24 courses with the subject HIS, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
HIS 101102 THE WESTERN HERITAGE I, II (3, 3)
A survey of Western, essentially European, institutions, culture, religions, and ideologies from the Paleolithic era until the end of twentieth century. The course also attempts to show how history is not simply a body of knowledge but also a way of thinking. The first semester covers the topic from the Paleolithic era until the sixteenth century, and the second from the sixteenth century until approximately 1991.
HIS 151152 History of the United States I, II 6 s.h6
HIS 461r Two Seminars in History 6 s.h. HIS Elective in non-Western History (220-249, 320-349, or 420-449) 3 s.h. HIS Upper Division Elective in European History (300-319, or 400-419) 3 s.h. HIS Upper Division Elective in U.S.History (350-389, or 450-489) 3 s.h. HIS Elective in any 200-400 level 3 s.h. HIS Upper Division Electives (300-400 level)
HIS 152HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES II (since 1877)3
A broad survey of the United States from the Gilded Age to the present, including aspects of American political, economic, social, and cultural development. Familiarity with and understanding of the major and conflicting interpretations of American history is also expected.
This course introduces students the difficult and complex history of the Holocaust (also known as the Shoah), during the Second World War in Europe. During the course of the war, Nazi Germany, and their allied and collaborationist governments systematically murdered roughly six million Jews. The end goal was the total elimination of Jews from Europe, which the Nazis came incredibly close to achieving by murdering nearly 2/3 of Europe’s Jewish population. It was and is in many ways the defining example of genocide in world history.
These courses will examine a variety of topics in the history of the European world, including cultural, political, social, and environmental issues among others.
This course is an introduction to modern Chinese history from approximately 1800 to the present. Since the 1600s China has been transformed from a traditional agricultural empire into a modern nation-state with a developing industrial economy. During this time, China has faced many external challenges and internal disruptions. The course will explore major themes including changes in the form of government, the impact of the West and Japan, the transformations of urban and rural society, the political and military struggles for power in the 20th century, recent political and economic trends, and China’s determination to return to the heights of its glory as the “Middle Kingdom.” 2024-2025 Academic Catalog 225 NDERGRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
This course surveys the history of the Middle East and neighboring regions of the Islamic world from the fifteenth century to the end of the twentieth century. We will examine the rise and decline of the Islamic gunpowder empires (the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals); the expansion of European economic dominance, culture influence, and political control in the Islamic world; the ways in which Islamic states and societies responded to and were affected by European imperialism and Western culture; and the rise of modern political movements in the Middle East such as nationalism and pan-Islamism. A major theme of this course is the evolving relationship between Islam and modernity. This course will provide vital context for understanding the challenges and conflicts facing the Middle East and the wider Islamic world today.
This course surveys the twentieth century’s major global, political, social, economic, cultural and technological developments, with particular attention paid to their impact on the non-Western world. It provides vital context for understanding the challenges we now face in the twenty-first century. We will explore the forces that have made our world more interdependent and interrelated than ever before. We will also examine the forces that have resisted transformations brought on by globalization.
These courses will examine a variety of topics in the history of the world outside of Europe, Canada, and the United States (the so-called “Non-Western” world), including cultural, political, and social issues among others.
One of the most extraordinary stories of the American twentieth century (quite possibly of American history overall), the Civil Rights Movement largely turned southern society-- and America in general-- upside down. Southern history might still be marked (in much the same way as the Civil War itself) as “before and after” the revolution in civil rights of the 1950s and 1960s. This course will tell the story of the movement largely through the biographies of the extraordinary people who made it happen – African American and white, male and female, journalist and activist, politician and foot soldier. 226 2024-2025 Academic Catalog NDERGRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
This course surveys the fundamental events and changes in Russian politics, economics, intellectual thought, culture, and society from the reign of Peter the Great (1696-1725) to the February and October Revolutions of 1917. We will pay particular attention to tsarist Russia as a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional empire and examine how tsarist officials and policymakers managed and transformed Russia’s diverse cultures, peoples, and religious communities. This course will enable students to understand how Russians and other tsarist subjects lived and gave meaning to their lives during these years. Prerequisite: HIS 102
HIS 302THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND THE SOVIET UNION3
As the world’s first officially socialist state, the Soviet Union was one of the most important and tragic experiments in social transformation in modern history. From its revolutionary beginnings, the Soviet Union represented a threat to the dominant liberal-democratic order and an inspiring political model for many oppressed colonial peoples and, later, post-colonial developing nations. The legacies of the Soviet experiment continue to impact culture, society, and politics throughout Eurasia. Cold War-era views of the Soviet Union continues to shape how many Americans understand Marxism, socialism, and communism. This survey of Soviet history focuses particularly on how Soviet citizens of all nationalities (half of the Soviet population were non-Russians) lived, gave meaning to their lives, understood themselves, and experienced Soviet policies. Some of the course’s central themes include the tension between ideology and pragmatic concerns in shaping Soviet policies, the fate of the Russian revolution, the nature of Joseph Stalin’s dictatorship, the Soviet Union’s troubled relationship with the West, and the quest to form a “new Soviet man” and “new Soviet woman.” Prerequisite: HIS 102
These courses will examine a variety of topics in the history of the European world, including cultural, political, social, and environmental issues among others.
These courses will examine a variety of topics in the history of the world outside of Europe, Canada, and the United States (the so-called “Non-Western” world), including cultural, political, and social issues among others. 2024-2025 Academic Catalog 227 NDERGRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
The years 1914-1945 formed one of the most pivotal and fascinating periods of American history. The United States emerged from World War I as both an enormous economic power on the world stage, and an extremely important military power as well. The nation entered the post-WWII era as the preeminent world power in both areas, and ushered in an era that the journalist Henry Luce entitled “The American Century.” Interestingly, however, the years that fell between the two world wars were among the most tumultuous in our history. The 1920s brought dizzying change that shook American traditions to their core, and frightened many in the national heartland. The decade which preceded World War II, of course, left many Americans asking fundamental questions about the wisdom of its economic and governmental systems. As President Franklin Roosevelt came into office in the dark days of 1933, he told the people quite bluntly, “I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day...I see one third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.” Over the course of the semester, we will examine how Americans came to grips with these tremendous national challenges, and how they emerged with a nation which not only recovered, but ushered in an era of unprecedented American prosperity and power.
In his best-selling book, Tom Brokaw has called them “The Greatest Generation”: Americans who had conquered the brutal, racist Nazi regime, and now set about conquering the world with their juggernaut economy and unflagging commitment to contain the Communist threat. We built the world’s premier economy while rebuilding war-torn Europe at the same time through unprecedented generosity. The journalist William Luce declared post-war times “The American Century.” But 1945- 1960 was full of undeniable contradictions. While wholesome entertainment such as “Father Knows Best” and “Leave it to Beaver” prevailed on the airwaves, many Americans feared a dreadful national moral decay: from the emergence of Marilyn Monroe and Playboy magazine to the Kinsey report on sexual habits to the rising concerns over juvenile delinquency. While most Americans celebrated the massive growth of the suburbs and middle class life, others saw a crushing conformity imposed on themselves and rebelled: from Beatniks to Rock and Roll artists. While we emerged from WWII as the undeniable dominant military power in the world, a sinking dread also prevailed that Communists were in our midst and at our heels. That fear led to one of the most controversial episodes in American history as Sen. Joe McCarthy and others emerged to root out Communism from within. We will also examine the apparently dramatic shift from the conformist, more conservative 1950s to the explosion of the liberal reform in the next decade.
This course will focus on a pivotal period of American history: 1960-1980. It was a time of tremendous change beginning with President Kennedy’s declaration that “we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty” around the 228 2024-2025 Academic Catalog UNDERGRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Ronald Reagan may just be the most influential political figure of a generation, catapulting his conservative political philosophy to great success in late 20th and early 21st century. So much so, that– as many analysts have noted– he forced even his Democratic opposition to change so significantly that Bill Clinton announced the “era of big government is over.” But at the center of all this may have also been one of the most enigmatic of our presidents. Sharp debates over Ronald Reagan began during his administration and have by no means lessened in continuing years. Was he a genius who engineered a decisive shift in governmental direction and policy attitudes, or a spokesman for far craftier advisors and public relations specialists who surrounded him? Was he man of great moral principles and “family values,” or a mischievous mastermind behind the Iran-Contra scandal? Did he produce a generation of young people today who revere American greatness with his infectious optimism, or a generation who have grown deeply cynical about their democratically elected leaders and government through his largely anti-government stance? We will address not only these concerns, but look backward to understand the context which helped create the enormous popularity of Reagan, and forward to see his legacies.
From its earliest years, motion pictures have been widely recognized as a powerful and influential cultural force in American society. As such, films have been scrutinized by public and civic officials and endured official and unofficial censorship campaigns; many have used films to generate sympathy for cherished causes; many others have rallied to protect alleged moral or patriotic threats against controversial films. This course will closely examine the history of cinema by viewing a select number of motion pictures. This course will analyze and discuss these films as primary documents, and ask what those films reveal about the times in which they were created. Cinema will be used as an important prism to view the changing social landscape of the United States in the Twentieth Century. Prerequisite: HIS 152 2024-2025 Academic Catalog 229 NDERGRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
A study of the economic, cultural, social, and political development of the American South from the Jamestown settlement to the present, with particular emphasis on the origin and continuity of Southern distinctiveness, slavery, the plantation economy and society of the Old South, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the origin and progress of the New South.
These courses will examine a variety of topics in the history of the United States, including cultural, political, and social issues among others. HIS 461r SEMINAR IN HISTORY (3) An intensive study of selected topics in history, including research in the materials of history and the writing of analytical reports. May be repeated for credit. At least one seminar is offered each semester. Topics change on a rotating schedule and include Nations and Nationalism, Race and Justice in Twentieth Century America, American Populism, and the New South. 230 2024-2025 Academic Catalog DERGRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
