Roger W. Lotchin
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Research Interests
Roger Lotchin is an urban historian and a western historian. His writing has centered on the history of nineteenth and twentieth century California cities. He has published books on San Francisco during the Gold Rush; the ties of cities and defense in the twentieth century West; and the development of military resources by twentieth century California cities (Fortress California). His current writing includes an essay on the American city in the Gilded Age; an essay on the political empowerment in American cities of women and Hispanics; several articles on the impact of World War II on California cities; an essay on the impact of World War II on southern American cities; a special edition of the Pacific Historical Review on World War II in California cities (August 1994); and an essay on the research needs for the history of the twentieth century western American city. His book length study of the impact of the Second World War on California cities, The Bad City in the Good War: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Diego, appeard in April, 2003.
He teaches courses in urban, World War II, and western history. He teaches using slides, maps, lectures, role playing, and discussion. These techniques are not innovative, but they are effective. His two most innovative techniques are biographies, which students write about a member of their families in relation to the course matter, city, war, or West. The only other innovative technique he employs is to type out a critique of each paper or test that he grades, including a response to each student essay. This should not be an innovation, but the students tell him that very few other faculty do it.
He is to serve as President of the Urban History Association beginning in 2005.
Graduate Students Advised by Roger Lotchin
Courses Offered (As Schedules Allow)
For current course listings, consult the Directory of Classes.
- HIST 128 -- United States History Since 1865
- HIST 373 -- The United States in World War II
- HIST 374 -- The American West, 1800 to the Present
- HIST 395 -- The United States in World War II: War and Society
- HIST 584 -- The Promise of Urbanization: American Cities in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Contact
University of North Carolina at Chapel HillAmerican Studies Program, CB# 3520
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3520
Phone: (919) 962-3946
rlotchin@email.unc.edu