History Majors Only: should be taken as soon as the major is declared, preferably by the end of the sophomore year. Perspectives is a prerequisite for the Senior Seminar. Perspectives teaches students historical research methods, the critical analysis of primary sources, historical writing techniques, and oral presentation skills. (History Majors Only)
This course is a prerequisite to Senior Seminar and is intended to teach history majors historical research methods, the source analysis, and writing techniques. Students will research and write a 15-20 page research paper based on a topic related to China during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). During this time, China’s Communist Party dissolved into factions and chaos reigned supreme. We will spend the first part of the class learning about this event, relevant sources, as well as the writing process itself. We will spend the second half writing the paper. Required assignments include a paper proposal, an annotated bibliography, and first and final drafts of the research paper. Additional writing assignments may be required as well.
This course is a History Major boot camp. In it, students will learn how to read texts critically; learn the difference between primary and secondary texts; and do research. They will also get intensive aid in learning how to write papers--that means your paper gets marked up and you have to do it again until it’s at the standard of the department. Students will read books about research and history writing. They will read different kinds of sources and write a number of different papers, culminating with a research paper that is 12 pages or longer. My time tested and patented method works, and my students who go on as History Majors will tell you that if you do well in this course, you will be prepared to get better grades throughout your undergraduate education.
We will select topics on nearby history that allow research in primary documents in local South Jersey county historical societies and county court house and library collections, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware, Rutgers University Libraries-New Brunswick Special Collection, and Robeson Library New Jersey history sources, Rowan Library New Jersey History (Stewart) Collection, and other area archives. The overall theme of the seminar is to examine various historical issues in detail that help define South Jersey as a regional political, cultural and economic entity. For instance, Jewish agricultural communities in Cumberland County; Camden and Amboy Railroad; Joseph Campbell Company; Cherry Hill Mall, the South Jersey statehood movement 1981, or any topic that helps define South Jersey as a distinctive region. Each student will prepare a 20-30 page original research paper on their topic based on primary source material.
A broad view of the society we live in and the ideals we live by, starting with the Ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome and continuing through the "divine right" monarchies and the revolutions of the 17th century.
This course begins at the fall of Rome and goes until the dawn of the Renaissance. In this course, students will study the thought of Augustine, the debacle of the crusades, the mighty conflict between the Papacy and great earthly monarchies, the glory of Medieval learning and piety, and finally, the grimy catharsis of the black death and the Hundred Years War. Students will also read about the common lives of normal people during the fifteenth century, who spent much of their time picking fleas off themselves.
This course places the most traumatic and wrenching event of the twentieth century in the context not only of diplomatic and military history but also of political, social, economic, and cultural history. The war that took place in Europe and the Near East between August of 1914 and November of 1918 grew out of a great variety of developments that had taken place during the quarter century that preceded its outbreak, and it shaped many others that were to occur during the two decades that followed its conclusion. Students should therefore gain an understanding of the background to the war and of the war's consequences as well as of the war itself. An important part of this understanding ought to be an enhanced comprehension of how major events and trends during this period were perceived and evaluated by contemporaries--of how history looked and felt to people who lived it.
This course considers religious, political, and social developments from the Protestant Reformation through the 17th century.
Since the collapse of communism in 1991, observers have been struck by the similarities between contemporary Russia and the society that existed before the Revolution of 1917. With Russian literature and firsthand accounts of life under the tsars as our guides, we shall explore pre-Revolutionary Russian history from the emergence of the Romanov dynasty in 1613 until the first revolution to shake the tsarist state in 1905. En route we shall encounter the lives not only of tsars like Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, and Nicholas II, but of peasants, workers, and revolutionaries. Why did Imperial Russia fall in the early twentieth century? Why did tsarism emerge in Russia? What was the relationship between Russia and the West? Finally, what was unique and what was not about Russia’s historical path? To see our syllabus, go to http://crab.rutgers.edu/~lbernste/375Syllabus.html
Introduction to American history, with emphasis on political, economic, and
social factors from the colonial period through the Civil War and Reconstruction
periods.
An introduction to the history of black people in America, with a survey of African background, the history of slavery and resistance to slavery, and the evolution of black leadership through the Civil War. We will also discuss the slave narratives and the impact of slavery on the black family.
This course examines the history and philosophy of American education, including the role of Emma Willard, Horace Mann, Charles Eliot, John Dewey and James Bryant Conant. The course also examines the role of race, religion, gender and class in education; and recent developments regarding standardized testing, re-segregation, and efforts to equalize funding between wealthy districts and disadvantaged districts. This course satisfies the requirement for a course in diversity.
This course explores the founding of the thirteen British North American colonies and their development through the end of the French and Indian War in 1763. This course examines the interactions of Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans in British North America, the thirteen colonies’ involvement with the broader Atlantic world, and the rise of the eighteenth century British Empire to a position of relative dominance.
This course investigates basic concepts of urban and suburban development to consider the vital role such communities have as agents of American civilization. In particular, we will examine tough issues regarding the social and physical arrangements that have characterized such places. From the seaports which played such a central role in the American revolution, to early mill towns, to industrial giants, and to suburban sprawl, we will examine the character of representative places and the various means with thich reformers have attempted to improve them.
The History of Television from its origins in the 1930s to the present. Focuses on how television has changed our social and political culture during the past half century. It will also examine how television has changed in the digital age. (This course may be taken as part of the minor in film studies).
A study of the first empires the world ever saw, Egypt and Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq), and how religion in its celebration of fertility and sex provided their social and government systems. These ancient empires flourished from 3,000 BC until their conquest by Persians, Greeks, and Romans. Although these ancient empires with their governments and religions disappeared by AD 300, they had a tremendous impact and influence upon the current religions of the west: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.