COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

101 Foundations of European Society (Flynn)

With the decline of the Roman Empire, Europe’s cultural heritage faced unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The “Dark Ages” were a time of recovery and synthesis, with Germanic and pagan customs mixing with Roman and Christian culture to form a unique blend of religion, family life, politics, and economy. Through literature, this course discusses the origins of the Western ascetic spirit and the beginning of romantic love and the cult of chivalry. Through visual sources, it explores the construction and defense of castles and manors and traces the embryonic development of agriculture and technology.

Typical readings: J. Le Goff, Medieval Civilization; The Wisdom of the Desert; Chretien de Troyes, Lancelot; Letters of Heloise and Abelard

102 The Making of the Modern World (Staff)

This course examines a global system linked by commodities, ideas, and microbes and sustained by relations of military and political power between the 15th and 18th centuries. The mining and plantation economies of the Americas and the development of direct trading relations between Europe and Asia are treated as interactive processes involving European explorers and merchants, the labor and crafts of African slaves, the fur trapping of Amerindian tribes, and the policy making of the Chinese Empire. Religious confrontation, the improvement of cartography, and nautical instruments are examined.

Typical readings: The Times Concise Atlas of World History; Stavrianos, The World Since 1500; Crosby, Ecological Imperialism; Parry, European Reconnaissance: Selected Documents

103 Revolutionary Europe (Kadane)

This course explores a phase in Europe’s history marked by religious conflict, intellectual crisis, social and cultural change, territorial expansion, economic and technological development, and political upheavals: the period from the mid-16th century to the fall of Napoleon. Students better understand what happened in these centuries by looking at the different forces and consequences of change and continuity. What makes this era “early modern”? What both seals it off in a state of otherness and recognizably ties it to the present – as well as what has led historians to conceptualize and characterize it as exceptionally revolutionary?

Typical readings: Montaigne, In Defense of Raymond Sebond; Bacon, New Atlantis; Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education; Mary Wortley Montagu, Letters

105 Introduction to the American Experience (Staff)

This introduction to American history is not a survey course. Instead it is based upon the assumption that the study of history is the study of the various conceptual frameworks that people have created to make sense out of their experience. The course involves students in the critical examination of various interpretations of the American past, including the progressive, consensus, and post consensus views. Problems of historical methods are also discussed and recent efforts to examine the history of such previously neglected groups as blacks and women are explored.

Typical readings: Norton et al., The Americans; Hofstader, The Progressive Historians; Skotheim (ed.), The Historian and the Climate of Opinion; Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History; Zinn, A People’s History of the United States

151 Food Systems in History (McNally)

This course traces the historical emergence of the contemporary world food system. Students briefly examine the transition from hunter-gathering to Neolithic village agriculture, the differentiation between steppe agriculture and steppe nomadism in ancient Eurasia and the medieval agricultural systems of East Europe and Asia. In the second half,– students then treat development of the present-day global food system since 1500. An important course goal is to understand the meaning of changes in the food systems for individual lives.

Typical readings: Newman, Hunger in History; Bergin and Garvey, Culture and Agriculture; Anderson, The Food of China; Unklesbay, World Food and You; Crosby, Germs, Seeds and Animals; Colburn, Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance; White, Medieval Technology and Social Change; Hughes, The Face of the Earth; Bryant et al., The Cultural Feast

199 Meditations on Time and Memory (Flynn)

This course is designed to introduce students to various ways in which the movement of time has been conceived. Some of the most influential philosophical and scientific analyzes of time are studied, along with literary novels concerning the process of human memory.

Typical readings: Westphal, Time; Hegel, Reason and History; Achebe, Arrow of God; Swift, Waterland; Gould, The Discovery Deep Time

UPPER-LEVEL COURSES IN AMERICAN HISTORY

204 History of American Society (Singal)

This course traces the development of American society from the colonial town to the urban mass society. It relies on social sciences concepts and techniques, and examines how much social mobility there has been at various periods of our history, how demographic trends have helped to shape the country, what the class structure has looked like, and whether or not a genuine community life has been possible since the onset of industrialization. Topics include immigration, the growth of cities, race relations, family life, and changes in American social values.

Typical readings: Lockridge, A New England Town; Rothman and Rothman, Sources of the American Social Tradition; Johnson, A Shopkeeper’s Millenium; Warner, Streetcar Suburbs

208 Women in American History (Free)

This course is designed to study the changing role of women in American history and culture. It examines the status of women within historical context, analyzing those cultural developments that affected the role of women in the community and the family. The course also considers the various methodological approaches that have been developed to study the role of women in history. (Free, offered alternate years)

Typical readings: Ulrich, Good Wives; Cott, Bonds of Womanhood; Beard, Women as Force in History; Sklar, Catherine Beecher; Stansell, City of Women; Banner, Women in Modern America

215 American Urban History (Hood)

This course examines the urbanization of American society from the colonial period to the present, with emphasis on the development of the physical city. It explores the establishment and growth of colonial cities; the impact of technological innovations such as mass transit and the automobile on urban spatial form; the changing responses to urban problems such as water, fire, pollution, housing, crime and disorder; the advent of city planning; the relationship between ethnic and racial conflicts and urban form, especially suburbanization; and the rise of the contemporary decentralized city.

Typical readings: Bailyn, The Peopling of British North America; Rosenberg, The Cholera Years; Riis, How the Other Half Lives; Warner, Streetcar Suburbs; Barth, City People

226 Colonial Latin America (Staff)

This course examines the colonial period in Latin American history from the initial Spanish and Portuguese contact and conquest to the early 19th century wars for independence. It focuses on the background of European colonization, the process of interaction between natives and Europeans, the growth and development of colonial society, the shifting uses of land and labor, and the roots of the 19th-century revolutionary movements.

Typical readings: Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests; Gibson, Spain in America; Lockhart and Otte, Letters and People of the Spanish Indies; Lockhart and Schwartz, Early Latin America; Stein and Stein, The Colonial Heritage of Latin America

227 African-American History I (Staff)

This course traces the history of Africans and their descendants in America from the 17th century through the Civil War. Topics include the slave trade from Africa to the English colonies in North America; establishment of the slave system and slave laws in the 17th century; the evolution of slavery and slave culture in the 18th century; transformations in African American life during the Revolutionary age; the experience of free blacks in the North and South; black society in the Old South; black abolitionism; the Civil War; and Emancipation.

Typical readings: Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World; Egerton, He Shall Go Out Free; Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom; Litwack, North of Slavery

228 African-American History II: The Modern Era (Staff)

This course examines the varied experiences of African Americans from Reconstruction to the present, focusing on class and gender differences within African American society as well as on the fight for social and political equality in America. Major topics include Reconstruction in the South; African American intellectuals; the Great Migration; the Civil Rights movement; black power; and contemporary problems.

Typical readings: Washington, Up From Slavery; Huggins, Harlem Renaissance; Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi; Dickerson, An American Story

231 Modern Latin America (Staff)

This course examines the modern era in Latin American history from the early 19th century wars of independence to the present day. The course is arranged topically and explores such issues as the formation of the Latin American states, the development and growth of Latin American culture and society, the legacy of slavery, the transition to capitalism in the region, the growth of export economies and dependency, and the rise of nationalism and revolutionary movements in Latin America.

Typical readings: Chastine and Tulchin, Problems in Latin American History; Guentes, The Campaign; Galeono, Open Veins of Latin America; Keen, A History of Latin America; Schlesinger and Kinzer, Bitter Fruit

237 Europe Since the War (Linton)

This course examines the remarkable revival and reconstruction of Europe in the post World War II era, exploring the division of Europe into two blocs, economic recovery, the formation of welfare states, decolonization, and supra national associations— the Common Market (EEC), NATO, and the Warsaw Pact. Special emphasis is placed on European relations with the U.S. and the former U.S.S.R. Students explore consequences of the end of the Cold War, including attempts to construct democracies and market economies in Eastern Europe, political turmoil, and the resurgence of nationalism in Western Europe.

Typical readings: Havel, Living in Truth; Laqueur, Europe Since the War; Williams, The European Community; Stokes, The Walls Came Tumbling Down; Camus, Resistance, Rebellion, and Death

238 The World Wars in Global Perspective (Linton)

The American century; the formation of Communist states; genocides, including the Armenian massacres and the destruction of European Jewry; the ongoing crisis in the Middle East; and the relative decline of Europe and decolonization were all closely linked to the two world wars. This course explores these two cataclysmic wars—their origins, conduct, and consequences. In addition to such traditional approaches as military, political, and diplomatic history, students use literary, artistic, and cinematic representations to view these wars through personal experiences.

Typical readings: Winter, The Experience of World War I, The Diaries of Vera Brittain; Juenger, Storm of Steel; Weinberg, A World at Arms; Levi, Survival in Auschwitz; Tumarkin, The Living and the Dead

240 Immigration and Ethnicity in America (Hood)

What is an American? This course examines this question by analyzing the sources of mass immigration to the United States, the encounters among various immigrant groups and natives, and the changing conceptions of ethnicity. The course covers the period from the 1840s to the present. It starts with the Irish and Germans who emigrated in the early 19th century, then consider the Russian Jews, Italians, and others who began arriving in the 1890s, and then investigates the post-1965 emigration from Asia, the Americas, and India that is remaking the country today. Reference is also made to the internal migrations of African- Americans.

246 American Environmental History (Hood)

In this course, historical place in the natural landscape is described through the methods of “environmental history,” embracing three concerns: ecological relationships between humans and nature, political and economic influences on the environment, and cultural conceptions of the natural world. Drawing on methods from the natural and social sciences, and the humanities, students will survey 500 years of American environmental history, from the ecological conflicts of Indians and settlers to recent debates over endangered species and hazardous wastes. Topics range from urban pollution and suburban sprawl to agricultural practices and wilderness protection.

Typical readings: Cronon, Changes in the Land; Isenberg, The Destruction of the Bison; Hurley, Environmental Inequalities; Tarr, The Search for the Ultimate Sink; White, The Organic Machine; Carson, Silent Spring

250 Medieval Popular Culture (Flynn)

What is the relationship between “high” and “low” culture? How do “oral” cultures think, and how have literacy and television transformed human consciousness in more recent times? Close exploration of the material conditions of peasant life, of the psychological workings of folklore, magic, witchcraft, and play in culture help students come to terms with these issues.

Typical readings: Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou; Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms; Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre

253 Renaissance and Reformation (Flynn)

This course explores the major intellectual, artistic, political, and religious events making up the “Renaissance” and the “Reformation.” Students read the works of several principal architects of these movements, and contemporary historians’ attempts to explain the convergence of individual genius and collective cooperation between 1300 and 1600. The period shattered medieval understanding of the nature of reality, the shape of the cosmos, and the relation between man and god. It was in this period that modern notions of individualism, freedom of conscience and national sovereignty began to shape the modern world.

Typical readings: Petrarch, Christine de Pisan, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Erasmus and Luther

256 Technology and Society in Europe (Linton)

The coming of modern machinery has fundamentally altered the nature of work, and has thoroughly transformed communications, warfare, international relations, leisure time, and the arts. This course examines the impact of machinery on social relations and human relations to nature. It explores the promotion and institutionalization of technical innovation in the last two centuries in Europe. Finally, it views the conflicting intellectual and social responses to technological change, ranging from fantasies of technocratic utopias to machine smashing and dark visions of humanity displaced and dominated by mechanized systems.

Typical readings: Landes, The Unbound Prometheus; Giedion, Mechanization Takes Command; Headrick, The Tools of Empire

260 Modernity in Russia (McNally)

This course attempts a balanced survey of the century leading to the Russian Revolution. Russia is both a participant in European civilization and one of the first countries to respond intentionally to the challenge of Western European modernity. In 19th century Russia, policy makers, social critics, and artists explored brilliantly many problems and dilemmas that still preoccupy thoughtful world citizens: the problem of economic development, the relation between individuals and groups, and the role of culture in human communities.

Typical readings: Westwood, Endurance and Endeavor; Eklof and Frank, The World of the Russian Peasant; Tolstoi, What People Live By

261 20th-Century Russia (McNally)

This course examines the 20th century history of Russia, the Soviet Union, and the Commonwealth of Independent States as developments profoundly shaped by Russia’s Eurasian character. Problems of cultural diversity, of economic prosperity, and of political integration are seen as leading to the collapse of both the Tsarist Empire in 1917 and the Soviet Union in 1991.

Typical readings: Lewin, The Gorbachev Phenomenon: Current Digest of the Soviet Press; Von Laue, Why Lenin, Why Stalin?; Pipes, The Formation of the Soviet Union; Mandelbaum, Central Asia and the World; Colton and Legvald, After the Soviet Union

264 Modern European City (Linton)

This course examines the emergence and development of new industrial cities, such as Manchester and Bochum, and the transformation of older administrative and cultural centers such as Paris and Vienna. The course emphasizes the ways in which contrasting visions of the city—source of crime and pathology or fount of economic dynamism and democratic sociability—were expressed and embodied in city planning, reform movements, and the arts. In exploring the modern city, students use perspectives derived from European and American social and political thought and employ literary, statistical, and visual source materials.

Typical readings: Benevolo, The Origins of Modern Town Planning; Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844; Evenson, Paris: A Century of Change; essays by Weber, Simmel, Corbusier, Park, Mumford, Schorske

269 Modern Germany: 1764-1996 (Linton)

The unification of Germany has raised anew the issue of German national identity. This course analyzes Germany’s often-tortured road to creating a modern national state with special emphasis on the problems of forging a satisfactory national identity. Students examine the complex interplay of politics, economics, and culture, following the fate of the German national movement from emergence after the Napoleonic conquest through unification under Bismarck. They examine ways the modernist dynamism, internal divisions, and international aggressiveness of the new Germany resulted in the first World War, the Weimar Republic, and the Nazi seizure of power, leading to the second World War and the Holocaust.

Typical readings: Blackbouen, The Long Nineteenth Century; James, A German Identity; Burleigh, The Racial State

272 Nazi Germany (Linton)

Nazi Germany and the Hitler Regime remain epitomes of political evil. This course explores the formation, ideology, and dynamic of the Third Reich, concentrating on politics, economics, social policy, and cultural policies of the regime. Students examine the combination of terror and everyday life, utopian promise, and the extermination of Jews and other minorities that lay at the heart of Hitler’s regime. They also consider the ways in which the regime has been interpreted by historians and political scientists and the way the Nazi regime has been represented since its defeat in 1945.

Typical readings: Burleigh and Wippermann, The Racial State; Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland; Kershaw, Hitler; Evans, In Hitler’s Shadow; Friedlander, Nazi Germany and the Jews

276 The Age of Dictators (Linton)

European one-party dictatorships that used state organs to mobilize mass support and unleash unprecedented levels of coercion and terror directed at their own populations still haunt our memory and understanding of the 20th century. This course examines and compares the origins and dynamics of Stalin’s Soviet Union, Mussolini’s Italy, and Hitler’s Germany, and their ways of securing popular support and eliminating opposition. The class critically explores theories and concepts used to classify and categorize these regimes: “totalitarianism,” “fascism,” “bonapartist dictatorships.”

Typical readings: Palla, Mussolini and Fascism; Kershaw, Hitler; Johnson, Nazi Terror; Ward, Stalin’s Russia; Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism; Payne, A History of Fascism

283 South Africa in Transition (Tareke)

After a long period of colonialist domination, exploitation, racial humiliation, and destructive wars, southern Africa is emerging as a land of renewed hope for peace, stability and prosperity. This transition is explored in this course from the late 19th century to the rise of Nelson Mandela. By placing greater emphasis on South Africa, the course investigates such themes as the rise and demise of apartheid, wars of national liberation, economic development, demographic and environmental concerns, and democratization and the construction of pluralist societies.

Typical reading: Davenport, South Africa: A Modern History; Martin and Johnson, The Struggle for Zimbabwe; Moodie, Going for Gold; Minter, Apartheid's Contras; Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

284 Africa: From Colonialism to Neocolonialism (Tareke)

Genocide in Rwanda, famine in Somalia, civil war in Liberia, executions in Nigeria, and more. What explains these images of a continent in change? Is there more to the African experience? These questions are examined in this survey of African history since World War II. Major topics of interest potentially include the contradictory effects of colonialism, cultural and intellectual origins of African nationalism, the limits and possibilities of political independence, the conflict between developmental needs and environmental concerns, the changing relations between state and society, and prospects for democratization.

Typical readings: Davidson, The Black Man’s Burden; Cooper, Africa Since 1940; Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost; Chobal/Daloz, Africa Works; Mezlekia, From the Hyena’s Belly

285 The Middle East: Roots of Conflict (Tareke)

The Middle East has been particularly prone to conflict and violence since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I and the subsequent rise of national states. This course examines the historical, social, and ideological roots of conflict and the prospects for a durable peace and sustained development in the region. It does so by devoting special attention to the complex and changing relations among Arabs and between Arabs and Israelis, and by exploring the Egyptian and Iranian revolutions, Lebanese sectarianism, Kurdish quest for statehood, the politics of oil and water, secularism, and the challenges of religious fundamentalism.

Typical readings: Khalidi, Resurrecting Empire; Chomsky, Middle East Illusions; Gelvin, The Modern Middle East; Keddie, Modern Iran

286 Plants and Empire (Linton)

After the 15th century, European empires dramatically transformed the geographical distribution of plants with enormous social, economic, cultural and biological consequences. The plantation system was a new form of economic enterprise dedicated to the production of a single cash crop usually brought from elsewhere such as sugar, tobacco, or cotton grown for distant markets. European administrators and merchants developed international trade in stimulants such as coffee and tea, medicinal plants such as cinchona bark (quinine), dye plants such as indigo, narcotics such as opium, food crops such as wheat and garden plants such as tulips and tree peonies. Students trace the globalization of traffic in plants and its consequences from Columbus to contemporary debates over genetically modified crops and bioprospecting.

Typical readings: Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire; Iain Gately, Tobacco; Londa Schiebinger, Plants and Empire; Gill Saunders, Picturing Plants; Mark Honigsbaum, The Fever Trail; Nicola Shulman, A Rage for Rock Gardening; Mark L. Winston, Travels in the Genetically Modified Zone

291 Late Imperial China (Staff)

After introductory lectures on the nature of traditional Chinese civilization, this course turns to a consideration of some of the major themes in Chinese history during the period from approximately A.D. 1200 to 1800. Among those themes are: the Mongol conquest of China and the nature of Mongol rule, the restoration of Chinese rule under the native Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the intellectual and cultural life of the Ming elite, China’s role in the “emerging world economy,” and the domination of China by the Manchu Ch’ing dynasty during the late 17th and 18th centuries. Prerequisite: HIST 101 or permission of instructor.

Typical readings: Gernet, A History of Chinese Civilization; Langlois, China Under Mongol Rule, The Travels of Marco Polo; Hucker, The Ming Dynasty: Its Origins and Evolving Institutions

292 Japan Before 1868 (Yoshikawa)

A survey of Japanese political and cultural history to A.D. 1800, this course considers the primitive culture of the prehistoric and early historic periods, the introduction of an advanced culture from China in the sixth century A.D., the distinctive aristocratic culture of the Heian period (795- 1185), and the cultural and political dominance of the samurai “class” during the Kamakura (1185-1330s), Ashikaga (1330-1560s), and early Tokugawa (1603-1868) periods. Prerequisite: HIST 101, ASN 201, or permission of instructor.

Typical readings: Sansom, Japan: A Short Cultural History; Munsterberg, The Arts of Japan; Morris, The World of the Shining Prince; Keene, Anthology of Japanese Literature

300 American Colonial History (Staff)

This course examines the transplantation of Europeans to the colonies, and the development of ideas and institutions in the New World. It takes a close look at local communities in the colonies, and the interplay of religion, politics, economics, and family life. It also deals with the factors that led to the Revolution.

Typical readings: Rutman, Winthrop’s Boston; Lockridge, A New England Town; Miller, Errand into the Wilderness; Greven, Child Rearing and the Puritan Temperament; Allen, In English Ways

301 The Enlightenment (Kadane)

Many people in the West no longer believe in the divine rights of monarchs or the literal meanings of ancient religious texts, but find meaning in civil society, material life, and science, and uphold the sanctity of human equality, which they experience through relatively unrestrained access to various news media, conversations held in accessible social spaces, and schooling premised on the belief that education and experience shape the human mind. How responsible is the 18th-century movement of rigorous criticism and cultural renewal known as “the Enlightenment”? Students examine its coherence as a movement, its major themes and proponents, its meaning for ordinary people, its varied interpretations, its spread throughout Europe and beyond, and the more sinister cultural institutions and projects that many Enlightenment figures were reluctant to interrogate.

Typical readings: Addison and Steele, The Spectator; Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality; Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments; Voltaire, Candide; Cleland, Fanny Hill; Porter, Creation of the Modern World

304 The Early National Republic: 1789-1840 (Staff)

This course examines the United States from the ratification of the federal Constitution up through the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Particular attention is given to the process of political party formation, the impact of the “market revolution” upon national life, the origins and ramifications of the Second Great Awakening, and the antebellum reform movements.

Typical readings: McCoy, The Elusive Republic; Watson, Liberty and Power; Sheriff, The Artificial River; Rorabaugh, The Alcoholic Republic; Greenberg, Confessions of Nat Turner; Dublin, Women at Work; Abzug, Cosmos Crumbling

306 The Civil War and Reconstruction, 1840-1877 (Free)

This course examines America’s pivotal middle period, a period of rising sectional tensions, bloody civil war, and protracted debate about the promise and limits of equality in the United States. Among the topics covered are the meaning of freedom in antebellum America, territorial expansion and the development of slavery as a political issue, the collapse of the national party system and the secession crisis, the meaning of the American Civil War, and the postwar settlement of reconstruction.

Typical readings: Holt, Political Crisis of the 1850s; Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Durrill, War of Another Kind; Oates, With Malice Toward None; Foner, A Short History of Reconstruction; Douglass, Narrative of the Life of an American Slave; Linderman, Embattled Courage

307 The American Revolution (Staff)

This course explores the origins and major events of the American Revolution, from the French and Indian War through the ratification of the Constitution. Special attention is given to the development of Revolutionary ideology, the social and economic changes of the Revolutionary period, the role women and African Americans played in the struggle, and competing interpretations of the Revolution by scholars.

Typical readings: Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution; Kerber, Women of the Republic; Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution; Nash, Forging Freedom

310 The Rise of Industrial America (Hood)

The main theme of this course is the multiple meanings for diverse Americans of the triumph of an urban/ industrial society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The nature of industrial leadership, immigration and urbanization, and analyses of major political and social reform movements are among the topics to be covered.

Typical readings: Wiebe, The Search for Order; Hofstadter, The Age of Reform; Sumner, What Social Classes Owe to Each Other; Bell, Out of This Furnace; DuBois, Souls of Black Folk

311 20th-Century America: 1917-1941 (Hood)

This course is a continuation of HIST 310. World War I and its aftermath, economic and social changes in the 1920s, interaction between politics and urbanization, the Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the New Deal are among the topics to be covered.

Typical readings: Badger, The New Deal; McElvaine, Down and Out in the Great Depression; Brinkley, Voices of Protest; Ellis, Eye Deep in Hell; Lewis, Babbitt

312 The United States since 1939 (Singal)

This course surveys American history from the start of World War II to the presidency of Jimmy Carter (1977- 1981), covering foreign and domestic affairs. Subjects include origins of the Cold War, diplomacy in the nuclear age, McCarthyism, the Korean War, the affluent society, the civil rights and black power movements, the Vietnam War and its consequences, youth culture in the 1960s, the women’s movement, the Watergate crisis, and the dilemmas of the postwar American economy. Special attention is paid to the state of politics and the problems of studying recent historical events.

Typical readings: Sherwin, A World Destroyed; Ambrose, Rise to Globalism; Alexander, Holding the Line; Kennedy, Thirteen Days; Halberstam, The Making of a Quagmire; Schell, The Time of Illusion

313 Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution (Linton)

This course first examines the life and work of Charles Darwin focusing on the genesis of his theory of evolution and then explores the ramifications of the Darwinian revolution both for the natural and human sciences and for broader religious, cultural, and political life. The course investigates what the Darwinian revolution tells about scientific revolutions and about the use and abuse of science in the modern world. The emphasis will be on Darwinian revolution in Europe, but attention will be paid to Darwin’s fate in the Americas and Asia.

Typical readings: Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle, Origin of Species, Descent of Man; Brown, Charles Darwin: Voyaging; Ruse, The Darwinian Revolution; Paul, Controlling Human Heredity

314 Aquarian Age: The 1960s (Singal)

The era known as the “sixties” was a time of relentless change in which all facets of American life seemed to undergo a vast transformation. This course examines the sources and nature of that change, paying particular attention to the realms of culture, personal identity, and politics. Students study the earlier part of the 20th century to locate the forces that gave rise to the Aquarian impulses of the 1960s and the reaction that developed against them, and decide whether or not the legacy left behind by the 1960s should be considered beneficial.

Typical readings: Farber, The Age of Great Dreams; Englehardt, The End of Victory Culture; Burner and West, The Torch is Passed; Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties; Gould, 1968: The Election that Changed America; Kunen, The Strawberry Statement; Roszak, The Making of a Counter Culture

316 Metropolis (Hood)

This course examines the history and prospects of major metropolises such as New York, London, Tokyo, Berlin, and Shanghai. As the international economy has become interconnected, these cities have become centers of economic and political decisions that reverberate worldwide. Students explore these metropolises’ social structures, physical landscapes, political systems, and memory cultures, asking such questions as: What factors make a city a “global” one? How, and why, are these metropolises alike and how are they different? How do their residents respond to rapid growth, disasters, and other urban problems? What effects do they have on patterns of wealth, the exercise of power, the natural environment, and the construction of identities locally, nationally, and globally? This interdisciplinary course draws readings and theories from such disciplines as urban planning, sociology, and environmental studies as well as history.

Typical readings: Hall, Cities in Civilization; Abu-Lughod, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles; Page, The Creative Destruction of Manhattan, 1900-1940; Ladd, Ghosts of Berlin; Lee, Shanghai Modern; Davis, Ecology of Fear

317 Women’s Rights Movements in the U.S. (Free)

This course examines the creation and development of women’s rights movements in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries – two centuries that witnessed the explosion of movements for women’s emancipation. Students explore the social, legal, political and economic conditions of women at different historical moments along with the efforts of women (and men) to change those conditions. Women often differed about what the most important issues facing their sex were. Consequently, this course examines not only the issues that have united women, but also the issues that have divided them.

Typical readings: DuBois, Feminism and Suffrage; Rosen, World Split Open; Lorde, Sister Outsider

318 Making of the Individualist Self (Kadane)

Selfconsciousness is one of the few human attributes that has existed outside of history and regardless of culture. But the self itself, the subject and object of self-consciousness, has been understood with a great degree of variation through time and across the globe. This seminar explores a very influential conception of selfhood: the “individualist self,” the self driven by belief in its coherence and its own goals, set in contrast to other selves and other structures, and indebted for its origins to the major shifts that took place in western Europe in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Attention is given to the Protestant Reformation, encounters with new and ancient worlds, and the spread of experimental science, representative government, and capitalism. Students also examine historical sources most intimately connected with this phenomenon: the written forms—diaries, autobiographies, and other self-examination exercises—through which people documented their existence and came to constitute and reflect a new mode of selfunderstanding and engagement with the world.

Typical readings: Rousseau, Confessions; Seaver, Wallington’s World; Seigel, Idea of the Self; Mascuch, Origins of Individualist Self; Franklin, Autobiography; Boswell, London Journal

319 Puritanism: 1560-2000 (Kadane)

Puritanism has been blamed, or credited, for having led white settlers to New England while driving those who stayed behind to behead their king and reform their government; it arguably gave us the capitalist spirit, experimental science, the novel, the individual, not to mention radical politics (in the 17th century), American conservatism (more recently), prohibition, John Ashcroft, feminism, and breakfast cereal. This senior seminar takes a long view of British and, to a lesser extent, American history in the early modern period in order to get a better sense of what “Puritanism” means, who the Puritans were, what they believed, where they came from, and what they caused.

Typical readings: Weber, Protestant Ethic; Walzer, Revolution of the Saints; Edwards, Gangraena; Bunyan, Grace Abounding; Walsham, Providence in Early Modern England; Collinson, Elizabethan Puritan Movement

325 Medicine and Public Health in Modern Europe (Linton)

This course examines the “medicalization” of Europe—the conquest of infectious disease and consequently increasing life spans, the triumph of the medical profession legitimated by scientific credentials, the development and growth of medical institutions including the clinic, hospital, and research institute, and the transformation of health care into a central public policy issue. It explores the impact of medicalization on European culture and mentality by examining literary and artistic representations of disease and medicine.

Typical readings: Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic; Latour, The Pasteurization of France; Evans, Death in Hamburg; Proctor, Racial Hygiene: Medicine Under the Nazis

336 History of American Thought to 1865 (Singal).

This course traces the development of major ideas in a broad array of fields, including politics, religion, psychology, and history, through the Civil War era. While it focuses chiefly on formal thought, it also pays attention to trends in popular culture and to the social context in which that thought arose. It relies heavily on primary source readings, a number of which are literary in character. Some of the questions examined involve the relationship between intellectual and social change, the distinctiveness of American thought, and the role of an intellectual elite in a democratic society.

Typical readings: Tracy, Jonathan Edwards, Pastor; Paine, Common Sense; Wilson, Figures of Speech; Jefferson, Notes on Virginia; Sklar, Catherine Beecher; Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin

337 History of American Thought Since 1865 (Singal)

This course covers the history of American thought and culture from the late Victorian period to the present, examining forces that led Americans to rebel against the Victorian world view and which were responsible for the rise of Modernism. Social and political thought are emphasized, but the rise of the social sciences, new philosophical movements, theology and aesthetics, American identity, the emergence of the university as a major cultural institution, and the role of the intellectual in modern America are also discussed. There is no prerequisite, but HIST 336 is recommended.

Typical readings: Bellamy, Looking Backward; Adams, The Education of Henry Adams; James, The Will to Believe and Other Essays; Dewey, The School and Society; Singal, Modernist Culture in America

340 Faulkner and the Southern Historical Consciousness (Singal)

This seminar style course examines the relationship between William Faulkner’s literary works and his consciousness of his region’s past. It includes intensive reading of four or five of his major novels to determine the ways in which Southern history shaped Faulkner’s thought, paying special attention to the technique and structure of his art as a prime source of evidence. Particular attention is paid to such topics as the heroic myth of the Southern aristocracy; his treatment of race; his attitudes toward nature and the wilderness; and his depiction of Southern women.

Typical readings: Faulkner, Flags in the Dust, The Sound and the Fury, Light in August, Absalom, Absalom!, Go Down, Moses

352 Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Elites in America (Hood)

Exercising power that is entirely disproportionate to their small numbers, elites have shaped American society by making political and economic decisions and by influencing cultural values. This seminar explores the history, social composition, and power of elites in American history by asking questions such as: What groups should be considered elites? Who belongs to elites, who doesn’t, and why? How have the makeup and authority of elites changed in U.S. history? How do elites use power and understand themselves and their roles? How do elites seek to legitimate themselves in a society that prizes democracy and that, since the mid-20th century, has increasingly valued egalitarianism? What is the importance of elites for social inequality, economic growth, and race, ethnicity, and gender? How are changing understandings of rank, class, wealth, and equality reflected in the cultural realm, especially in the “self-help” literature? How is opposition to elites expressed politically and culturally?

Typical readings: Breen, Tobacco Culture; Franklin, Autobiography; Beckert, The Monied Metropolis; Jaher, Urban Establishment, Mills, Power Elite; Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People; Brooks, Bobos in Paradise

364 Seminar: African History (Tareke)

The seminar examines the nature and scope of the contemporary African predicament. Few observers would contest that the African continent is faced with a serious and multifaceted crisis that adversely affects the lives of ordinary people; but there is no agreement on the fundamental causes—nor on the possible solutions. Whereas some locate the roots in the colonial systems and other exogenous factors, others blame the postcolonial governments. This class assesses both perspectives in light of the historical evidence.

Typical readings: Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost; Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth; Davidson, The Black Man’s Burden; Ayittey, Africa in Chaos; Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works; Wa Tiongo, Petals of Blood; Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You

367 Women and the State: Russia (McNally)

When we learn the history of a country we often actually learn the history of the State. This course instead explores the history of one European country (Russia) from the perspective of the majority of its population (women and the young). Students examine how the Russian state grew out of the ancient Russian family system; how most Russians assumed the juridical status of children within the system of serfdom; how these developments sharpened the authoritarianism of Russian patriarchy and politics; how Russian liberals have struggled for two centuries to cultivate the linked institutions of civil liberty and romantic love; and how the capitalism of today’s Russia has produced contradictory consequences for the majority of the Russian people.

Typical readings: Pouncy, The Domostroi; Stites, The Women’s Movement in Russia; Tolstoi, Anna Karenina; Bridger, No More Heroines

371 Life Cycles: The Family in History (Flynn)

Historical transformations in child birthing techniques and child rearing patterns are juxtaposed with emerging notions of “childhood” and “adulthood” in order to clarify both the practical and philosophical foundations of marriage and patriarchy.

Typical readings: Sappho’s poetry; Ozment, The Burgermeister’s Daughter; Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther; G. Ruggiero, Binding Passions; Shahar, Growing Old

390 The Modern Transformations of China and Japan (Staff)

This course compares and contrasts the histories of China and Japan from approximately 1800 to the present. Topics include the military and political humiliation of China by the West in the 19th century, the restructuring of Japanese society following the Meiji Restoration, emergence of Japan as the dominant Asian economic and military power, Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, “Nationalist Revolution” in China, “failure” of liberal democracy in Japan, Second World War, American occupation of Japan, Communist Revolution in China, and modernization efforts of both countries since 1950. Prerequisite: HIST 102, ASN 101, or permission of the instructor.

394 Russia and Central Asia (McNally)

This course traces the converging stories of two culturally distinct culture areas: Russia and Central Asia. Students start with geography, trace the rise of Orthodox and Moslem states and then examine their interactions through the Mongol Conquests, the expansion of the Russian/Soviet Empires and the implications for Russia and Central Asia of the Soviet collapse.

Typical readings: Wesson, The Russian Dilemma; Halperin, Russia and the Golden Horde; Cherniavsky, “Khan or Basileus”; Kotkin and Wolff, Rediscovering Russia in Asia; d’Encausse, Islam and the Russian Empire; Lentzeff, Eastward to Empire

396 History and the Fate of Socialism: Russia and China (McNally)

This course studies Marxian Socialism as a product of history, as a lens through which to view past, present and future history and as a shaper of history. After introduction to the fundamentals (only) of Marx’s thought, students examine how those ideas played out during the great 20th century revolutions in Russia and China. Finally, students spend a few weeks thinking about uses of socialism today in a possibly Post-Marxian world.

Typical readings: Wilson, To The Finland Station; Graham, Ghost of the Executed Engineer; Meisner, Marxism, Maoism and Utopianism; Tucker, The Marxian Revolutionary Idea; Marx & Engels, Marx and Engels Reader; Harrington, Socialism

461 Seminar: War and Peace in the Middle East (Tareke)

Many wars, small and big, have been fought in the Middle East since World War II. This seminar examines some of the major wars, paying attention to their causes and consequences both on the region and world wide.

Typical readings: Khalidi, Resurrecting Empire; Shlaim, War and Peace in the Middle East; Oren, Six Days of War

462 Africa Through the Novel (Tareke)

The four African writers who have won the Nobel Peace Prize for literature are novelists. Their works have enriched the discourse on Africa’s postcolonial experience in its social, political, economic and cultural facets. But how useful is the novel for historical analysis? This course seeks to study the novelist’s contribution toward our understanding of the human condition in contemporary Africa.

463 Topics in American History (Staff)

469 Seminar: Global Cities (Hood)

This seminar examines global cities—urban agglomerations having world-wide significance. As the international economy has become more interconnected, major cities have become centers of economic and political decisions and social experience with worldwide effects. And, as the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, made clear, global cities have also become targets of aggrieved groups that view them as sources of injustice. This raises important questions: what makes a city a “global” one? What conditions facilitate and limit global cities’ reach? Are national and local identities changing because of globalization, and, if so, how? Are global cities instruments of imperial domination? Or are global cities engines of economic growth and modernity? Students consider these questions, and critically analyze globalization theory itself, by exploring the history of selected global cities.

Typical readings: Sassen, The Global City; Seidensticker, Tokyo Rising: The City since the Great Earthquake; Davis, Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster; Hall, Cities in Civilization

371 Bugles, Belles, and Bloated Bodies: Civil War in American Memory (Free)

Since the end of the Civil War Americans have sought to better understand the brutal struggle that divided families, neighbors and regions. Through the veterans’ parades and public statues of the late 1800s, the films and novels of the early 1900s, the intensely impassioned debates about the Confederate battle flag of the 1990s, and the battle reenactments today, Americans have “remembered” the Civil War in varied ways, thereby assigning meanings to the conflict. This class explores these diverse meanings, interrogates why this particular moment in American history continues to fascinate and enrage Americans, and examines the complicated relationship between American history, memory, and culture.

Typical readings: Blight, Race and Reunion; Coski, The Confederate Battle Flag; Cullen, The Civil War in Popular Culture; Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered

476 Seminar: Western Civilization and Its Discontents (Flynn)

Seven of the Western world’s most searing critiques of the “civilizing process” form the basis of discussions concerning the disturbances and the promises of modern existence.

Typical readings: Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality; Brown, Life Against Death; Elias, The Civilizing Process; Freud, Civilization and its Discontents; Eisler, R., Sacred Pleasure, Daniel Quinn, Beyond Civilization

493 Seminar in Japanese History (Yoshikawa)

Intended for advanced students of Japanese history and society, the contents of this course change with the interests of the students and the instructor Prerequisite: HIST 292 or permission of the instructor.