United States History                                                                                                                                                                   Dr. VA

VA'S FAR OUT 3RD QUARTER EXTRA CREDIT BARGAINS (ALMOST) UNLIMITED

            Same deal as last semester.  Minimum 300 words.  Remember to analyze; don't just summarize.  A whole 2 points for each.  Limit of THREE.

            DANCES WITH WOLVES (Kevin Costner discovers the "true" nature of the Sioux, after a bitter experience in his own culture during the American Civil War.  Certainly a departure from the old-fashioned "Western."  Here, the Native Americans are the good guys.)

            THE MOLLY MAGUIRES (Sean Connery stars in director Martin Ritt's story of this radical band of western Pennsylvania coal miners in the 1870s.  Memorable images of the damp and dangerous world of nineteenth century underground mining.) 

            CHARIOTS OF FIRE (True, it's not American history, but it's close enough, and we would make an exception for this one anyway.  Post World War I English athletes out to prove their own fitness to serve and sacrifice for lofty ideals.) 

            INHERIT THE WIND (You must see the 1960 black-and-white version--no other will be accepted for credit.  That one stars Spencer Tracy, one of the truly great actors, in the famous 1925 courtroom battle between two of the most famous lawyers in the country regarding the theory of evolution.)