social Darwinism; and for purposes of comparison, to create a label and a description for the relationship among work, culture, and society that governs U.S. attitudes at the current moment. Ask the six students to determine whether their findings are specific to any social class. Have the six present their conclusions to the class for general discussion. The text itself provides a good basis for this kind of speculative thinking. Students may also consult some of the titles in the chapter bibliography section on "The Clash of Cultures." See also Thomas J. Schlereth, Victorian America: Transformations in Everyday Life, 1876-1915 (1991), and Ellen Garvey, The Adman in the Parlor: Magazines and the Gendering of Consumer Culture, 1880s to 1910s (1996).

The history of the United States is not merely the history of presidents and generals. Consider popular theater and popular music. In any given age, what makes it popular? If it is popular, must it also be vulgar or mean or base? Ask several interested students to prepare a brief paper on the nature of vaudeville and the nature of ragtime. Where were they performed? What was the cost to the public? Ask a couple of other students to do similar papers on the nature of legitimate theater at the end of the century and the nature of grand opera. Where were they performed? What was the cost to the public? Why were the former more popular than the latter? See Russell Lynes, The Lively Audience: A Social History of the Visual and Performing Arts in America, 1890-1950 (1985); John Dizikes, Opera in America: A Cultural History (1993); Martin Mayer, The Met: One Hundred Years of Grand Opera (1983); Daniel Blum, A Pictorial History of the American Theater, 1860-1985 (1986); and Burton W. Peretti, The Creation of Jazz: Music, Race, and Culture in Urban America (1992).