Modern Europe

Surveys the major movements and developments in Europe during the era of European expansion and dominance--from the devastations of the Thirty Years War to the Second World War--and up to the current era of European Union. Topics include: the French Revolution and the birth of nationalism; the scientific and industrial revolutions; the modern history of international relations; imperialism, fascism, the Holocaust, the two World Wars, and the present and potential roles of Europe at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

Modern Britain, 1688-Present

Britain has long been considered an exemplary modern nation, credited, for example, with the world's first industrial economy, modern institutions of representative politics, a vibrant public sphere, a powerful war and welfare state, and one of the largest empires in world history. Using a combination of primary and secondary source readings, classroom lectures and discussions, and various written assessments, this course will ask how modern imperial Britain was made and how this history relates to the broader currents of world history.

British Empire & Commonwealth

This course is an introduction to the expansion, consolidation, and eventual disintegration of the modern British Empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will examine this history with an eye to understanding the causes of empire, and its effects. Themes include formal and informal imperialism, the emergence of anti-colonial nationalism, the roles of gender and culture, and the legacies of British colonialism.

The American Peoples to 1865

This course examines the diverse cultures and peoples--Indian, African, and European--that from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, through combat and cooperation, forged North American societies. Topics include the indigenous societies of the Americas; the age of colonialism; slavery; the American Revolution; the creation of the American political system; expansion and industrialization; and the coming of the Civil War.

The Writing of History

This course is about writing history, commonly called historiography. It examines some of the most successful works of historical writing from the ancient world to the present day. It investigates strategies historians use in interpreting the past, secrets of their trade, and the awful price not a few have paid for challenging orthodox versions of the past. Students will also analyze works of contemporary authors and apply their own hand to the historian's craft.

History of Global Inequality

Why are some nations so much richer and more powerful than others? This course demonstrates that global inequality is not natural; it has a history. Exploring patterns of exchange that developed among regions of the world over the past 600 years, we will ask about the role of power in the establishment of practices of production and exchange. We will explore how cross-regional productive systems benefited some participants at the expense of others.

Native Amer Hist through 1865

This course surveys Native American history from ancient times through the U.S. Civil War, tracing the ways that tribal communities have shaped North America. Beginning with the diverse indigenous societies that inhabited the Americas millennia before Columbus's arrival, it discusses the cultural complexity of Native peoples, nations, and worldviews rooted in particular ecosystems and homelands.

US Women's History since 1890

This course introduces students to the major themes of U.S. women's history from the 1890s to the present. We will look both at the experiences of a diverse group of women in the U.S. as well as the ideological meaning of gender as it evolved and changed over the twentieth century. We will chart the various meanings of womanhood (for example, in relation to motherhood, work, the domestic sphere, and sexuality) along racial, ethnic, and class lines and in different regions, and will trace the impact multiple identities have had on women's activism.
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