Wallace Stegner, “the dean of Western writers,” called Hoover Dam “one of the world’s wonders,” marveling how everything about it “is marked by the immense, smooth, efficient beauty that seems peculiarly American.” The colossal structure Stegner admired in the Nevada desert inaugurated an era of prolific construction in the United States, when dams arose as great symbols of power, ingenuity, ambition, and national purpose. This course will trace the legacy of a technology across the 20th century that inspired engineers, fired the imaginations of social visionaries and government officials, awed artists, transformed vast landscapes, reconfigured regional economies, prompted sober second thoughts, and rewrote the history of our nation and its sprawling frontier.

• Discussion Leader: Paul Milazzo
• Historic Site: Hoover Dam
• Hotel: Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort

Gather with a small group of teachers from around the country for three days immersed in discussion and exploration of a single topic in American history. Weekend Seminars are a free opportunity for teachers hosted near an important historical site. Teachers will prepare ahead of time for seminars by reading selected historical documents in the provided course packet. Once the seminar begins, the discussion leader guides a peer-to-peer, text-based conversation among all participants. Meals, materials, single-occupancy rooms, and historical site visits are 100% covered by Teaching American History. At the end of each course, every teacher receives a letter of participation for fifteen contact hours of continuing education and a stipend of $600 to help defray travel costs.