1. Explain the Victorian genteel tradition in the arts. Discuss the writers, painters, architects, and social scientists who broke with it in the late nineteenth century.
2. Between 1870 and 1900 nearly 11 million immigrants entered the United States. Discuss who came, why they came, where they settled, how they fared, and the impact they had on urban America.
3. Discuss the rise of the urban political machines and bosses. Why did they emerge? What roles did they play? Who supported them and why? Who fought them and why?
4. Discuss the Victorian view of the role of women. How did the so-called new woman of the late nineteenth century challenge the Victorian ideal? Which women were the most affected by the new-woman patterns? Which were least affected by the changes?
5. Discuss the varied responses of nineteenth-century middle-class reformers to urban ethnic diversity, poverty, and crime.