PERSPECTIVES ON HISTORY
50:509:299:01
M/W 3:45 pm – 5:05 pm
Professor Kapur
Gen Ed: GCM (Global Communities), USW (U.S. in the World)
What is the past, and how is it remembered (or forgotten)? How have conceptions of “history” evolved over time? In what ways (if any) does history differ from other disciplines or modes of analysis? How have various notions of the past been used (or abused) to support specific policies or course of action? Why should we study the past at all? In pondering these and other questions about the nature of history and the past, we will draw upon examples from American, European, and non-Western history. Along the way, we will develop our skills in critically analyzing both primary and secondary materials, locating and properly citing historical sources, and developing a historical argument and supporting it with evidence. By producing a variety of short writing assignments, we will gradually work our way toward a 12-15 page historical research paper on a topic of each student’s own interest.
WESTERN CIVILIZATION III
50:510:103:01
M/W 12:30 pm – 1:50 pm
Professor Marker
Gen Ed: GCM (Global Communities)
This course explores the development of modern politics, society and culture in Europe and beyond from the mid-eighteenth century to the present. With such a vast time span under consideration, this course is not intended to be an exhaustive survey of modern European history. Rather, we will use a combination of lectures and primary texts as points of entry into the major historical events and trends of the era—the Enlightenment, the rise of capitalism, the French Revolution, industrialization, nationalism, imperialism, the World Wars, and decolonization. Coursework includes lecture, discussion, short presentations, a midterm, and a final exam.
FRENCH REVOLUTIONS AND NAPOLEON
50:510:322:01
T/TH 11:10 am – 12:30 pm
Professor Mokhberi
Gen Ed: GCM (Global Communities, G (Global Studies)
In 1789, Frenchmen stormed the Bastille and shocked the world by killing their king in 1793. France entered a period of turbulent political change that put it at war with other European countries and culminated in the empire of Napoleon. Students will learn about the changes in ideas, culture, and politics that swept Europe into the modern age. The course will cover the new philosophies of the age, the experiments in government, as well as the events of the French Revolution and the rise and fall of Napoleon.
ENGLAND IN THE AGE OF SHAKESPEARE
50:510:351:01
T/TH 9:35 am – 10:55 am
Professor Shankman
GEN ED: GCM
This course has just about everything: Henry VIII and all six of his wives, Catholics killing Protestants and Protestants killing Catholics, Elizabeth the virgin queen, Shakespeare, bishops clipping the ears off of ministers, the English people clipping off the head of their king, communists and naked Quakers, the first truly modern revolution in world history, and, oh yes, the origins of almost all of American government and the political and economic ideas that shaped the United States. More specifically: this course will examine the years from the late 1400s to the late 1700s to discover how tiny, insignificant, and peripheral England became the dominant global power between the late fifteenth century and the mid-eighteenth century.
SPECIAL TOPICS: ANCIENT ROME IN THE MOVIES
50:510:380:01
T/TH 2:00 pm – 3:20 pm
Professor Jewell
Ancient Greece and Rome have captured the imagination of movie-goers and directors since the beginning of cinematic history. Some of the earliest silent films took stories and personalities from Roman history as their subject matter, while more recently the “sword and sandals” genre of movie brought Rome to mass audiences, from Spartacus to the Gladiator franchise. This course delves into this history of making movies about Roman history, contextualizing these movies (and some tv series) within the time when they were made, its culture and politics, and asking why Rome itself held enough relevance at different points in US (and World) history to be brought to large audiences. At the same time, this course understands movies and tv shows as historical sources in and of themselves, and as such, students will become equipped with the tools to talk and write about such media not only in terms of film-making, but their role in making history. Assessments in the course range from short film reviews, a podcast, a multi-media project and reading/viewing assignments.
INDEPENDENT STUDY HISTORY
50:510:499:01
By Arrangement, Staff
Independent reading under the supervision of a member of the department.
INDEPENDENT STUDY HISTORY
50:510:499:02
By Arrangement, Staff
Independent reading under the supervision of a member of the department.
AMERICA SINCE THE CIVIL WAR
50:512:202:01
M/W 9:35 am – 10:55 am
Professor Bayker
Gen Ed: USW (United States in the World)
This course provides an introduction to American history from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the new millennium. We will examine key political, social, economic, and cultural developments of the period. The themes we will explore include the changing role and expansion of the federal government; industrialization and the growth of a mass consumer culture; the relationship of the United States to the rest of the world; social movements and the changing ideas about individual rights, equality, and freedom.
SPECIAL TOPIC: GANGS OF NEW YORK
50:512:381:01
T/TH 2:00 pm – 3:20 pm
Professor Woloson
This course explores the intersections of crime and vice, law and order in 19th-century urban America. We will cover topics including the changes in law enforcement and imprisonment over time; the intersections of crime, poverty, and emerging industrialization; the development of organized policing; social reform movements; and the origins of the modern carceral state.
We will read the stories of gamblers, prostitutes, pickpockets, thieves, conmen, and corrupt politicians, while considering the various social, political, economic, and cultural factors that encouraged their criminal activities. In addition, we will examine various responses by the state to control the urban underworld, including enacting legislation, establishing police forces, and launching reform efforts. Students will be asked to examine various primary and secondary sources, actively engage in class discussion, and write both short and long responses to the questions raised.
WORLD WAR II
50:512:285:01 AND 50:512:381:01
M/W 2:00 pm – 3:25 pm
Professor Epstein
Gen Ed: USW (United States in the World)
World War II never loses its fascination. The greatest catastrophe of the 20th century. It caused the deaths of some 60 million people, the large majority of whom were civilians. To understand the origins of the war, we will begin with World War I, and then trace the collapse of the fragile postwar peace in the 1920s and 1930s. By the time the United States entered World War II, it had been raging for years in Asia and Europe. We will study the famous battles, campaigns, weapons, and leaders familiar from popular accounts of the war. But we will also examine how the combatants mobilized their economies and societies, how they developed the logistical capacity to project combat power across oceans and continents, how everyday people and soldiers experienced the war, how the war and the Holocaust were related, and how the war generated new calls for decolonization and human rights. Last but not least, we will explore how the war changed the international order: vaulting the United States to superpower status, hastening the end of the European empires, leading to the establishment of the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund, and setting the stage for the Cold War.
The course is designed to be both accessible to non-History majors and rewarding for History majors. It is approved for General Education credit in the “United States in the World” (USW) category.
AMERICA’S BIRTHDAYS
50:512:304:01
T/TH 9:35 am – 10:55 am
Professor Goodman
Gen Ed:
This course explores how Americans have commemorated the nation’s milestone birthdays, from the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia to the Semiquincentennial events of 2026. The past is not static, but rather something societies continually reinterpret in the context of shifting economic, political, social, and cultural conditions. Students will reckon with the shifting meanings and modes of memory and gain hands-on public history experience that will help them better understand the stakes of America’s “birthday” celebrations.
EAST ASIA
50:516:231:01
M/W 2:05 pm – 3:25 pm
Professor Kapur
Gen Ed: G (Global Studies)
This survey course examines the history of Japan from the collapse of the samurai government in the 1850s to the present time. We will examine the “opening” of Japan following centuries of self-imposed isolation, its rise to power and defeat in World War II, and its subsequent transformation into an economic and pop culture powerhouse, as well as more recent events such as the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster.
THE CARIBBEAN
50:516:350:01
T/TH 11:10 am – 12:30 pm
Professor Thomas
Gen Ed: GCM (Global Communities)
In 1491, the Caribbean was home to relatively small groups of indigenous peoples, some of them peaceful and some belligerent. By 1750, the indigenous peoples had been obliterated, and enslaved Africans ruled by European colonists were producing more wealth per acre and per capita (mostly in the form of sugar, called “white gold”) than in any other region in the world. Two hundred years after that, in the mid-20th century, the region was a mixture of island societies struggling to overcome colonial rule and independent nations being choked by violent dictatorships. Today, the Caribbean is culturally and historically vibrant but still struggles with the legacies of slavery, colonialism, and exploitative economies.
In this course, we will explore the history of the Caribbean region from the time of Columbus’s arrival in 1492 through the beginning of the twenty-first century. Focusing on political, economic, social, and cultural themes, we will examine the major developments in the Caribbean past: discovery and conquest, colonialism and revolution, slavery and emancipation, imperialism and revolution, migration and transnationalism. We will analyze documents and other historical sources written by and about the people who made the region’s history, including pirates, “maroons” (enslaved people who escaped and lived free), and a handful of revolutionaries who altered the course of regional and world events in three different centuries.
By the end of the semester, you will have developed a clear understanding not only of the events and issues that have shaped the history of the Caribbean, but also of why and how the history of this region has unfolded in its particular ways. This advanced history course is reading-intensive and there are four major writing assignments—but no exams!