HIS 101
Early Civilizations
This survey of the Antiquity considers the development and interaction of cultures in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome. In so doing, it includes not just political developments but also the history of everyday life from religious traditions to the status of women and children.
HIS 122
Medieval and Early Modern Civilization
The development of western civilization from the time of the barbarian invasions through feudalism, Saracenic and Byzantine civilizations, the Crusades, the development of the feudal monarchies, the Renaissance and the Reformation to 1648.
HIS 133
Modern Civilization
The political, intellectual, social, and economic history of Europe from 1648 to the present emphasizing industrialization; the growth of rationalism; the ideologies of liberalism, socialism, and Social Darwinism; and the events and ideologies of the 20th century, such as communism, fascism and the two world wars.
HIS 135
Foundations of World Civilizations
This course introduces students to the general characteristics of the major civilizations and the epochs of world history to 1500. It combines a general overview of global developments and a concern with the common elements in the human experience with specific study of the development of major distinct traditions in Southwest Asia, the Mediterranean, India, China, Europe, Japan, Africa and the Americas. Students are encouraged to see events from a global rather than narrowly Eurocentric perspective.
HIS 136
Foundations of World History II
Survey of modern world history, focusing on the integration of the Old and New Worlds through the establishment of European colonial and trading empires, the global effects of the Scientific, Political (U.S. and France), and Industrial Revolutions, the impact of nineteenth-century European imperialism, the effects of the world wars on the global balance of power and decolonization, and the aftermath of the Cold War and the contemporary era of "globalization." The course stresses the interactions of world culture zones in the exchange of goods, peoples, and ideas rather than pursuing a Eurocentric perspective.
HIS 141
East Asia to 1800
This course provides a broad overview of the premodern histories of China and Japan, focusing on their institutional and cultural interaction, and their influence on the cultures of Korea and Vietnam. Subjects range from the early development of Chinese philosophy and statecraft to the development of the distinctive warrior ethic in Japan, from the elaboration of official court culture to the emergence of popular cultural forms. Throughout the course, students consider how Western images of East Asia have shaped our understanding of its civilizations.
HIS 142
East Asia from 1800 to the Present
This course examines East Asia in the 19th and 20th centuries with special emphasis on China and Japan. The course includes the opening of East Asia by the Western powers; the modernization process; Japan's rise to major power status; the Chinese Republican revolution; Japanese imperialism; the War in the Pacific; the Communist take-over of mainland China; the Korean War; Japan's post-war reconstruction; the Chinese Cultural revolution; the post-Mao era; and Japan's importance in the Western economy.
HIS 151
The Origins of American Civilization
The new societies that emerged in North America in the 17th and 18th centuries were the products of a much broader process of migration, cultural encounter, conquest and exchange that began to accelerate in the Atlantic world after the Columbian voyages of the 1490s. As it turned out, some of these societies also formed the origins of the United States as a nation and the seeds of many of the institutions and impulses of American life. This course explores the colonial and revolutionary periods from both these perspectives.
HIS 152
The United States in the Nineteenth Century
The 19th century in the United States, as in many other regions of the world, was a period of fundamental and astonishingly rapid social and economic change. A capitalist world system, in which the American economy played an increasingly important role, implicated more and more people in a planetary web of market relations. Over the same period the process of industrialization altered the material bases of production and consumption with profound implications for the nature of work, the structure of families and people's perceptions of time. In every aspect of human endeavor- politics, business, science, literature, the arts, sexuality and gender relations, child rearing - individuals, groups, and institutions struggled to adapt and to make sense of these changes. Our task in this course is to pose and to begin to answer a series of questions about these changes and these responses.
HIS 153
United States Since World War I
The major themes of 20th century America are examined - political and economic changes, technological advances, new social patterns, the impact of sports and leisure, and problems of injustice and social breakdown. The continuity of these developments is contrasted with changes that were forced upon the U.S. by specific events - stock market collapse, depression, war, '60s trauma and Reagan conservatism.
HIS 207
Popular History of the U.S.
This course traces the changes in American popular culture from the Revolution to the present, focusing on the increasing levels of mediation represented by print, spectacular performance, radio, television, movies and recorded music. The course will narrate a history of the United States through popular culture, and by analyzing the once-fashionable products of earlier eras students will come to understand the significance of the popular culture of our own time. Because America's popular culture altered as well as reflected the trajectory of American history, giving voice to and shaping the identities of Americans, this course also considers the intersections of popular culture with American political, economic, and social history by considering the ways that popular culture can be used to challenge social orders and the ways in which it can be co-opted and made to perpetuate social orders.
HIS 210
US Working Class History
This course examines the history of work and the working class in the U.S. By tracing the history of the rise and decline of the American labor movement, the nature of cultural and political organizations, workers' relationships with other social groups, leisure time and amusements, and the role played by gender, race, and ethnicity in uniting or dividing the working class, the course will attempt to provide answers to questions like: What is a social class?; How did American social classes form and how have they evolved?; What has been the significance of class as a force in shaping US history? While the class is designed to proceed chronologically through US history from the Early Republic to the present, it is not meant to be a comprehensive historical survey. Rather, it will attempt to cover the more salient events and trends in American working class history in the context of a broader American history.
HIS 211
African History
The imposition of colonial administrations and economies by European powers at the end of the 19th century produced the central drama in the recent history of Sub-Saharan Africa. Discussions of African geography and the characteristics of precolonial social organization and cultural expression serve as prelude to the problem of colonialization. Consideration of independent Africa, with its political and subsistence crises, raises questions of intercultural contact (and conflict) and the nature of historical change.
HIS 212
African-American History
This course is the study of African-Americans since the days of the slave trade. Through the course, students carefully review the facts of black history, expose the many myths about the black past, recognize the horrors and effects of bigotry and intolerance that were so present throughout history, and apply this information to our understanding of black/white conditions in today's America. A specific core text, the works of many African-Americans (Douglass, DuBois, Wright, Malcolm X, Angelou, and others), documentary films, feature films, analytical essays, and lectures are the sources that lead to an understanding of this important subject.
HIS 215
U.S./Latin American Relations
The great Latin American "liberator," Simón Bolívar, commented that, "The United States seems destined to plague us with miseries in the name of liberty." This course examines the historical development of the relationship between Latin America and the United States from Latin American independence to the present, concentrating mostly in the 20th century. It examines specific historical examples, including the Spanish-American War, the Panama Canal, the occupation of Haiti, the Cuban Revolution and the drug wars in Colombia. It also examines how this relationship developed in specific historical contexts, such as the Cold War. Students will discuss how the historic relationship and the present day context impact relations between Latin America and the U.S. today.
HIS 216
Keystone: Pennsylvania in the Wider World
Ethnically pluralistic, liberal, and commercial from the start, early Pennsylvania was probably a better indicator of what the United States as a whole would become than either Puritan New England or the Slave South. That role as a trendsetter makes Pennsylvania a useful test case, a small but clear window through which to study the broader forces that have transformed the world over the past three centuries: cultural encounter, the industrial revolution, labor migration, race relations, and de-industrialization.
HIS 220
Pirates, Plantations and Sugar: History of the Caribbean
The Caribbean is an incredibly diverse region that boasts a rich and complex history. This course examines the history of the Caribbean from the time of the indigenous groups up to the 20th century. It looks at the indigenous cultures that preceded Spanish colonization, the shock of colonization, the age of the pirates and buccaneers, the growth of the plantation economy and the slave trade, the age of independence, and the modern period. The main goal is to understand the historical background of the Caribbean as it is today.
HIS 224
Latin America
This course is a study of Indian civilizations before conquest, emphasizing the Inca, Mayan and Aztec cultures. The course focuses on the conquest of the Americas, the Spanish and Portuguese colonial periods, and the independence movement. The 19th and 20th centuries are treated topically with special emphasis on the many political and social problems that confront Latin America in the modern period.
HIS 228
Dictators and Revolutionaries in Latin America
In the 20th century, Latin American nations have experienced cycles of revolutions, democracies and dictatorships. Revolutions have taken the form not only of familiar guerilla-based insurrections, but also right-wing military coups. This course examines this cycle of revolution, democracy, and dictators by looking at several of the key revolutionary movements and some of the long dictatorships that have shaped Latin America during that century. Specifically, it examines the Mexican Revolution (1910-present), the Cuban Revolution (1959-present), and the Zapatista struggle (1994-present), and the political situations that either preceded or followed these revolutions. It also examines some of the right-wing coups and populist movements, specifically looking at cases in Argentina and Chile. Finally, students will discuss if revolution remains a viable way to promote change in Latin America in the 21st century.
HIS 232
Russia and the Soviet Union
This course examines the history of Russia beginning in 1861 and carries it to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The themes covered include the causes of the decline of Tsarist Russia; the revolution of 1905 and the rise of Marxism Leninism; Lenin and the 1917 revolution; the social reforms of the new regime and the invention of "the new Soviet Man"; Stalin's consolidation of power; the Soviet Union's "Great Patriotic War"; the de-stalinization process; Soviet involvement in the Cold War; underground life in the Soviet Union; Gorbachev and Glaznost; and the post-Soviet Republics. Several novels and films are analyzed to understand the nature of life in the Soviet Union.
HIS 240
Heroes & Villains: A Cultural History of Fame
This course examines changes in the ways that different societies have chosen or recognized great individuals from their midst and the evolution of the reputations of heroic figures from earlier generations. As a history of knowing or perceiving, the course spans a broad chronology, from antiquity to the present day, and takes particular note of the media - oral traditions and myths, epics, coins, art and architecture, printed biographies and autobiographies, photographs, songs and electronic representations- through which glory has been conveyed. Among particular cases to be addressed: Jesus of Nazareth, Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
HIS 251
History of England I
This course traces the history of England from the emergence of civilization through the establishment of monarchy and parliament to the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century.
HIS 252
History of England II
This course is a study of England from 1760 to the present, emphasizing industrialism, imperialism, and the growth and decline of a liberal intellectual and political tradition.
HIS 255
Islamic History
Upper-level survey of the development of the Islamic state, the religion of Islam, and Muslim contributions of global civilization, from late antiquity through the establishment of the Ottoman Empire. Topics covered include the rise and expansion of the Islamic state, fundamental belief of the religion of Islam, political, social, and cultural characteristics of the caliphate, the impact of the Crusades and the Mongol invasions, and the post-classical Ottoman synthesis. Prerequisite: HIS 135 or permission
HIS 256
Introduction to the Modern Middle East
This course seeks to outline the major transformations of the Middle East over the past two centuries, giving due weight to both internal changes and the influence of the global power structure. Although the main emphasis is on such traditional concerns as high politics and economics, changes in the cultural and social lives of Middle Eastern peoples are also addressed. In particular, the course examines how the large-scale developments in the region- those at the state or empire level - affected ordinary people of both sexes and all ethnicities and religious affiliations, through reading and discussing the life stories of a number of individuals from all walks of life. Students will use primary-source materials to gain an appreciation of how historians do their work and to reach their own interpretations of Middle Eastern history.
HIS 261
Renaissance
A preliminary examination of medieval contributions to the Renaissance is followed by a thorough analysis of the Age of Discoveries and the rise of capitalism; the new political structures of the Italian city-state and the northern monarchies; the new diplomacy; the papacy and the Church in an era of change; the revival of art and the classics; humanism in Italy; and humanism and Christian humanism in the North.
HIS 265
Modern France
This course is designed as a survey of the major political, social and cultural events and trends that define the trajectory of modern French history from the French Revolution to the present. Two essential problems have defined the broad trajectory of the French history in the 19th and 20th centuries: first, how to deal with the legacy of the Great French Revolution of 1789-1794 and how to deal with the explosive social tensions that industrialization generates. These issues also affect matters of national identity, class conflict, the proper relation between the society and the individual and the role of society (through the state) in regulating economic activity. History can serve as an interesting lens through which to examine these problems because, like other nations, France responded to these problems in its own way, which included five republics, four kings, two emperors, two world wars and one Fascist regime.
HIS 262
Reformation
This course examines humanism and the Devotio Moderna as a basis for the Reformation. Attention is given to the social, economic, and political development as a contributing factor to the Reformation and its aftermath, and careful study is given to Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and the radical and messianic reformers, as well as the English Reformation and the rise of Puritanism.
HIS 270
Modern Germany
This course offers an introduction to major events and themes of modern German history. It focuses on continuities and ruptures in German society during the eras of the Second Empire, the Weimar Republic, National Socialism, the competing Republicans and the (unified) Federal Republic of Germany. Major questions include the supposed "special path" to industrial and state formation; the impact of total war; the importance of confessional difference in culture and society; the effects of economic and political crisis; the emergence of the "New Woman"; the nature of Nazi dictatorship; the conditions of genocide; the development of democracy; the German "economic miracle"; the East-German state; and the social and political consequences of German unification.
HIS 272
History of American Foreign Relations
A survey of American diplomatic history from the Revolutionary War to the present, with emphasis on the emergence of the United States from a position of isolation to a position of world prominence. The course concludes with an examination of America's role as the leader of the free world.
HIS 275
Women's Work: A Comparative Historical Perspective
This course focuses on the productive labor of half the planet's people over the span of human history. Needless to say, we will not pretend to "cover" all that the topic entails. Instead, a number of theoretical perspectives and certain historical questions flowing from them will help students begin to make sense of some of the work that women have done in different geographical locations and in a range of specific agricultural, industrial and post-industrial settings.
HIS 280
Living on Earth: An Ecological Approach to the American Past
This course brings a wide range of new ways of making sense of more than 500 years of American history. Much more than a chronicle of the environmental movement, the course considers the interrelationships among various lifeforms- plant, animal, microbial - in particular landscapes and climates, human strategies and technologies for wresting a living from the Earth, and value systems that have long promoted or, more recently, questioned economic developments, the basis for the American Dream. Particular themes include the impact of disease on American demography; conflict between Indian and European uses of land; the introduction of exogenous species and the extinction or near-extinction of indigenous ones;
development of industrial-capitalistic modes of resource exploitation in the 19th century; and the social costs of that exploitation in our time.
HIS 311
American Social History
This course alternates between two themes. The American Family, 1600-1900 addresses the gradual transition from the patriarchal family model of the Colonial period to the more mutual relations of Victorian America, and the relation of private life to social change through an examination of such topics as demography, gender, Revolutionary ideology, industrialization, and childrearing practices. The course examines significant differences and divisions within American society; the sources of these divisions in immigration patterns, economic development, and cultural expression; the ways in which different eras have understood class and ethnicity; and the attempts of institutions such as the church, the school, the law, political parties and the government to exacerbate or ameliorate social divisions.
HIS 312
American Economic History: The United States as a Developing Country
This course seeks to account for the remarkable economic growth which has taken Americans from the starvation of Colonial Jamestown through the commercial and industrial revolutions to the undeniable, though ill-distributed, abundance of the post-industrial present. The ecological, religious, and technological preconditions of economic growth receive attention as do the political, social, and individual consequences of that growth. The drama is carried forward by a full cast of economic actors: farmers, merchants, slaves, industrialists, inventors, workers and consumers - male and female, adult and child alike.
HIS 322
The City in American History
This course explores the development of American cities from the colonial time to the present. Great emphasis is placed on the relationship of the growth of cities to the larger social, economic, and political developments in American society. The newer quantitative techniques used to describe historical developments in urbanization are also emphasized.
HIS 340
Women and Gender in Latin America
This course follows the history of women and gender ideologies in Latin America from the beginning of the Colonial period up to the present. It examines gender stereotypes, such as machismo, marianismo, and patriarchy and how they intersected and diverged with factors of race and class. Throughout the course students examine both extraordinary and ordinary women and discuss the diverse roles they have played in the history of Latin America.
HIS 352
Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World: Explorations in the History of the Black Diaspora from Sao Tome to Saint Domingue
A majority of the persons who migrated to the Americas before 1800 came from Africa. Very few of them came willingly, but without their economic and cultural contributions the world we know today would not have come into being. The goal of this course is to begin to understand the experiences and achievements of these Africans and their descendants in four regions of the Atlantic world - Africa itself, Brazil, the West Indies and the Chesapeake - between the mid- 15th century and the revolutionary struggle for Haitian independence at the beginning of the 19th century.
HIS 361
Medieval History I
This course is a study of the fusion of classical and Christian culture, the Barbarian invasions, the nature of Byzantine and Islamic civilizations, the rise of early medieval kingdoms and feudalism, Church state conflict and the early Crusades. Careful attention is given to the blending of religion, politics, and social history with the literature and art of the period.
HIS 362
Medieval History II
This course examines the growth of the state system and the crisis within the church: Papal power; the growth of new religious orders; dissent; the Inquisition and the dissolution of the medieval church; the flowering of chivalry; Romanesque, Gothic and Mudejar Art in the West; and a final synthesis of medieval civilization.
HIS 370
Early Modern Europe
What ties together the first use of knives and forks, witchcraft, coffeehouses, divine monarchs and the first electricity experiments? Europe's early modern period, extending from the end of the Renaissance to the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789. This era reflects the slow decline of certain notions of nobility and monarchy and the development of new ideas concerning science, rationality and freedom, all of which influence modern Europe to varying degrees. This course examines several facets of this time period, including the rise of absolutism, early modern popular culture, mercantilism and the rise of slavery, and the Enlightenment and its challenges to the established order.
HIS 371
Nineteenth-Century Europe
This course introduces students to the hallmarks of Europe's 19th-century history. Historical and analytical constructs such as industrialization, social change, gender relations, racism, liberalism, nationalism, imperialism and socialism/communism provide the framework for examining specific topics including the French Revolution, the Congress of Vienna, the separation of gendered spheres, the revolutions of 1848, the unifications of Germany and Italy, dueling, honor and the "Scramble for Africa."
HIS 372
Twentieth-Century Europe
This course introduces students to the concepts, trends and events fundamental to Europe's development in the 20th century. Important themes - including socialism/communism, fascism, nationalism, racism, gender identity and post-war reconciliation - offer a framework within which students examine specific topics such as the First World War, the Russian Revolution, the rise of fascist regimes, the Second World War, the Cold War in Europe, the uprisings of 1968, the revolutions of 1989 and the war in the former Yugoslavia.
HIS 373
The Holocaust
This course investigates the Holocaust, one of the most significant events in modern European history. To do so, the course first considers the conditions within European society that led to the Final Solution. Among the themes included are: the role and image of the Jew in European society; the development of racial anti-Semitism in the 19th century; and the assimilation of the Jews in Western European societies. Although this course focuses primarily on the destruction of the European Jews, it cannot, however, be divorced from the history of Nazi Germany, nor can it ignore the plight and suffering of non-Jews who also experienced the concentration and extermination camps. Therefore, several other themes are incorporated: Hitler's rise to power in Germany; the development and implementation of Nazi policy concerning the "enemies" of Nazism; life within the ghettos and concentration camps; issues of collaboration and resistance both in and outside Germany; the Nuremberg trials; and the legacy of Nazism in contemporary American and European society.
HIS 493
Seminar I (W) - For History and American Studies
In the fall semester, readings and topics are assigned on specific topics of United States history. The course is required of all history concentrators.
HIS 494
Seminar II (W)
The spring semester is devoted to topics in European history. This course is required for all history concentrators.
