History Undergraduate Courses and Descriptions-Spring 2025

HST 102: American History Since 1865

*This course includes the lecture and a weekly discussion section. By enrolling in discussion, you automatically enroll in the lecture.

This semester offers a broad look at the history of the United States in the 150 years from the end of the Civil War through the first decade of the 21st Century. Throughout the course, we will engage with the social, political, and cultural changes, ideas, and events that have profoundly shaped modern American society.

Key questions include: How have we defined being American? How has the nation’s relationship with the world changed?  How have the rights of citizens evolved over time? How have various groups in American society articulated their claims to citizenship and national belonging? What factors have affected the development of American political leadership?

Concentration: U.S. / Period: Modern

HST 112: Napoleon to Present

*This course includes the lecture and a weekly discussion section. By enrolling in discussion, you automatically enroll in the lecture.

This course examines the major developments in European history since the late 18th century, including the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Era, the Industrial Revolution, imperialism, the First World War, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Fascist and Nazi seizures of power, the Second World War, the Holocaust, the Cold War, and European Unification. The thematic focus of this course is the relationship between the individual and the state. How does this relationship change over time – what makes it “modern”? To address this question, we will examine ideologies (liberalism, conservatism, socialism, nationalism, fascism), the birth of mass society, poverty, violence, women’s rights, and racism. There are two lectures and one discussion section per week. Discussions emphasize primary sources and historical debates. Grades are based on in-class exams, papers, and discussion.

Concentration: Europe / Period: Modern

HST 122: Global History 1750-Present

*This course includes the lecture and a weekly discussion section. By enrolling in discussion, you automatically enroll in the lecture.

This course introduces students to global history beginning in 1750 by focusing on social, economic, political, intellectual and religious developments in major regions of the world: Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas. Beginning with the Mughal Empire in India, the Ottomans, and the empires of the New World, it will trace the growing interaction of these areas with Europe through colonialism and trade. From the age of revolutions to the age of empires and the age of nation-states, this course studies the relevance of the early modern world for understanding today’s global patterns and economic interdependency. We will explore twentieth-century developments including the spread of Marxism, secular nationalism, and decolonization. The course ends by looking at current issues in world history, including the environment, global capitalism, and religious revivalism. Topics will be covered thematically in general chronological order. Lectures will be supplemented by maps, visual materials, music, documentaries and films. All students are required to attend lectures and one discussion section a week. Students need not have taken HST 121 Global History to enroll.

Concentration: Global / Period: Modern

HST 211: Medieval and Renaissance Europe

*This course includes the lecture and a weekly discussion section. By enrolling in discussion, you automatically enroll in the lecture.

This introductory survey traces Europe’s transformation during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, from roughly 300 CE to roughly 1500 CE. It begins as the Roman Empire slowly gave way to new societies in both East and West, and then follows the fortunes of these societies over more than 1000 years. It explores the religious, political, economic, social, cultural, intellectual, and artistic aspects of these societies and how they changed over time. Readings will include both primary sources (those written at the time) and secondary sources (by modern scholars). Students will learn to analyze these sources in order to find out what happened in this period, how people understood events, and how historians use evidence to explain the past. Requirements include reading and participation, midterm and final exams, and two papers.

Concentration: Europe / Period: Pre-modern

A basic survey of political, economic, and social history of Africa during the colonial period through the post-independence period.

Concentration: Global / Period: Modern

Elizabeth I: Cultural icon? Virgin queen? ‘Father/Mother’ of the nation? This course will examine the images, personality, words and actions of one of the most important monarchs in English history. How did Elizabeth manage to negotiate her rule of a patriarchal society as a ‘weak-willed woman’? Did she exploit her considerable political skills to benefit the country or simply to maintain her position on the throne? And what of those who sort to assassinate or replace her? How did she react to threats of foreign invasion, domestic rebellion and a barely concerned hostility among many in the governing classes? Using both early modern and modern iconography, we will explore the images and representations of Elizabeth to unravel her life and examine how she sought to portray herself and how others have seen her through the years.

Concentration: Europe / Period: Pre-Modern

HST 300/PSC 300/HNR 360, M002: White Nationalism/Right Populism in Modern America

HONORS ONLY

This course will examine why White Nationalism and Right-wing Populism have become so prominent on the early 21st-century American political landscape. Although such tendencies have long been evident (consider the Second KKK in the 1920s and the Dixiecrats of the 1940s and '50s as two examples), we will explore why they have achieved such significance in recent years. Among the questions we will consider are these:

To what extent is there continuity between earlier forms of right-wing radicalism and those we see today?

Was the emergence and ongoing influence of Donald Trump (and pro-Trump groups like QAnon, Proud Boys, Militias, and America First) a cause or consequence of the surge in such beliefs?

In what ways are US developments distinctive, and how are they part of a global authoritarianist wave?

How has social media enabled the development of movements like these? Throughout the term, emphasis will be on reading, reflection, and discussion.

Concentration: U.S. / Period: Modern

As A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) has exploded into contemporary consciousness and its uses in everyday life have expanded exponentially (ChatGPT, for example), it is vital to pause to reflect on its potential impact on nearly every realm, from education, jobs, popular culture, and entertainment to how we think of ourselves as human beings, form relationships, interact with others, and navigate other aspects of our public and private lives. In this course, we will explore AI as a cultural phenomenon through its history, imaginative portrayals in film and the arts, and current debates over its pros and cons, with special attention to the impact of the virtual world of computer technology, social media, the internet, and now AI, on the self. Comparison with earlier concepts of the self, emotion, and thought in intellectual history and cultural criticism of technology and media—with their visions of what the human person is and might strive to be—can help us assess what might be different in emerging concepts and practices.

Concentration: U.S./Europe / Period: Modern

This course introduces students to the surprising width and depth of medieval literature from the Mediterranean and Western Europe, debunking a great deal of commonly held assumptions, such as that these times were ’dark ages’, obsessed with life-denying religiosity, and full of valiant crusaders. Instead, we will discover the cosmopolitan nature of many texts and authors, we will engage with the political and social – at times remarkably advanced - aspects of medieval literatures, and indulge in some really great humor.

Concentration: Europe / Period: Pre-modern

This course considers the history of capitalism in the United States, exploring the nation from its origins as part of the British empire to its emergence as the world’s greatest financial power.  In it, students will explore how canals, turnpikes, and railroads transformed the nation’s transportation network.  They will discuss the rise of markets in cities and towns.  Students will explore the emergence of plantation slavery, making the South the center of a global market in cotton. The course discusses how technology reshaped manufacturing.  They will consider the development of an American working class and their protests against their treatment.  Students will learn about the rise of the modern corporation, banking, and the stock market.  And the class will discuss a range of additional themes, including law, war, regulation, consumerism, de-industrialization, and white-collar work.

Concentration: U.S. / Period: Pre-Modern

HST 300, M007: Herodotus and the Invention of History

A study of Herodotus, the father of history, the first anthropologist, the first ethnographer…and the father of lies.  Herodotus was the product of ancient Greece, which defined itself in cultural terms in opposition to non-Greeks, or ‘barbarians.’  This cultural framework provides the context from which to consider Herodotus’ narrative of the Persian Invasions of Greece.

Concentration: Europe / Period: Pre-Modern

This course explores the history of anti-Jewish discrimination, bigotry, and violence in the United States between 1654 and 2024. Students will learn about antisemitism in the context of modern Jewish history as well as modern U.S. history, determining how, if at all, antisemitism relates to racism, xenophobia, and misogyny.

Concentration: US / Period: Modern

This course explores the various interconnections of race and law in American history. Our focus will be on key issues including slavery, federal Indian law, immigration, civil rights, and mass incarceration. We will consider how race and law have intersected and shaped American society in enduring ways.

Concentration: U.S. / Period: Modern

What is History? How do scholars “do” history? This seminar introduces history majors to the methods and goals of historical study, and to the skills needed to conduct independent historical research. The first part of the course will be spent discussing what exactly history is and has been. We will then move on to discussing the kinds of history that have developed across the century in the American Historical profession. Finally, students will spend a large portion of the course familiarizing themselves with the analytical and practical skills needed to develop their own research projects. 

M/W 3:45-5:05

What is History? How do scholars “do” history? This seminar introduces history majors to the methods and goals of historical study, and to the skills needed to conduct independent historical research. The first part of the course will be spent discussing what exactly history is and has been. We will then move on to discussing the kinds of history that have developed across the century in the American Historical profession. Finally, students will spend a large portion of the course familiarizing themselves with the analytical and practical skills needed to develop their own research projects. 

The Civil War was a second American Revolution, and considerably more transformative than the first. Through lectures, readings of primary and secondary-source texts, discussions, and films, this course will show why. We begin by asking what led Southern states to secede in 1861, why the North resolved to restore the union by force of arms, and how emancipation evolved from a military expedient to a defining war aim. We will ask how changing military strategies and tactics related to political struggles over the objectives of the war, and why the war took so many lives. The role of political and military leaders – Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, to name a few – will be placed alongside the experiences of soldiers, slaves, and civilians. Our examination of Reconstruction will pay particular attention to the efforts of freedmen and women to secure their freedoms despite the hostility of white Southerners and the indifference of Northerners. Care will also be taken to understand the Civil War and Reconstruction in relation to larger social, economic, and cultural developments in nineteenth-century America, and to place them in global context. Finally, we will look at how Americans have remembered the war, from struggles over memorialization, to the persistence of "Lost Cause" mythology, to changing interpretations of the war advanced by historians in the twentieth century.

Concentration: U.S. / Period: Modern

An analysis of key historical issues that have shaped Africa's relationship with the international/global community since about 1870. This includes, but is not limited to, Western imperialism, the African colonial economies, the two world wars, nationalism and decolonization, the Cold War, and the development question.

Concentration: Global / Period: Modern

This course will survey the history of China from the seventeenth century to the present. Our focus will be on revolution and reform: the primary means through which Chinese people responded to the challenges of a new world, and, most particularly, to Western encroachment and invasion. Topics to be considered in depth include:  politics and society under the Qing dynasty (1644-1911); the end of the dynastic system and the continuing quest for a viable political system; reform of Chinese culture through revolution; the challenge of changing old attitudes about gender roles; conflicting visions for the new nation; the critique of communism by dissident Chinese; the persistence and resurgence of traditional ways, and the renewed interest in Maoism during the 2000’s. Assigned readings include a slim textbook to provide chronology and a variety of historical materials including memoirs, fiction and poetry.

Concentration: Global / Period: Modern

In this course, we will explore Latin American history from independence to the late twentieth century. This course is broad, geographically and temporally, but no prior knowledge of Latin American history is necessary. Drawing upon primary documents, audio and visual materials, and secondary historical literature, this course will explore the nation-building process and the ways that ordinary people interacted with the state. We will also analyze the construction of racial, class, and gender hierarchies in various Latin American contexts. We draw from case studies and national histories, but we will place these historical moments within a global perspective, elucidating how Latin American actors shaped imperial practices, nation-state formation, revolutionary and counterrevolutionary dynamics during the Cold War, and innovative political practices against neoliberalism.

Concentration: Global / Period: Modern

This course surveys the history of the Indian subcontinent from 2000 BCE, when an urban civilization was thriving in the Indus Valley, to the seventeenth century, when the Great Mughals ruled over one of the most powerful empires in the contemporary world. While covering this vast time period, we will focus on specific topics pertaining to ancient and medieval Indian politics, economy, religion, society, and culture. Selected readings will examine forms of kingship, the rise of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, the position of women in society, the role of temples as social and political centers, and the relations between the subcontinent and other empires.

Concentration: Global / Period: Pre-Modern

This course introduces students to the models and methods developed in the field of queer theory and teach them to apply them on a wide range of medieval texts (letters, novels, monastic rules, medieval historiography, legal texts etc.). Starting from John Boswell’s groundbreaking but also highly controversial work Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality we will alternate between reading and discussing major theoretical texts, historiography and medieval primary sources The course will introduce students of all fields to tools and methods used in historical research.

Concentration: Europe / Period: Pre-Modern

Focusing mainly on the past 150 years, this course is intended to provide an overview of women’s experiences in America from the Civil War to the present. While it is not a course on the history of feminism, it will be taught from a feminist perspective. What does that mean? Stated simply, in this class women will be considered as subjects—as actors who themselves “make history,” and not simply as passive objects of the actions of others. Moreover, it assumes the full personhood of women, the reality of discrimination against women, and the intrinsic significance of women’s experience. Beyond that, it is not expected that students in the course will share the professor’s point of view on all matters (indeed, with any luck, the class will contain a healthy diversity of backgrounds and perspectives). It should be understood from the outset that “U.S. women’s history” is not monolithic. Therefore, we will pay considerable attention to the diversity among women and their experiences over time. This diversity adds to the complexity of what we will be studying—but it also will add to the richness of understanding that I hope you will take away from this class. Student participation is not only welcome, but essential! Finally, this course also assumes the seriousness with which women's history needs to be considered—so, know from the outset that HST/WGS349 is designed to be both demanding and challenging. There is a lot of assigned reading (after all, we are dealing with a lot of long-neglected material). Though it may be impossible for you to do it all, the more you read, the more you will get out of the class (and the better your grade will be). And you are expected to do most of it! As we go along, certain readings will be noted as deserving special emphasis.

Concentration: U.S. / Period: Modern

This course examines the political, cultural and social history of Early Modern England. Topics covered will include the power and image of the monarchy (cases studies - Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and Charles I); the role of the printing press in both ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture; the impact of crime and the treatment of criminals; the importance of London as a center of commerce and culture; the myth and reality of Shakespeare and the role of the theater; witchcraft and the dominance of religion in everyday life; and the role of women in a patriarchal society. The course will emphasize reading, discussion, visual culture and the use of primary sources.

Concentration: Europe / Period: Modern

Among the ancient world’s most enduring legacies, democracy continues to exert a powerful influence over the modern political imagination. This course examines forms of ancient democracy and democratic participation in government to help understand and problematize today's so-called democracies. Throughout the course, we probe questions like why democracy arose, what factors limited participation, who benefited most from it, and why twenty-first century versions of it are failing.

Concentration: Europe / Period: Pre-Modern/Modern

This course begins in the catastrophic aftermath of the Second World War, traces out the reconstruction of Germany, its incorporation into capitalist and communist blocs, and its emergence as a leader of contemporary Europe. Throughout, the course highlights the legacies of the Nazi past, international connections from the Cold War to the so-called refugee crisis, and the truly profound transformations of political and cultural life from aggressive racial dictatorship to pluralistic democracy.

Concentration: Europe / Period: Modern

The history of twentieth-century Europe can be understood in large part as the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The first half of the century was dominated by the antagonism between the Soviet and Fascist powers; the second half, between Soviet and Western spheres of influence in the Cold War. Likewise, if the 20th century began in 1914 with the start of WWI, it arguably ended in 1991 with the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. This course has two main objectives: to examine the major issues surrounding the rise and fall of communism in Russia in the 20th century, and to give you a glimpse of what life was like for people who lived through the Soviet era.

Concentration: Europe / Period: Modern

This course will study major developments in the history of the first and second world wars. These were conflicts that dramatically changed the course of history across the globe.

On World War I:  The setting for the war in the struggle for mastery in Europe to 1914.  The Schlieffen Plan and its fate in the critical early months of the conflict.  The creation of the killing ground of the western front trenches by 1915.  The massive attrition battles in the arenas of death at Verdun, the Somme and in Flanders Field.  The war in the east and its implications for the fate of Russia.  The war at sea to Jutland and after.  Warfare beyond the European battlefields.  The war in the air. American entry and the final encounters 1917-18.

On World War II:  The heritage of Versailles and the rise of Hitler.  After appeasement and isolationism – the war begins in Poland with Blitzkrieg.  The Fall of France and the Battle of Britain.  Barbarossa and Hitler’s run of victories against the Red Army.  Pearl Harbor and America’s road to war.  From Stalingrad to the Kursk Salient and beyond.  The Pacific war from Midway to the offensives in the Central and Southwest Pacific. The Holocaust and violence against civilians in Europe and Asia.  Closing the ring in Europe.  Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the decision to use the atomic bomb.

Concentration: U.S. or Europe / Period: Modern

Religion is an explosive issue in contemporary politics globally, but seems to have extra resonance in parts of Asia, including in the Indian subcontinent. Moreover, since 9/11, Islam appears as the typical face of religious extremism. This course challenges the myth of religious politics as the relics of pre-modern solidarities, exploring instead its specifically modern incarnations. Accordingly, we will look at how religious identities are intertwined with modern political forms (democracy) and modern technologies (mass media). To that extent, we will see how religious fundamentalism is not limited to Islam but indeed extends to all prominent South Asian religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. Other key course themes include the gendered nature of religious politics and the lasting consequences of colonial forms of rule. Course material includes articles, documentaries, fiction and poetry.

Concentration: Global / Period: Modern

An approach to the history of the modern Middle East and North Africa since the early 20th century through the lens of film, music, television, sports, and the internet. Readings and discussions consider popular culture and social change, and culture to understand the lives of regular people. Though understanding politics is important, the focus is not on government or the elite, but youth, social movements, fan culture, women and gender, and the role of popular culture in shaping identity and as means of resistance to oppression. Topics are grouped around specific countries and genres with particular focus on Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Palestine and Israel, and Morocco.

Concentration: Global / Period: Modern

If we want to understand medieval everyday life, mentality, culture and religion, investigating death might be one of the most productive approaches. Every culture and period develops its distinct attitudes towards death, ways of integrating death into everyday life, rituals, emotional responses and notions of lifecycles. Topics addressed in this course range from classical and Christian concepts of the afterlife, burial rituals, cults of the saints and the veneration of relics, taboos on death, to diseases, death penalty, imaginary journeys through hell (especially Dante), the plague, the Danse Macabre and other manifestations of Death in Art expression. Special emphasis will be placed on reading and analyzing primary sources and on historical methodology.

Concentration: Europe / Period: Pre-Modern

This course explores the history and meaning of the Vietnam War. How and why did the United States become involved in Vietnam? How did the conflict shape popular culture in the United States, Vietnam, and globally? How does popular culture contribute to the historical record? Drawing on a range of films, fictional and non-fictional accounts, and music, this class examines the intersection of history and memory.

Concentration: U.S. and Global / Period: Modern 

In the eighty years since the Second World War, the United Kingdom has undergone vast changes - in its relationship to its former empire, Europe, and the world; in its demographic make-up; and in the manner and quality of life of its people. Throughout those eight decades, such changes have been illustrated and commented upon through the medium of film. The UK's vibrant motion picture industry has informed the country's cultural conversation in important ways, and looking back, postwar British cinema provides historians with a valuable resource by which to observe how ideas, experiences, attitudes, and conflicts have altered over time.  In this course, each student will write a research paper which makes a distinctive argument about some or other aspect of British postwar life, using film as a principal source of evidence. As a preliminary, we will watch and discuss a number of films as a class to help inspire and hone ideas

Concentration: Europe / Period: Modern

This is an advanced research and writing seminar on selected ideas/movements/episodes in cultural history, ancient and modern, as seen in images. Through close-reading, students investigate texts, images, and other cultural artifacts. Research centers especially on representations of the self, emotion, and the art of living as reflected in a range of primary sources, including philosophy, literature, art, architecture, music, and film. Secondary readings help students to situate their sources in time and place and to identify original research questions. Attention to each step of the project allows students to master such skills as the choice and proposal of topics, archival research (including digital), footnoting and use of evidence, bibliographical annotation, logical argumentation, revision of rough drafts, constructive critique of others’ work, and enhancement of the literary quality of their final papers. Students produce a 25-30 page research paper on a subject of their choosing dovetailing with the course theme. This seminar is the capstone of the History major and is required for majors.

Concentration:  U.S./Europe/Global / Period: Modern

This course focuses on the history modern Iraq from roughly 1900 to the present. If Iraq appears in US news headlines it is often associated with violence, sectarian strife, hardship, and civic disintegration, but this is a relatively recent phenomenon. This class centers Iraqi experiences to understand Iraqi cultural life, its labor movement, and successful socialist politics before turning to the Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf War, the sanctions regime, the 2003 US invasion and its aftermath. Throughout, we will focus on the lives of Iraqis of various social classes, the differences between rural and urban society, the impact of the expansion of education and social services, and the ways in which broader social, economic, and political changes affected Iraqi men, women, and their families. Readings detail the political changes under British colonial occupation through the lens of medicine, women’s political activism from the period of anti-colonial nationalism through the US invasion. A third title examines the relation between warfare and masculinity. While focusing on different periods, these readings raise similar questions about gender roles and gender identities that offer an insightful window into the social history of modern Iraq. Overall, this course introduces students to the dynamism of modern Iraq through a range of texts by anthropologists and historians as well as works of fiction and a popular blog. This class meets the requirements for IDEA course in the College of Arts and Sciences. There are no prerequisites.

Concentration: Global / Period: Modern

Instructor Consent Required

Students doing the thesis will take 3 credits of HST 495 the first semester and 3 credits of HST 496 the second semester (2 semesters for a total of 6 credits), which may begin in their junior or senior year.  Students should register for HST 495 and 496 upon approval from the faculty advisor and Undergraduate Director.