History 177 - Science, Power, and Progress: A History of US Thought

Science, Power & Progress

Fall
2026
01
4.00
Casey Bohlen

TU TH 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM

Smith College
HST-177-01-202701
cbohlen@smith.edu
Human beings are cognitive creatures. Ideas shape their experience of the world. Ideas can then inspire humans to change that world in turn. This course tells the history of how the most explosive of those ideas - about science, power, and progress - remade modern America. Topics include: God and Darwin; race and eugenics; medicine and madness; the nature of truth; utopian socialism; social democracy; revolutionary anarchism; psychedelics and mystical experiences; feminists and tradwives; the politics of racial identity; techno-futurism; and the purpose of an education today. Enrollment limited to 40. (E)
Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.
Link to Campus Courses
Back to the Five College Course Schedule