Course Descriptions

  • HIST 110: World Civilizations
    (Introduction to Historical Study: World Civilizations.) This course offers an introduction to college-level study of history. Specific subjects covered will vary, but a significant amount of the course will focus on non-Western history. Topics may include: the origins of civilizations in the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas; the role of religion in society; the rise and fall of empires; encounters between civilizations, from ancient trade networks to modern colonialism. Students in all sections will be introduced to certain key skills and methodology used by historians, including analysis of primary sources and assessment of historical arguments. Close attention will be paid to the development of critical reading and writing skills. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
  • HIST 200: Foundations American Republic
    (Foundations of the American Republic) The origins of American society and the development of the United States from an under-developed new nation into a powerful national entity. Emphasis on the reading and analysis of documentary materials.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 210
  • HIST 201: Modern America
    America's response to industrialism and its changing role in foreign affairs. Emphasis on the techniques of research and paper writing.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 211
  • HIST 204: Roman History
    This course examines the history of Italy and the Mediterranean world during the thousand-plus years of Roman rule. We begin with Rome's establishment as a small city-state, as recorded in both legend and archaeological evidence. We chart Rome's political development and imperial expansion under the republic, study the career of Augustus and the revolution by which he transformed Rome into an empire, and conclude with that empire's fragmentation into the Byzantine, Latin Christian, and Islamic worlds. The topics studied will include: key political institutions and leaders; war, imperialism, and their consequences, including slavery and social unrest; the work of authors such as Cicero, Vergil, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius; the varied Roman religious scene and the rise of Christianity and Islam; Roman social history, including class, marriage, and slavery. Students will work extensively with primary documents in translation.
    Cross-listed as: CLAS 211
  • HIST 205: Medieval History
    This course examines the history of Europe and the Mediterranean world in the years 300-1500 CE. We begin with the fragmentation of the Roman Empire into three areas: Latin Christian Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and the Islamic world. We then explore the richness of the medieval centuries, including: aspects of medieval Christianity ranging from the cult of saints to monasticism to the papacy; the development of the major European kingdoms, knighthood, and chivalry; intellectual life and the rise of universities; interactions between Christians, Jews, and Muslims both peaceful (trade) and hostile (crusade); lives of ordinary people in urban and rural settings. Students will work extensively with primary documents in translation.
  • HIST 208: Europe 1715-1890
    Socio-economic, political, and intellectual and cultural development of Europe from 1715 to 1890. The crisis of the old order in the age of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Industrialization, democratization, and modernization in the nineteenth century. The emergence of nation-states, consumer societies, and modern ideologies.
    Cross-listed as: IREL 220
  • HIST 209: Europe in the Twentieth Century
    European politics, culture, and society from 1890s to 1990s. The course pursues three major themes: the origins of the modern era from 1890 to 1918; the rise of the authoritarian state from 1917 to 1945; and the Cold War from the 1940s to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
    Cross-listed as: IREL 221
  • HIST 212: Origins of East Asia
    Introduction to the great civilizations of China and Japan, with emphasis on development of their fundamental characteristics. Highlights both shared traditions and significant differences between the two countries. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: ASIA 200, IREL 233
  • HIST 213: Modern East Asia
    Study of China, Japan, and Korea as each moved toward modern nationhood over the last 200 years. Attention to the difficulties each has confronted, including Japan's vision of empire shattered by World War II, China's civil war, and Korea's transformation through foreign interventions. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: ASIA 201, IREL 234
  • HIST 220: Colonial America
    This course is an interpretive survey of American Colonial history in the context of a broad Atlantic system from 1492 to 1763. The colonial period was the first era of globalization, when peoples of Europe, Africa, and the Americas came together in new economic, social, and cultural configurations. In this class we will explore this period not only as the first chapter in American history, but more broadly as a hugely transformative era in World history. A main component of this course is attention to ordinary people in early America through research in primary sources.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 249
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  • HIST 222: American Revolution
    To quote the historian Gordon Wood, the American Revolution 'was the most radical and far-reaching event in American history.' In this course we examine this momentous Founding Age of the United States, with a special focus on the ideas that shaped this period. We explore the growing estrangement of American colonies from Great Britain and the culmination of this process in the Declaration of Independence. Then we look at the process and controversies involved in creating a new nation, and the United States government.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 253
  • HIST 224: The New American Nation 1787-1848
    This course covers America's 'Founding Period' from the end of the Revolution through the conclusion of the U.S.-Mexican War. During this time, Americans gradually came to see themselves as part of a unified nation with its own distinctive culture and ideals, though this outcome was far from certain. Beginning with the Constitution and the uncertain legacies of the American Revolution, the course considers the fundamental political, social, and cultural problems that could easily have torn the young Republic apart. Topics and themes include the problems of democracy and popular politics, the limits of citizenship, the formation of a distinctive American culture, the place of America on the world stage, the transition to capitalism and the 'market revolution,' and the figure of Andrew Jackson.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 271
  • HIST 226: American Civil War
    The origins of the war in the antagonistic development of the free North and slave South; Lincoln and the Republican Party; Black activity in the North and South; the war; the transforming and gendered aspects of fighting the war; Reconstruction; the impact of the war on American development.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 250
  • HIST 228: Inequality and Reform: US 1865-1920
    This course offers an introduction to the political, social, and cultural history of the United States between Reconstruction and World War I, as the country rebuilt and reimagined itself in the wake of the Civil War and the end of slavery. We will pay special attention to new patterns of inequality in the contexts of industrialization, urbanization, and immigration. We will also examine the complexities and contradictions of progressive reform movements, including efforts to improve housing, sanitation, and labor conditions. We will look at how those transformations affected people's everyday lives and conceptions of American citizenship, and we will explore the emergence of popular mass culture through photography, art, architecture, advertising, and films. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: AMER 276
  • HIST 230: African-American History
    A survey of African American history from the sixteenth century to the present, with attention to important themes and events: the African heritage; slavery and the response to bondage; emancipation and reconstruction; African American society under Jim Crow; the northern migrations and the making of the urban ghettos; African American debates on freedom and models of Black leadership in the twentieth century; aspects of contemporary African American America. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: AFAM 254
  • HIST 231: American Indian Country, 1500-2000
    This course is a survey of North American Indian history from pre-colonization to the present, with emphasis on the centrality of Indians to U.S. history. Many people know little about American Indians beyond popular stereotypes and a vague narrative that casts Indians either as hostile enemies to progress or environmentally sensitive victims of American territorial expansion. This course will build on the proliferation of scholarship on native peoples in the last fifty years, which has restored Indians to their role as historical actors and demonstrated the complex economic, social, and cultural dynamics of Indian/white relations. Indian country did not disappear at the conclusion of the 19th-century Plains Wars, nor did Indians "vanish." This course will connect Indian history to issues related to nation-building, citizenship, economic change, and multiculturalism. Students will work with both scholarship and primary sources on Indian history; we will also visit local archives and museums with important Indian collections. No prerequisites. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
  • HIST 232: American Environmental History
    Introduction to the historical study of the relationship of Americans with the natural world. Examination of the ways that 'natural' forces helped shape American history; the ways human beings have altered and interacted with nature over time; and the ways cultural, philosophical, scientific, and political attitudes towards the environment have changed in the course of American history, pre-history to the present.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 261, ES 260
  • HIST 234: Witches, Preachers, and Mystics
    In this course students consider the historical development of religion in the United States of America. We study topics such as the contact between Native Americans and European settlers, religion and the founding of the Republic, religious revivals and awakenings, immigration and religion, the rise of new forms of religion in the United States, responses to scientific and technological developments, and the entangling of religion and politics. The course covers religion from the colonial period to the dawn of the twentieth century. No prerequisites.
    Cross-listed as: RELG 234, AMER 234
  • HIST 235: American Cities
    The changing functions, scale, and quality of urban society from the seventeenth century to the present. A historical framework for studying modern American metropolitan problems. Some fieldwork in Chicago.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 263, ES 263
  • HIST 237: US and World History
    This course examines US history from various perspectives to show not only that it has been both similar to and different than that of other nations, but also that it cannot be separated from world developments. Examples of perspectives to be used include the following: a comparative viewpoint that looks at key moments and developments, i.e., the abolition of slavery, as they occurred throughout the world; a transnational approach that embeds US history at every significant moment, e.g., industrialization, in its connections to ongoing global events and processes; a diasporic standpoint that puts the voluntary and forced movement of peoples at the center of the evolution of US society; a political-economic critique that places the origins and development of capitalism at the center of world history since the fourteenth century.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 267, IREL 222
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  • HIST 239: History of Educ in American Society
    (History of Education in American Society) Historical role of education in American society; education as a panacea and as a practical solution; schooling vs. education. Emphasis is on the twentieth century.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 270, EDUC 239
  • HIST 240: Ancient Greece
    Greek civilization from the first awakening of reason in Homeric poetry and early philosophy to the spread throughout the Mediterranean world of a civilization of headlong, revolutionary innovation in every department of life and thought. Key episodes of the intellectual, political, and military history of the Greeks examined through examples of their literature and thought.
    Cross-listed as: CLAS 210
  • HIST 243: Crusade & Holy War in Med Europe
    (Crusade and Holy War in Medieval Europe) Medieval Europe experienced widespread debate about the use of violence by Christians. The course considers early definitions of Just War and the attempts by the church to control violence around the year 1000. Detailed examination of the origin of the idea of crusade and the history of the First Crusade (1095-99) from Christian, Jewish, Greek, and Muslim perspectives. Examines the later medieval phenomenon of crusade against other Christians.
    Cross-listed as: RELG 248, ISLM 243
  • HIST 246: Renaissance and Reformation
    This course begins with Europe at the end of the Middle Ages, alive with cultural ferment and religious debate but reeling from the carnage of the Black Death. We then turn to an in-depth examination of the years 1400-1600, including: the development of sovereign states and political theory on proper governance, divine right, and resistance to royal rule; the impact of key technological innovations such as printing and gunpowder; the discovery of the Americas and the origins of worldwide European colonialism; the spread of mercantile and industrial capitalism and international trade systems; the flowering of culture, art, and science known as the Renaissance; the emergence of Protestant and Catholic visions of religious reform and the wars and persecutions that resulted. Students will work extensively with primary documents in translation as well as key works of scholarship.
  • HIST 250: Modern British History
    The history of Britain since 1688. Topics include aristocracy and society in the eighteenth century, the Industrial Revolution, Liberalism and Conservatism in nineteenth-century politics, the consolidation of British culture, the rise of the welfare state, and contemporary British life.
    Cross-listed as: IREL 223
  • HIST 255: History of Russia
    Survey of the political, social, and intellectual history of Russia from the early medieval period to the post-Soviet era. Emphasis on the people and the state, efforts at modernization from above (particularly those of Peter the Great and Stalin), revolutionary ideas and movements, the disintegration of the Communist system and the Soviet empire, and the difficulties faced by Russia and other post-Soviet states. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: IREL 225
  • HIST 257: World War II: Europe
    Among topics to be studied: origins of the European war; the defeat of France; the Battle of Britain; the German attack on Russia; the Holocaust; the defeat of Germany; the impact of the war after 1945. In this course there will be a strong emphasis on film as an historical source.
    Cross-listed as: IREL 226
  • HIST 260: Modern China
    Relying as much as possible on Chinese texts (in translation), this course will examine such topics as China's response to Western imperialism in the nineteenth century; the 1911 Revolution; the May Fourth Movement; the birth of the People's Republic of China; the Cultural Revolution; and the Democracy Movement of the 1980s. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: ASIA 283, IREL 230
  • HIST 262: Modern Japan
    From the founding of the last shogunate, the Tokugawa, in 1603 to its present status as an economic giant among the nations of the Pacific. Attention to the achievements as well as the undeniable sufferings and costs incurred during Japan's drive toward great power. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: ASIA 286, IREL 231
  • HIST 264: World War II in Asia
    Through lecture and discussion, we will look at the origins of the war; the invasion of China and the Rape of Nanking; battle at sea and on the mainland of Asia; surrender; lives of individual soldiers, diplomats, refugees, POWs, 'comfort women,' collaborators, and guerrillas; and continuing controversies over memory, apology, reparation, and national identity. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement).
    Cross-listed as: ASIA 284, IREL 232
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  • HIST 270: Latin American History
    This course will introduce students to major transformations in Latin American history from the Pre-Columbian era to the present, including in Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. We will examine the social, political, and economic institutions that shaped the colonial system; we will then study how a diverse set of actors created independent nations in the early nineteenth century. We will conclude by exploring the important influence exerted by the United States as these new Latin American nations consolidated their cultural identity, forms of government, and territorial borders. No prerequisites. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: LNAM 270, IREL 227
  • HIST 272: History of Mexico
    This course broadly surveys Mexican history from the pre-Conquest period to the Chiapas revolt in 1994. The meaning of progress, the sacred and indigenous culture, imperialism's impact, and popular mobilization are among its recurring themes. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: LNAM 257, IREL 228
  • HIST 280: History of Science
    An overview of the history of science from ancient to modern times. Explores the philosophical question, 'What is Science?' Introduces the ideas of major figures within the history of science, such as Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, and Einstein, as well as general developments in the physical and biological sciences. Examines how these ideas were influenced within their own historical context by both internal (scientific) and external (cultural, religious, sociological, psychological) factors, and how these ideas are central to our world today.
  • HIST 283: History of Emotions in the West
    (Thinking about Feeling: History of Emotions in the West.) Emotions were once considered stable and universal: love was always love, and fear always evidence of irredeemable cowardice. Recently, however, historians have found significant variations in expression and regulation of emotions in different periods and cultures. This course will examine ideas surrounding emotion in the West from Late Antiquity through the Early Modern period. The study of emotions raises a variety of historical questions: how do we research the history of something as intangible as emotions? Should historians use the theories and methodologies of other disciplines? Have institutions and belief systems mobilized particular emotions? Have norms and expectations for emotion changed over time? What is the relationship between the experience and expression of emotion? We will also explore some of the established narratives in the history of emotions, such as the "hydraulic model" and the rise of the affectionate family. No prerequisites.
  • HIST 284: Epidemic Disease in Western History
    This course will focus on four epidemic diseases that caused widespread death and destruction in Europe and the Americas from the fourteenth to twentieth centuries: the Black Death, smallpox, cholera, and malaria. In each case, after learning about the symptoms of the disease, the progression of the epidemic(s), and the identity of the victims, we will explore multiple facets of the human response to these natural disasters, including: theories of disease; religious responses; medical measures; artistic representations; and the intersection of state power and public health efforts. We will also study key figures in the history of medicine. A significant portion of the course is devoted to the impact of disease in European imperial possessions (such as India and the Americas), violence against minority groups (notably Jews) in Europe in the wake of epidemics, and the ways in which theories of class and race influenced European thinking on disease. No prerequisites. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement).
  • HIST 285: Public History
    Public history is the practice of history outside the academy. Public historians record and preserve evidence of the past in many formats, analyzing and interpreting their findings to general and specialized audiences beyond the traditional classroom setting. This course will survey the theory and practice of various professional historical specialties - ranging from archival administration to historic site management, museum exhibitions, and historical reenactment. Institutional constraints, audience development, and conflicts between history and public memory will be major thematic issues. Field trips to institutions and sites in the Chicago metropolitan area.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 240
  • HIST 288: Women in Modern History
    This course examines women's lives, activities, and cultures in the United States and Europe from the late eighteenth century to the present. Among the issues examined are birth control; equality vs. difference (the essentialism debate); race and class; and gender as an analytical concept. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: GSWS 271
  • HIST 300: Theory and Methods
    How can we know what actually happened in the past? This course examines the bases of historical knowledge and interpretation, and studies methods used for understanding and writing about the past. Emphases include the use of documentary evidence, the analysis of conflicting historical interpretations, and the use of the Web as a research tool. Prerequisite: an introductory history course. Required of all history majors.
  • HIST 302: Colonial America
    Origins of European colonialism; Indian-European relations; Puritanism and society in New England; slavery and politics in Virginia; English imperial regulations; the Glorious Revolution; and the Great Awakening. Prerequisite: History 200.
  • HIST 306: Civil Rights Movement
    This course focuses on the origins, development, and accomplishments of the civil rights movement in post-World War II America. Particular emphasis will be given to the differences between the struggle for black equality in the south and its northern counterpart. Taught in a seminar format, the class will be both reading- and writing-intensive. Course readings and paper assignments are designed to help students develop a comparative analytical framework and to illuminate the following lines of inquiry: What caused and what sustained the civil rights movement? What changes took place within the movement over time, particularly at the level of leadership? What underlay the radicalization of the movement and what were the consequences? To what extent did the civil rights movement succeed and how do we measure that success today? Finally, how did the black civil rights movement inspire other groups and minorities in American society to organize? Prerequisite: History 200 or History 201. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: AFAM 361, AMER 361
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  • HIST 308: Sport and Spectacle Modern America
    This course considers the history of sport as mass entertainment from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. More than an escape from everyday life, the games Americans have played and watched have been thick with social, cultural, and political meanings. Athletes and spectators alike have defined and challenged ideas of gender, race, and the body; they have worked out class antagonisms, expressed national identities, and promoted social change. Topics include: the construction of race; definitions of manhood and womanhood; industrialization, urbanization, and the rise of modern spectator sport; media and mass spectacle; fitness and athletic reform movements; collegiate athletics; sports figures and social change. Prerequisite: History 200 or 201, or permission of the instructor.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 308
  • HIST 310: The American West
    History of the American West as both frontier and region, real and imagined, from the first contacts between natives and colonizers to the multicultural communities of the late-twentieth century. Examining both history and myth, we consider the legacy of Western expansion and evaluate Frederick Jackson Turner's famous argument that the West fundamentally shaped American history. Prerequisite: History 200 or 201 or permission of the instructor. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: AMER 352
  • HIST 312: American Social History
    Conducted as a seminar. Topics include family, class, gender, race, ethnicity, and work. Prerequisite: History 200 or 201, or permission of the instructor.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 355
  • HIST 314: American Cultural History
    This course introduces the craft and method of cultural history. Although it begins with the story of a cat massacre in eighteenth-century France, the course focuses on American art, literature, music, advertisements, and other forms of popular culture from the eighteenth century to the present. Students will use these types of evidence to understand how Americans made sense of events and transformations in the world around them. Topics will include eighteenth-century architecture, the illicit press of nineteenth-century New York, the showmanship of P.T. Barnum, early photography, the figure of the self-made man, blackface minstrelsy, early Wild West shows, 1920s advertising, and World War II pinups. All these examples will offer models for reading and interpreting cultural forms for historical meanings of gender, race, and identity. Students will work with the instructor to choose research topics for a seminar project of their own. Prerequisites: History 200 or 201, or permission of the instructor.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 357
  • HIST 315: US Catholic Immigrant Experience
    From the Irish who arrived before the Civil War to the Mexicans and Vietnamese who have come recently, the Catholic experience in the US has been a continuing story of immigration. This course examines how succeeding immigrant groups have practiced and lived their Catholic faith in different times and places. Religion cannot be separated from the larger social and economic context in which it is embedded, so the course will also pay attention to the ways in which the social and economic conditions that greeted the immigrants on their arrival shaped how they went about praying and working. Finally, the changing leadership of the Catholic Church will be taken into account, since it provided the ecclesiastical framework for the new Catholic arrivals. Prerequisite: HIST 200 or HIST 201 or permission of the instructor. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: AMER 315, RELG 315
  • HIST 316: American Thought
    An examination of major currents of American thought with special emphasis on the ways Americans have thought about their relationship with their environment: Puritanism, Jefferson and nature, Emerson and Thoreau's romanticism, Darwinism, and the modern environmental movement. Prerequisites: History 200, 201, an introductory course in American literature, or permission of the instructor.
  • HIST 318: Chicago: History and Public Memory
    This course examines the development of metropolitan Chicago in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and the sites, landmarks, and institutions which preserve and interpret aspects of that past. Students will become familiar with urban history and heritage preservation scholarship and will utilize these perspectives to analyze existing historic sites and identify, research, and create interpretive plans for sites not currently included in the metropolitan repertoire of public remembrance. Substantial field study. Prerequisite: one course in American history, politics, African American Studies or American Studies, or permission of the instructor.
  • HIST 322: Roman and Medieval Christianity
    This course will examine key questions debated by Christians from the origins of the faith in the Roman era to the end of the Middle Ages, many of which continue to be discussed today. These may include: should Christians use violence at all, and if so, under what circumstances? What is the correct relationship between the Church and the government? What makes a person a saint - celibacy? Harsh asceticism? Aiding the poor? Preaching the Gospel? What is the appropriate role of wealth and property in the life of a dedicated Christian? Should a Christian seeking religious truth rely only on the Bible and revelation, or do logic and scientific inquiry have a role to play? Students will work extensively with primary sources in translation and significant works of modern scholarship. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: RELG 307
  • HIST 324: Charlemagne: His World
    Since his death, Charlemagne has remained one of the most revered and evocative figures of the early Middle Ages. He and his family built a formidable empire, revolutionized thinking about kingship and government, and presided over reforms in religion, scholarship, and art. This course considers the achievements of the Carolingian period, the consequences of the collapse of their power, and the development of the legend of Charlemagne.
  • HIST 326: Identity/Body/Persecution Med Europ
    (Identity, Body, and Persecution in Medieval Europe) Medieval men and women discussed many of the same questions of identity that we do: What makes an individual unique? How does group affiliation affect identity? What is the relationship between identity and change? How does faith in God influence understanding of the individual? This course considers the following topics: medieval conceptions of the individual in Christian autobiography; the role of the body and gender in determining identity (exploring topics such as the Eucharist, the cult of saints, and sex difference); how medieval Europeans defined their own identity by persecuting the 'other,' including heretics, Jews, and lepers; how change affected identity in medieval texts such as werewolf stories and resurrection theology.
    Cross-listed as: GSWS 305, RELG 326
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  • HIST 328: European Reformations, 1200-1600
    The Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation were a major turning-point in the political, social and religious history of the West. This course will examine: the background to the Reformations in Pauline and Augustinian theology and medieval reform movements; the writings of key figures including Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Loyola; the political and social ramifications of the Reformations, particularly in France, England, and the German Empire; the tradition of historiography on the Reformations.
    Cross-listed as: RELG 319
  • HIST 330: The Enlightenment
    Readings and discussions of the central ideas of Europe in the eighteenth century, with emphasis on Britain and France. Topics include the social and political context of the Enlightenment, the impact of science, and the development of notions of tolerance, freedom, and rationality.
  • HIST 332: European Romanticism
    Intellectual and social origins of Romanticism, with emphasis on Germany and England; impact of the French Revolution; individualism in poetry and art; and the rise of historicism. Works discussed will include those by Goethe, Wordsworth, Keats, Hugo, Constable, and Schleiermacher.
  • HIST 335: 20th Cent British Culture
    (20th Century British Culture) British culture since 1900. Topics include the impact of World War I; the Bloomsbury circle; documentary writing and film; working-class realism in the 1950s; youth culture; the New Left; postimperial culture; and postmodernism.
    Cross-listed as: IREL 331
  • HIST 337: The Russian Revolution
    This course provides a close study of the causes, processes and results of the Russian Revolution. Topics to be considered include: the broad historical background needed to understand the Russian revolutions of the 20th century; the causes and results of the 1905 Revolution; the impact of World War I; a close look at both the February and October revolutions of 1917; the creation of the new Soviet regime and the Civil War that shaped it; the ambiguous era of the 1920s; Stalin's 'Second Revolution' and the era of the Five Year Plans and collectivization of agriculture; the bloodletting of the Great Purges of the 1930s. Prerequisite: History 209 or 255 or permission of the instructor. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: IREL 327
  • HIST 338: Literature and Society in Russia
    Aspects of the social and intellectual history of tsarist and Soviet Russia through the prism of nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction, mostly novels. Readings will include major works by such authors as Pushkin, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gorky, Pasternak, Akhmatova, Babel, Kataev, Bulgakov, Solzhenitsyn, Yevtushenko, and Tolstoya. Films will also be used. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
  • HIST 340: Topics in East Asian History
    Spring 2015 Topic: China's Cultural Revolution.The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, broke out more than thirty years ago (1966-1976), has been recognized as the darkest era in the history of the People's Republic of China. A comprehensive mass movement initiated by Mao Zedong to eliminate the so-called 'counterrevolutionary elements' in the country's institutions and leadership, the revolution was characterized by nationwide chaos, ultra-leftist frenzy, political zealotry, purges of intellectuals, extreme social turmoil, and ultimate economic collapse. This course intends to reconstruct the history of the Cultural Revolution by revealing the causes of the calamity and prevent human disaster from repeating itself in the future. Prerequisite: One course in Asian history or permission of the instructor. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement)
    Cross-listed as: ASIA 307, IREL 330
  • HIST 341: Doing Business in/with China
    This course is aimed at students who are interested in a career involving business in China, who plan to apply to business school, or who are interested in Chinese business history. The course offers a theoretical framework for understanding Chinese business, commercial culture, and entrepreneurship patterns, as well as a practical guide to business practices, market conditions, negotiation techniques, and relevant organizations and networks in China. The course utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to examine China's business history, focusing on three separate but interrelated themes: America's "China Dream" in the past; doing business in China in the 21st century; and the "Panda Huggers' dilemma" in the future. The ultimate goal of the course is to equip students who are interested in doing business in or with China with the background knowledge and analytical skills to aid future careers and business endeavors. The course is open to all majors in the College with no prerequisites. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: IREL 333
  • HIST 342: Problems Modern Chinese Hist: Film
    (Problems in Modern Chinese History: Film) What are the enduring problems of modern China? How have different Chinese governments confronted them? We will study twentieth-century transformations in Chinese society, politics, and culture on the mainland and Taiwan in the light of modern Chinese and international history through film and discussion of the major issues addressed by Western scholarship. Basic topics to be covered include Sino-Western relations; tradition and modernization; peasant rebellions; revolution and reforms; religion; culture and society; modern science; and intellectuals and the state. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: ASIA 309, IREL 332
  • HIST 360: History and the Moving Image
    This course explores the role of moving images (film, television, internet) in understanding history as both collective process and contested interpretation. The course will integrate a discussion of recent historical methodologies concerning moving images, with examples from a variety of forms, including historical epics, documentaries, propaganda, television series, literary adaptations, and biographies. Special emphasis will be placed upon the ambiguities of historical context, including the time of production, the period depicted, and changing audiences over time. Topics include: 'Feudal Codes of Conduct in Democratic Societies,' 'Film as Foundation Myth for Totalitarian Ideologies' and 'Situation Comedy of the 1970s as Social History.' Prerequisite: Two history courses or permission of the instructor.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 340, CINE 360
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  • HIST 362: History and Literature
    An interdisciplinary opportunity to investigate one seminal era. Topics include the 'lost' world of early modern family and social life; the English Reformation; the aristocracy and the rise of the gentry; Renaissance heroism and 'self-fashioning'; women's lives and literature; early modern biography and lyric subjectivity; Tudor and Stuart monarchy; the causes of the English Civil War; and the emergence of the scientific worldview. Prerequisite: either one English or one history course at the 200 level or above.
  • HIST 364: Topics in Gender and History
    A seminar that examines in depth one aspect of gender and history. Topics vary from year to year. (Meets GEC Cultural Diversity Requirement.)
    Cross-listed as: AMER 347, GSWS 347
  • HIST 366: Science, Religion, and Modernity
    Western science from the late Middle Ages to 1900, explored through the lens of its developing relationship with religion and connection to modernity. Themes of the course involve the laws of nature, measurement, scientific methods, promotional and oversight organizations, and materialism. Case studies include Roger Bacon's science, Galileo's travails, Francis Bacon's vision, physico-theology, Newton versus Leibniz, Enlightenment scientific societies, physiological psychology around 1750, Genesis and geology, the reception of Darwin, and the warfare between science and religion.
  • HIST 368: Museums and Exhibitions
    History is an academic discipline but it also has a public face. 'Public history,' through museum exhibitions, historical sites, the Internet, and other venues, is a growing career field. Students in this class will learn the communication tools necessary to produce an engaging and intellectually sound exhibit, including the techniques of oral history. The class will develop a concept, research in local archives, write label copy, and design and install an exhibit. We may use audio, video, photography, and the web to tell our story. The exhibition will be presented in the Sonnenschein Gallery or a local history museum, such as the Lake County Museum. The course will include field studies to Chicago-area history museums. Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing, or permission of the instructor.
    Cross-listed as: AMER 348
  • HIST 420: Senior Seminar
    Selected advanced topics in history, with attention to the methods and problems of historical research. Each student will write a major research paper. Required of all history majors in their junior or senior year except those doing independent study research projects. Open to non-majors with appropriate preparation and permission of the instructor.