Judith G. Coffin

Students learn to read, write and think like historians, that is to understand different historical approaches to crucial questions about the past. Our case study will be World War I (1914-1918), a global conflict, and probably the most decisive event of the twentieth century. We will consider social, cultural, military, and geo-political history. We will study debates about the origins of the war; old and new perspectives on soldiers and the “great” battles; questions of humanitarianism, violence, and genocide; what the war meant for the “home front”; the war’s empire-shaking consequences; and the ambitions and failures of the peace. We will read secondary and primary sources including fiction and film. How (and why) do historians argue? What is in an archive, what can you do it with, and how? 

Students will write three short papers, several very brief responses to readings, complete two group research projects and develop a research paper framework.  Students use on line sources for the group projects and online or campus archives of their choice (The Briscoe Center for American History, The LBJ Presidential Library, the Harry Ransom Center etc) for research frameworks.

This seminar considers the histories of different kinds of intimacy, from sex, love, friendship, family, and marriage to neighborliness. We’ll be interested in the character of those relationships, how they are shaped by gender, racial, national, or ethnic inequality and difference. We will look at their political consequences: the emotions, bonds, conflicts, and violence they generate. We will look at state interest in regulating these relationships and ordinary people’s strategies for guarding secrets and privacy.  We will devote several sessions to considering the sources for such research and the use of “intimate” documents, such as letters, diaries, and autobiography.

Most of the readings will be drawn from European and American history. Students from all fields and disciplines are welcome, and students choose their own topic for their final essays.

Readings will include selections from Lauren Berlant, The Female Complaint; Deborah Cohen, Family Secrets: Shame and Privacy in Modern Britain; Annette Gordon Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family; Nancy F. Cott, Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation; George Chauncey, Gay New York; Mary Louise Roberts, What Soldiers Do; Sarah Igo, The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America; and Gail Hershatter, Dangerous pleasures: prostitution and modernity in twentieth-century Shanghai.

 Requirements:

1) 25% Preparation and informed, cooperative participation in discussion. 2) 25% 5 short précis (2 pp., double-spaced) of the weekly readings. 3) 50% Final review essay on the subject of your choice.

The French revolution is one of the most famous events in history. Historians, social scientists, and politicians have studied and debated it for over two centuries, and they still have not resolved the fundamental questions it raises. Why does a regime collapse? How is a new state built? Why are some revolutions peaceful while others become protracted and violent? The human drama, too, of this tumultuous decade and a half is irresistible. How were extraordinary careers made and then lost? How did people take sides? How did ordinary people survive?
            In this course, we’ll use the French revolution to think about all these questions concretely. We have three aims, and they are all related. The first is to help you master the major events and developments of the revolution itself. The second is to understand what those events meant at the time and how their importance has been magnified since – how, in other words, they have produced classic political arguments about the conditions for democracy, the sources of rights, and the process of historical change itself. The required readings represent some of those arguments. Third, we consider how the revolution has shaped the world, and how it compares with other revolutions, including ones going on right now.


Texts:
Rousseau, The Social Contract
William Doyle, The French Revolution: A Very Short History
Timothy Tackett, When the King Took Flight
Timothy Tackett, The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution
David Bell, Napoleon, A Biography

Grading:
•    2 4-5 page take home papers (25% each)  (total 50% of grade**)
•    1 comprehensive test (25%)
•    group political club assignments (25%).
•     points deducted for more than 2 absences and points added for participation in discussion sessions if we have them.Historians care about writing. It is impossible to separate form from content, and both count in your grade. Check your grammar, sentence structure, and word usage. Go to the writing center. Have someone read and comment on your paper. Give yourself time to revise.

This course focuses on 20th century France, with an emphasis on three critical conflicts: World War One, World War Two, and the Algerian war.  
      At the beginning of the 20th century, France stood as a beacon of democracy, individual rights, and cultural unity. In 1940, France became the most dramatic case of the sudden and devastating collapse of all that –of the corrosive effects of the Great Depression, political polarization, xenophobia, and authoritarianism.
      Why did France (and Europe) collapse? How did the country (and the continent) recover? We will look at the victory of World War I, the defeat of 1940, collaboration and resistance, and then World War II’s difficult aftermath. France was an empire as well as a nation-state, and we will study how the violent dissolution of that empire, especially the Algerian war, has contributed to creating the country we will visit in May.

Texts:
Arthur Koestler, Scum of the Earth
Hélène Berr, The Journal of Hélène Berr
Marguerite Duras, The War

Grading:
Attendance is required, as per Normandy regulations.
- Discussions of reading, lectures, and films, and short writing assignments: 20 %. Since this is a small class,
participation and quality of participation matter. Prepare carefully, and be prepared to talk or write about the readings.
Listen to each other. Be prepared to summarize another person’s argument, especially when you disagree with it. Do not
consider your own position final. Bring everyone in to the discussion. Discussion is a collective as well as an
individual responsibility.
- 3 short papers: 2 of them 4 pages (25% each); one 6 pages (30%)

In the 1950s, the Chinese Premier Zhou En-Lai was asked what he thought about the French revolution of 1789. He answered that was “too soon to tell.”  Historians, social scientists, and politicians have studied and debated this extraordinary event for two centuries, and they still not answered the many questions it poses. Why does a regime collapse? How is a new state built? Are revolutions necessarily protracted and violent? Writers and artists, too, have been captivated by the human drama of this tumultuous decade and a half. How did ordinary people survive? How were extraordinary careers made – and lost?

In this course we’ll use the French revolution to think about all these questions concretely. We have three aims. The first is to help you master the major events of the revolution itself. The second is to introduce issues of interpretation and historical methods, for the French revolution has long been a forcing ground for new theories of history and new approaches to the past. The required readings represent some of those approaches. Third, we hope you will learn how the revolution has become one of the defining points of modern history, and how it has shaped the world we inhabit today.

Texts:

Rousseau, The Social Contract

William Doyle, The French Revolution: A Very Short History

Timothy Tackett, When the King Took Flight

Timothy Tackett, The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution

David Bell, Napoleon, A Biography

Grading:

3 4-page take home papers (30% each)

various in-class assignments and quizzes. (10%)

** Historians care about writing. It is impossible to separate form from content, and both count in your grade. Check your grammar, sentence structure, and word usage. Go to the writing center. Have someone read and comment on your paper. Give yourself time to revise.

This course focuses on 20^th century France, with an emphasis on three critical conflicts: World War One, World War Two, and the Algerian war. 

      At the beginning of the 20th century, France stood as a beacon of democracy, individual rights, and cultural unity. In 1940, France became the most dramatic case of the sudden and devastating collapse of all that –of the corrosive effects of the Great Depression, political polarization, xenophobia, and authoritarianism.

      Why did France (and Europe) collapse? How did the country (and the continent) recover? We will look at the victory of World War I, the defeat of 1940, collaboration and resistance, and then World War II’s difficult aftermath. France was an empire as well as a nation-state, and we will study how the violent dissolution of that empire, especially the Algerian war, has contributed to creating the country we will visit in May.

This course surveys ‘Western’ culture, society, and politics from 1492 to the present. We will study political, religious, and cultural revolutions, Europe’s changing place in the world, the rise of the modern state, and legacies of war. We study the history of now-familiar concepts (nature, science, the self), institutions (the state, or religion), and debates (What does “the West” stand for? What is legitimate authority?). Along the way, the course aims to teach historical analysis. How do historians (as opposed to philosophers, for instance) explain events like the Holocaust? How do historians think about causation and context?

READINGS The following books are REQUIRED reading and available at the Coop.   

•           Coffin, Stacey, Cole and Symes, Western Civilizations, vol. II 17^th edition

•           Felipe Fernández-Armesto, 1492: The Year the World Began (2009)

•           Honoré de Balzac, Old Goriot (any edition)

•           Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (Norton Critical Edition, 4^th edition)

•           Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon

Additional required reading (Martin Luther, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Edmund Burke, et. al) is available on the web. I have either provided the URL or posted the excerpt on Canvas.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1)        Preparation for and participation in regular class discussions; informal writing assignments, short papers, and quizzes. 20%

4 short (3-4) page papers 20% each.

Interdisciplinary topics relating to Women's and Gender Studies.  Seats restricted to WGS MA and Portfolio students during early registration.  Check cross-listings for home departments and originating field of study.

The Revolution and its Napoleonic sequel are among the most extraordinary events of modern times. Historians, politicians, and social theorists have studied and debated them for over two centuries but still not answered the many questions they pose. Why does a regime collapse? How is a new state built? Are revolutions necessarily protracted and violent? The human drama of this  tumultuous time is no less compelling. How did ordinary people survive? How were extraordinary careers made – and ended?

In this course we’ll use the French revolution to think about all these questions concretely. We have three aims. The first is to help you master the major events of the revolution itself. The second is to introduce issues of interpretation and historical methods, for the French revolution has long been a forcing ground for new theories of history and new approaches to the past. The required readings represent some of those approaches. Third, we hope you will learn how the revolution has become one of the defining points of modern history, and how it has shaped the world we inhabit today.

William Doyle, The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract

Lynn Hunt, ed. The French Revolution and Human Rights.

Timothy Tackett, When the King Took Flight

David Bell, The First Total War

Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History.

3 4-page take home papers (30% each)

various in-class assignments and quizzes. (10%)

This course focuses on 20^th century France, with an emphasis on three critical conflicts: World War One, World War Two, and the Algerian war. 

      At the beginning of the 20th century, France stood as a beacon of democracy, individual rights, and cultural unity. In 1940, France became the most dramatic case of the sudden and devastating collapse of all that –of the corrosive effects of the Great Depression, political polarization, xenophobia, and authoritarianism.

      Why did France (and Europe) collapse? How did the country (and the continent) recover? We will look at the victory of World War I, the defeat of 1940, collaboration and resistance, and then World War II’s difficult aftermath. France was an empire as well as a nation-state, and we will study how the violent dissolution of that empire, especially the Algerian war, has contributed to creating the country we will visit in May

Course Overview: In this course, we examine the central cultural characteristics of the Western heritage after the Reformation and discuss their transformation up to the present. A chronological narrative of the history in question will be provided by the lecturer and the textbook, but the most significant portion of our time together will be devoted to the examination of a number of central questions within western society since the Reformation. We will attempt to formulate an understanding of “western civilization” and its central concerns and transformations, with a particular attention paid to economy and politics in their relationships to culture and freedom. We will discuss such issues as the construction of political authority and its relationship to emerging conceptions of political liberty, revolution, popular sovereignty, and political economy. We will examine and explain the emergence of the central characteristics of modern Western society, including mass society, democracy, colonialism, secularism, political sovereignty, and the nation-state. Focus in the course is away from memorization of factual information about European history and toward reading, discussion, interpretation and criticism of texts that exemplify certain moments in the western tradition. By reading, discussing, analyzing and criticizing these sources, students will receive an introduction to the tasks involved in “thinking like a historian.”

Prerequisites:  Students taking this course are assumed to be capable of an informed, critical stance toward the claims of the lecturer. No previous knowledge of the subject matter is assumed.

Possible Texts:

Mark Kishlansky et al., Civilization in the West, vol. 2

Jean Calvin, Golden Book of the True Christian Life

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government

Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (selections)

Émile Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise

Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel

J. M. Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire / Economic Consequences of the Peace (selections)

Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (selections)

Additional readings will be distributed in class or are available on the Internet

Assignments & Grading:

Compliance with syllabus policy 0%

Compliance with attendance policy 0%

Paper 1 @ 15%

Paper 2 @ 25%

Final paper @ 30%

Average of regular quizzes @ 30% each (I will drop your two lowest scores)

This reading course aims to orient students in the rapidly changing fields of the history of gender and sexuality. We will cover some of the classic texts and discuss some of the recurring debates, which are both theoretical and empirical. We will focus on the modern period and many of the works concern the United States, Europe, and European empires, but we will have regular visits from other members of the faculty. Students from all areas are welcome.

George Chauncey, Gay New York (Basic, 1994)

Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction (Vintage, 1990)

Sigmund Freud, Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria (Simon & Schuster, 1997)

                           Three Essays on Sexuality 

Joan Scott, The Fantasy of Feminist History

Kathleen Canning, Gender History in Practice

Deborah Cohen, Family Secrets

Carolyn Steedman, Landscape for a Good Woman (Rutgers, 1987)

Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self  (Harvard, 1989)

Requirements:

1) Preparation and enthusiastic, informed participation. Readings and attendance are mandatory.

2) A series of short précis (2 pp., double-spaced) of the weekly readings. A précis does not criticize or evaluate the book’s argument (of course I am interested in your opinion or judgment, but those will come out in our class discussion).  Rather, you should summarize the book’s overall argument in your own words and discuss the evidence and sources.  We will divide up the précis at the beginning of the semester.

3) For your final project, you are to come up with a research project, formulating interesting and answerable research questions. You will describe those questions in a paragraph or so. You are to find at least five primary sources that you would work with. And you are to compile an annotated bibliography of twenty (or more) high quality books and articles that would provide background and analytic frameworks for your project. 50%

This course surveys the major themes of French history from 1900 to the present, with an emphasis on World Wars 1 and 2 and their legacies. For most of the nineteenth century, France stood as a beacon of democracy, liberalism, and European culture. In the first half of the twentieth century, the country provided one of the most dramatic examples of the sudden and devastating collapse of all those things. In the second half of the century, France has offered a case study in a crisis of national identity -- a crisis produced by the traumas of war, the end of colonial empire, and the pressures of "Americanization" and European integration. We will look especially closely at victory in World War I and then defeat and collaboration in World War II.

Open to students in the Normandy program.

Please check back for updates.

This course surveys Western culture, society, and politics from 1492 to the present. We will study political, religious, and cultural revolutions, Europe’s changing place in the world, the rise of the modern state, and legacies of war. We study the history of now-familiar concepts (nature, science, the self), institutions (the state, or religion), and debates (What does “the West” stand for? What is legitimate authority?). Along the way, the course aims to teach historical analysis. How do historians (as opposed to philosophers, for instance) explain events like the Holocaust? How do historians sort out webs of causation and context?

 Survey courses necessarily cover a lot of ground. You will have to synthesis lots of material. Do not let the details overwhelm you.  Focus on the major problems and on what the readings capture about the period in which they were written.

Some students will have relevant background knowledge, others none. I’d like everyone to participate in discussions regardless. Please be respectful of others’ ideas and considerate about their time. Do not hesitate to ask us questions in class or by email. I have posted writing and study aids on Blackboard.

Be sure that your email address in the directory is accurate, since Blackboard (based on that address) is my means of communicating important information outside of class.

Texts:

 Judith Coffin and Robert Stacey, Western Civilizations, vol. II  16th edition[1]

J.H. Elliott, The Old World and the New: 1492-1650

Honoré de Balzac, Old Goriot

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem

Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon

Additional required reading (Martin Luther, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Edmund Burke, et. al) is available on the web. I have either provided the URL or posted the excerpt on Blackboard.

Highly recommended: Diane Hacker, A Pocket Manual of Style; John Trimble, Writing with Style; or Peter Elbow, Writing with Power.

Grading:

1)    Preparation for and participation in regular class discussions; informal writing assignments, short papers, and quizzes. 20%

2)    1 mid term 20% (the week before spring break)

3)    1 5-6 page paper 30%

4)    Final take-home exam (2 essays) 30%

This course surveys the major themes of French history from 1900 to the present, with an emphasis on World Wars 1 and 2 and their legacies. For most of the nineteenth century, France stood as a beacon of democracy, liberalism, and European culture. In the first half of the twentieth century, the country provided one of the most dramatic examples of the sudden and devastating collapse of all those things. In the second half of the century, France has offered a case study in a crisis of national identity -- a crisis produced by the traumas of war, the end of colonial empire, and the pressures of "Americanization" and European integration. We will look especially closely at victory in World War I and then defeat and collaboration in World War II.

Open to students in the Normandy program.

Please check back for updates.

SEMINAR IN HISTORIOGRAPHY: HONORS PROGRAM

Open only to students admitted to the History Honors program.

This seminar introduces students to a range of historical methods, topics, and sources, with no claim to being comprehensive. We will consider how “history” has changed along with other forms of knowledge. We will read different kinds of history (social, intellectual, cultural, and so on). We emphasize research with primary sources that students will be able to use in their theses.

Faculty from the Department of History will lead discussions about their areas of expertise, giving the class examples of documents and sources that historians use, or showing how they generate questions for research.  By the end of the semester, each student will have come up with an advisor and a prospectus for the senior thesis she or he will write next year.

This is a reading- and writing-intensive course, and it moves quickly from introductory to advanced work.

 REQUIREMENTS:

1)   preparation for and participation in each weekly seminar, including short writing assignments (40%). Reading is about 200 pages a week.

2)   the various steps in drafting and revising a 10-12 page research prospectus as described below (60%). The preliminary stages of research entail reading at least 10-15 books, review essays, and articles.

You will meet with me individually to consult on your topic a little over halfway through the semester. Short topic statements and bibliography are due a week later. We will spend the last three weeks of class in editorial session: discussing the structure, prose, style, and subject of each prospectus.

PROSPECTUS

         A prospectus is a “description in advance of a proposed undertaking.” It sets out your topic based on preliminary research. It should identify the problem or event that will be investigated, explain why it is important, survey the historical literature on the subject, describe the primary sources you will use, and discuss how you intend to carry out the work.

 The prospectus is not binding; you will certainly change your topic in some way during your senior year, and you may change it entirely. It is nonetheless very important preparation. It also requires substantial background work. I expect you to have looked at and read in at least 10 books, articles, and review essays.

The prospectus should also include a bibliography and four to six photocopied samples of primary sources. You may discuss the usefulness of the sources in either the text of the prospectus or in notes attached to the copies of the sources.

This course surveys the major themes of French history from 1900 to the present, with an emphasis on World Wars 1 and 2 and their legacies. For most of the nineteenth century, France stood as a beacon of democracy, liberalism, and European culture. In the first half of the twentieth century, the country provided one of the most dramatic examples of the sudden and devastating collapse of all those things. In the second half of the century, France has offered a case study in a crisis of national identity -- a crisis produced by the traumas of war, the end of colonial empire, and the pressures of "Americanization" and European integration. We will look especially closely at victory in World War I and then defeat and collaboration in World War II.

Open to students in the Normandy program.

Please check back for updates.

This seminar introduces you to a range of historical methods and topics, though with no claim to be comprehensive. The core of the course consists of sessions with different members of the History department faculty leading discussions about their areas of expertise. They will present examples of documents and sources that historians use, talk about problems of interpretation, and show how they generate questions for research. We will learn to use some of the rich archival collections at the University.            The primary goal of the seminar is to launch all of you on your theses. That means exercises in writing and rewriting, (prepare yourselves for lots of that)  finding secondary materials, discovering and working with documents, and presenting your work to others. By the end of the semester, each of you will have come up with an advisor and a prospectus for the senior thesis you will write next year.READING: Most of the documents and articles are on-line. REQUIREMENTS:A)     40 %: preparation for and participation in each weekly seminar. This has two parts: •  Every session you will turn in a paragraph or two (no more than a page, single-spaced) responding to the reading. You will also write a short 2-3 page paper on a document that you choose at one of the campus archives.  • You play a role in creating a high-quality discussion in which everyone participates. This does not mean long and sophisticated speech-making. It may be more appropriate to ask a simple question, or to try to sum up. Listen to your colleagues and respond to them. Learn from them. If you feel you can’t get a word in edgewise, and you have tried, please talk to me. (20%)B) 60%: a 12 -15 page prospectus. A prospectus sets out a research project. You can think of it as a grant proposal. Your project should be interesting, imaginative, well thought out, and feasible. It should establish you as someone who has read and thought about the field. You will present a draft, peer edit others, pick and consult a faculty advisor, and revise your draft. THe final prospectus is due at the end of the semester. I expect you to have read 10-15 books, articles, and essays in the field related to your topic.

This course surveys the major themes of French history from 1914 to 1962, with an emphasis on World Wars 1 and 2 and their legacies. Paris has been called “the capital of the nineteenth century,” and for most of the nineteenth century, France stood as a beacon of democracy, liberalism (in the sense of individual rights and the rule of law), and European culture. In the first half of the twentieth century, France provided one of the most dramatic cases of the sudden and devastating collapse of all that – and of political polarization, the corrosive effects of the Great Depression, xenophobia, and authoritarianism.

How did France (and Europe) collapse? How did the country (and the continent) recover? We will look at the costs of victory in World War I, France’s defeat in 1940, collaboration and resistance, and the war’s difficult aftermath. Throughout this period, France was an empire as well as a nation-state and we will study how the empire and its violent dissolution, especially the Algerian war, have mattered to creating the country we will visit in May.

The following books are available at the Coop:

• Simone de Beauvoir, Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

• Hélène Berr, The Journal of Hélène Berr

• Richard Vinen, The Unfree French

• Albert Camus, Resistance, Rebellion, and Death

• Alice Kaplan, French Lessons

Additional required reading is available on Blackboard.

The following films, shown outside of class, are also required:

• Life and Nothing But (Bertrand Tavernier, 1989)

• Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969)

• The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966) note date: April 13, 6 pm

• Hate (La Haine)(Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995)

Course requirements:

• Attendance (see Normandy program regulations): 10%

• Discussions of reading, lectures, and films: 20 % 

In-class writing, quizzes, and occasional short assignments: 20%

• Short research paper. 50%. This paper will be 11-12 pages, and biographical in focus. 

In the 1950s, the Chinese Premier Zhou En-Lai was asked what he thought about the French revolution of 1789. He answered that was “too soon to tell.”  Historians, social scientists, and politicians have studied and debated this extraordinary event for two centuries, and they still not answered the many questions it poses. Why does a regime collapse? How is a new state built? Are revolutions necessarily protracted and violent? Writers and artists, too, have been captivated by the human drama of this tumultuous decade and a half. How did ordinary people survive? How were extraordinary careers made – and lost?

In this course we’ll use the French revolution to think about all these questions concretely. We have three aims. The first is to help you master the major events of the revolution itself. The second is to introduce issues of interpretation and historical methods, for the French revolution has long been a forcing ground for new theories of history and new approaches to the past. The required readings represent some of those approaches. Third, we hope you will learn how the revolution has become one of the defining points of modern history, and how it has shaped the world we inhabit today.

The following books are REQUIRED reading:

William Doyle, The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction

David Andress, The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (any edition)

David Bell, The First Total War

Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. You do not have to buy this book. The two required chapters are on e-reserve. I recommend a third chapter. If you prefer having a book to reading one on line, or if you just like social and cultural history, by all means buy it.

Additional required reading will be on Blackboard, and on the excellent George Mason University website: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity:” (LEF) http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution. Required documents are noted on the syllabus. You may be able to access them directly, by clicking on the URL. You will probably have to search for the document by name.  This site has lots of additional material that you will find useful: essays, time lines, and glossaries.

If you have any questions about assignments or the material, please ask.

Note the timelines in Doyle and Andress.

Optional reading:

For the Napoleon followers among you, I have ordered Englund, Napoleon: A Political Life (analytic and appreciative) and Schom, Napoleon Bonaparte (narrative and critical). If you would like more detail on the revolution, I recommend Simon Schama’s Citizens. I have ordered a few copies of Tolstoy’s War and Peace (the Peaver and Volokhonsky translation) in case a few of you would like to organize a W&P reading group.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

**->This is an upper division course and a challenging one. You do have to learn names and dates; you need them to “reach” the broader and more interesting issues, such as the origins of the terror, the problems of forging a state and nation, or what the revolutionaries meant by “democracy.”

** àLearning the basic material will be more difficult if you skip lectures. So if you miss a class, get the notes from a fellow student, and do the reading with those notes in mind. I reserve the right to take attendance on any given day. Missing more than 2 classes on a T-TH schedule may well jeopardize your performance in the class.

We expect you to keep up with the reading, which is marked on the syllabus, and to be prepared to discuss it. We will have small and large group discussions, and we expect respectful, informed, and intelligent participation in those discussions. We will have informal writing assignments in class. Those cannot be made up if you miss class.

I adjust the schedule over the course of the semester, partly in response to student requests. I assume you are present, paying attention to announcements, consulting with fellow students, and checking **your Blackboard email.** (See the legal notice on this.) àKeep track of changes in assignments, lectures, and discussions.

Your grade in the course will be based on:

3 4-page take home papers (30% each)

various in-class assignments and quizzes. (10%)

** Historians care about writing. It is impossible to separate form from content, and both count in your grade. Check your grammar, sentence structure, and word usage. Go to the writing center. Have someone read and comment on your paper. Give yourself time to revise.

We evaluate the paper's argument, clarity, and thoroughness, how well you have synthesized the material in lectures, and how well you have understood the reading.

All papers and take-home exams must be typed, double spaced, with regular fonts and margins and your name on each page. They must be handed in, not emailed.

Graduate students *Graduate students taking the course (even for undergraduate credit) will have additional readings and different requirements. Please see me.

SOME POLICY MATTERS:

1) NO LAPTOPS, cell phones, or texting in the classroom.

2) PLEASE DO NOT disrupt class by talking, wandering in late, or leaving early. If for some reason you have to leave class early, do so quietly and let me know beforehand.

3) All the assignments are required, even if you are taking the course pass-fail.

4) You cannot Q drop the course after the deadline if you are failing it -- if, for instance, you have missed quizzes or forgotten to hand in papers. Please bear this in mind.

5) It is easy to buy papers on the Web and to copy from websites. You will get a 0 for the assignment, from which it is hard to recover.

6) All federal, state, and university laws apply. These are spelled out at the end of the syllabus.

History 347L  (39615))                                                                                

Professor: Judy CoffinGarrison 2.122jcoffin@mail.utexas.edu (475-7235)

HIS 347L:SEMINAR IN HISTORIOGRAPHY: HONORS PROGRAM

            This seminar introduces you to a range of historical methods and topics, though with no claim to be comprehensive. The core of the course consists of sessions with different members of the History department faculty leading discussions about their areas of expertise. They will present examples of documents and sources that historians use, talk about problems of interpretation, and show how they generate questions for research. We will learn to use some of the rich archival collections at the University.            The primary goal of the seminar is to launch all of you on your theses. That means exercises in writing and rewriting, (prepare yourselves for lots of that)  finding secondary materials, discovering and working with documents, and presenting your work to others. By the end of the semester, each of you will have come up with an advisor and a prospectus for the senior thesis you will write next year.

READING: Most of the documents and articles are on line. I have ordered three books at the Coop: Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre; Annette Gordon Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello; and Peter Elbow, Writing with Power

REQUIREMENTS:

1)     40 %:

• preparation for and participation in each weekly seminar, including short writing assignments (40%)
• 1 book review 5 pages
• 2 2-page papers on documents at various libraries, editing, and revisions.

2)     60%:  a 12 -15 page prospectus. This is your major requirement, and it needs to be good. There are several steps, each of which are required, and most of which are graded.

• individual meetings with me to discuss your proposed thesis topic
• a short description of your topic
• draft 1 of your prospectus 25%
• draft 2 of your prospectus 25%
• oral presentation 10%
• peer editing another student’s paper 10%

You will meet with me individually to consult on your topic the week of Feb 11. Short topic statements and bibliography are due a week later. We will spend the last three weeks of class in editorial session: discussing the structure, prose, style, and subject of each prospectus. Details to follow.

It is impossible to separate form from content: clarity, logic, syntax, and grammar all matter in your grade. In fact, the University requires writing quality to matter in your grade.

 SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

 Some of the links below will work if you are on a campus computer; otherwise you may have to go through JSTOR (which is good practice). Professors may add materials for their sessions, so check your email through the address you gave to the University, and with which Blackboard works.

January 20 Introductions

Jan  25  What can historians do?

            Carl Becker, AHA address, “Everyman his own historian,” 1931http://www.historians.org/info/AHA_history/clbecker.htm(Published in The American Historical Review, Vol. 37, No. 2. (Jan., 1932):221-236

             Thomas L. Haskell,  “Objectivity is not Neutrality: Rhetoric vs. Practice in Peter Novick's That Noble Dream,” History and Theory, Vol. 29, No. 2 (May, 1990), pp. 129-157 (Blackboard)

Jan 27 Does context matter? Session with Professor Alison Frazier

             “Narrative of the Death of Pietro Paolo Boscoli and of Agostino Capponi” (blackboard)            Alison Frazier, “Machiavelli, Trauma, and the Scandal of the Prince”(Blackboard)

Feb 1  Mentality and Cultural History

             Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History, chapters 1,2, and 6 (more if you can!)

Feb 3 “Common sense,” anthropology, and culture

            Roger Chartier, “Text, Symbols and Frenchness,” Journal of Modern History 7 (1985):682-95; Robert Darnton, “The Symbolic Element in History” (YOU MAY SKIM THIS) JMH, 58; Dominick LaCapra, “Chartier, Darnton, and the Great Symbol Massacre,” JMH 58.

 Feb  8  Courts online. 18th century Britain through the Old Bailey Cases, session with Professor Julie Hardwick

Feb. 10  Courts online, continued.

February 15 individual consultations.

             Please think of 3 possible thesis topics. On March 31, you will have to hand in a review of two important books in that field. I’ll make suggestions, and I have to approve your choice. Don’t worry: your choice of field or topic will not be binding.)

Feb 17 Reading sources against the grain, session with Professor Jim Sidbury

            Ranajit Guha, “The Prose of Counter-Insurgency” Ranajit Guha, “The Prose of Counter-Insurgency,” in Nicholas Dirks, et. al., Culture/Power/History: A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory (Princeton: Princeton University  Press, 1994): 336-371.

             “The Confessions Of Nat Turner, The Leader Of The LateInsurrection In South Hampton, Va. (1831)  ‘ http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/turner/turner.html

February 22  Researching National Security, session with Professor Mark Lawrence

            Melvyn P. Leffler, The Cold War: What Do "We Now Know"? The American Historical Review, Vol. 104, No. 2 (Apr., 1999), pp. 501-524 URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2650378

Feb 24 , session with Professor Virginia Burnett

 March 1 and 3 The Ransom Center, UT with Elizabeth Garver.

            Please open a research account at the Ransom Center beforehand, and meet at the entrance at 3 pm.  Note assignment for next week!

March 8 and 10: Writing and Rewriting

Write a 2-page paper on the document of your choice at the Ransom Center, and send it to me by Sunday night. I will post papers on Blackboard. Each of you will read their paper out loud, field comments, and rewrite. Hand in the rewrite before spring break.

SPRING BREAK

March 22-24 The Center for American History. I would like to meet at the entrance to the CAH at 3 pm.

Write a 1-2 page paper on the document of your choice at the Ransom Center (due Monday, March 29.)

March 29-31 Review essays

Hand in your papers, work on your reviews, and meet with me if you need to. See the American Historical Review for examples of book reviews.

April 5-7 Writing and Rewriting

            I will divide you into groups of three for reading and revising your reviews. Draft of review is due Monday; the revision should be emailed to me by Friday. BOTH are graded.

April 12-14 Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family

April 19-21 Editing Groups

discussion of proposals group I

April 26-28 Editing Groups

discussion of proposals, group II 

May 3-5 Editing Groups

discussion of proposals, group III

WHAT IS A PROSPECTUS?

A prospectus sets out a research project. You might think of it as a grant proposal. Aim to make your project sound interesting, well thought out, and feasible. You need to include the following, though not necessarily in this order:

• Introduction: Introduce your subject, locate subject in time and place, raise questions in prose, offer hypotheses. This should take you a page and a half.
• Provide broad historiographical background. What has been written on this subject already? What questions have different  historians asked? How have those questions changed? What sources have they used? What debates have been important?
•  Your questions, why they are important, why they’re interesting, and how they fit with the existing literature. Explain why you’ve framed the subject as you have.  What time period, region, social groups are you going to focus on and why?
• Research plan, including description of primary sources. What sources have you found? What do you hope to discover from them?

Bibliography –in proper format. List primary and secondary sources separately.

Please attach photocopies of a few primary sources. You may discuss the usefulness of the sources in either the text of the prospectus or in notes attached to the copies of the sources.

NOTE: Your prospectus is not binding; you should certainly change your topic as you do your research, and you may change it dramatically. Unexpected things happen. That is why it is important to do as much background work as possible now. I expect you to have looked at and “read in” (which means reading enough to get the important points)  8-10 books, articles, and review essays.

This course surveys the major themes of French history from 1900 to the present, with an emphasis on World Wars 1 and 2 and their legacies. For most of the nineteenth century, France stood as a beacon of democracy, liberalism, and European culture. In the first half of the twentieth century, the country provided one of the most dramatic examples of the sudden and devastating collapse of all those things. In the second half of the century, France has offered a case study in a crisis of national identity -- a crisis produced by the traumas of war, the end of colonial empire, and the pressures of "Americanization" and European integration. We will look especially closely at victory in World War I and then defeat and collaboration in World War II.

Open to students in the Normandy program.

HISTORY 353/ UNIQUE 39370 (Fall, 2010)
UTC 3.112

Judy Coffin (Professor Coffin)
Office Hours Thursdays 2-5 and by appointment in Garrison  Hall 1.22
jcoffin@mail.utexas.edu  Read this note.[1]

Mary Katherine Matalon (Mary Katherine)
Office hours Tuesdays 11:30am-1:30pm in the PCL cafe
Thursdays 4-5 pm in BUR 302. 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION & NAPOLEON: 1789-1815

In the 1950s, the Chinese Premier Zhou En-Lai was asked what he thought about the French revolution of 1789. He answered that was “too soon to tell.”  Historians, social scientists, and politicians have studied and debated this extraordinary event for two centuries, and they still not answered the many questions it poses. Why does a regime collapse? How is a new state built? Are revolutions necessarily protracted and violent? Writers and artists, too, have been captivated by the human drama of this tumultuous decade and a half. How did ordinary people survive? How were extraordinary careers made – and lost?

In this course we’ll use the French revolution to think about all these questions concretely. We have three aims. The first is to help you master the major events of the revolution itself. The second is to introduce issues of interpretation and historical methods, for the French revolution has long been a forcing ground for new theories of history and new approaches to the past. The required readings represent some of those approaches. Third, we hope you will learn how the revolution has become one of the defining points of modern history, and how it has shaped the world we inhabit today.

The following books are REQUIRED reading:

• William Doyle, The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction
• David Andress, The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (any edition)
• David Bell, The First Total War
• Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. You do not have to buy this book. The two required chapters are on e-reserve. I recommend a third chapter. If you prefer having a book to reading one on line, or if you just like social and cultural history, by all means buy it.

Additional required reading will be on Blackboard, and on the excellent George Mason University website: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity:” (LEF) http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution. Required documents are noted on the syllabus. You may be able to access them directly, by clicking on the URL. You will probably have to search for the document by name.  This site has lots of additional material that you will find useful: essays, time lines, and glossaries.

If you have any questions about assignments or the material, please ask.

Note the timelines in Doyle and Andress.

Optional reading:

For the Napoleon followers among you, I have ordered Englund, Napoleon: A Political Life (analytic and appreciative) and Schom, Napoleon Bonaparte (narrative and critical). If you would like more detail on the revolution, I recommend Simon Schama’s Citizens. I have ordered a few copies of Tolstoy’s War and Peace (the Peaver and Volokhonsky translation) in case a few of you would like to organize a W&P reading group.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

**->This is an upper division course and a challenging one. You do have to learn names and dates; you need them to “reach” the broader and more interesting issues, such as the origins of the terror, the problems of forging a state and nation, or what the revolutionaries meant by “democracy.”

** àLearning the basic material will be more difficult if you skip lectures. So if you miss a class, get the notes from a fellow student, and do the reading with those notes in mind. I reserve the right to take attendance on any given day. Missing more than 2 classes on a T-TH schedule may well jeopardize your performance in the class.

We expect you to keep up with the reading, which is marked on the syllabus, and to be prepared to discuss it. We will have small and large group discussions, and we expect respectful, informed, and intelligent participation in those discussions. We will have informal writing assignments in class. Those cannot be made up if you miss class.

I adjust the schedule over the course of the semester, partly in response to student requests. I assume you are present, paying attention to announcements, consulting with fellow students, and checking **your Blackboard email.** (See the legal notice on this.) àKeep track of changes in assignments, lectures, and discussions.

Your grade in the course will be based on:

• 3 4-page take home papers (30% each)
• various in-class assignments and quizzes. (10%)

** Historians care about writing. It is impossible to separate form from content, and both count in your grade. Check your grammar, sentence structure, and word usage. Go to the writing center. Have someone read and comment on your paper. Give yourself time to revise.

 We evaluate the paper's argument, clarity, and thoroughness, how well you have synthesized the material in lectures, and how well you have understood the reading.

All papers and take-home exams must be typed, double spaced, with regular fonts and margins and your name on each page. They must be handed in, not emailed.

Graduate students *Graduate students taking the course (even for undergraduate credit) will have additional readings and different requirements. Please see me.

SOME POLICY MATTERS:

1) NO LAPTOPS, cell phones, or texting in the classroom.

2) PLEASE DO NOT disrupt class by talking, wandering in late, or leaving early. If for some reason you have to leave class early, do so quietly and let me know beforehand.

3) All the assignments are required, even if you are taking the course pass-fail.

4) You cannot Q drop the course after the deadline if you are failing it -- if, for instance, you have missed quizzes or forgotten to hand in papers. Please bear this in mind.

 5) It is easy to buy papers on the Web and to copy from websites. You will get a 0 for the assignment, from which it is hard to recover.

6) All federal, state, and university laws apply. These are spelled out at the end of the syllabus.

SCHEDULE OF LECTURES, READINGS, AND ASSIGNMENTS

PART I: THE OLD REGIME

1.  Introduction (August 26)

Doyle, Very short history, ch. 1 (I recommend reading the whole book quickly – you can come back to sections as we get to that material.)

Bell, First Total War, intro

http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/chap2a.html “The Monarchy Embattled”

What were the most fundamental characteristics of the Ancien Regime? What powers and problems did Louis XVI inherit? 

2.  Absolutism and its critics (Aug 31 & Sept 2)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, book I (entire); book II (1-4 and 8-11). Consult handout on BLACKBOARD.  Be prepared to discuss Rousseau next week.

3. Corruption and Utopia: The Social Contract (Sept 7 & 9

Rousseau, The Social Contract, Book III (4-6, 9-10, 16-18); Book IV (1 and 8)

Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre ch. 6, “Readers Respond to Rousseau” and material on The New Heloise

4.    The Social Order (Sept 14 & 16)

Doyle, Very Short History, ch. 2

Bell, First Total War, ch 1.

Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre, chapter 1, “Peasants Tell Tales”. Skim the beginning of this essay, or start on page 23. See reading guide on Blackboard.

Darnton, Cat Massacre, Ch. 2, “Massacre of Cats”

5. 1787-1789: Crisis (Sept 21& 23)

            Andress, The Terror, ch 1 has a good review of this period.

               Sieyès, "What Is the Third Estate?" (1789) 

Thursday Sept 23: 1^st take-home paper due

PART II: REGIME CHANGE

6. The End of Feudalism and the “Rights of Man” (Sept 28 & 30)

          See Andress, The Terror, ch 1 for this period

           Attack on Seigneurial Dues

           Cahiers from Rural Districts: Attack on Seigneurial Dues

7. The King and the Popular movement (October 5 & 7)

      Read Andress, The Terror, ch. 2 on the clubs and popular politics 

      Read the following carefully and be prepared to discuss them. Be prepared for group assignments.

       Populace Awake (1790)

       Champ de Mars: Petitions of the Cordelier and Jacobin Clubs

       The Massacre of the Champ de Mars [Parade ground]

             Parisian Petitions to Dethrone the King (3 August 1792)

       Proceedings of the Quinze–Vingts Section

8. War, radicalization, and republic (October 12 & 14)  

Andress, The Terror, ch. 3

Bell, First Total War, chs. 3 (keep going to 4 and 5)

LEF The Marseillaise (War Song for the Army of the Rhine) http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/625/

Why did the revolution radicalize? Compare Bell’s analysis with Andress’s,

Why did the revolutionaries go to war? What problems was war meant to solve?

Be prepared for group assignments, writing exercises, quizzes.

9. The Second French Revolution (Oct. 19 & 21)

Bell, First Total War, ch. 4 (and 5)

Andress, The Terror, ch. 4 (on September massacres). Remember Darnton’s essay on violence, and bring it into your thinking here. 

Andress, ch. 5 (on the trial of the King)

Be prepared for group assignments, writing exercises, quizzes.

10. Revolution and Counter Revolution (Oct. 26 & 28)

Andress, The Terror, chs 6-10. (We will figure out how to make this assignment manageable)

11. The Terror (Nov. 2 & 4)

Andress, The Terror, 11 to end

Optional: Chapter 5: Women and the Revolution (Hunt web site)

PART III NAPOLEON’S EMPIRE AND THE REVOLUTION ON THE WORLD STAGE

12. From Robespierre to Bonaparte (Nov. 9 & 11)

            Bell, The First Total War, ch 6

LEF Chapter 9: The Napoleonic Experience.

13. Napoleon's Empire (Nov. 16 & 18)

            Bell, First Total War, chs. 7-8

             LEF “Slavery & the Haitian Rev”. http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/chap8a.html

 THURS NOV. 18 SECOND TAKE HOME PAPER DUE

14. War and Peace (Nov. 23) THANKSGIVING

Bell, First Total War, chs. 7-8 and epilogue

 Thomas Jefferson on the French Revolution

 A Positive American View (Franklin)

15. The Revolution and its Legacies (Nov. 30 & Dec. 2)

            Doyle, Very Short History, chs. 4-5-6

Chapter 10: Legacies of the Revolution           

 Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

 Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

 Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman  

Final take home due on date of final exam (the University Schedule is posted by the middle of the semester at http://www.utexas.edu/student/registrar/schedules/049/finals/

THE LEGAL MATTERS

Academic Integrity

University of Texas Honor Code

The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community. Each student in this course is expected to abide by the University of Texas Honor Code. Any work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit will be the student's own work.

You are encouraged to study together and to discuss information and concepts covered in lecture and the sections with other students. Cooperating should never involve one student having possession of a copy of all or part of work done by someone else, in the form of an e mail, an e mail attachment file, a diskette, or a hard copy.

Should copying occur, both the student who copied work from another student and the student who gave material to be copied will both automatically receive a zero for the assignment. Penalty for violation of this Code can also be extended to include failure of the course and University disciplinary action.

 Use of E-mail for Official Correspondence to Students

All students should become familiar with the University's official e-mail student notification policy.  It is the student's responsibility to keep the University informed as to changes in his or her e-mail address.  Students are expected to check e-mail on a frequent and regular basis in order to stay current with University-related communications, recognizing that certain communications may be time-critical. It is recommended that e-mail be checked daily, but at a minimum, twice per week. The complete text of this policy and instructions for updating your e-mail address are available at   http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/emailnotify.html.

Documented Disability Statement

Any student with a documented disability who requires academic accommodations should contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at (512) 471-6259 (voice) or 1-866-329-3986 (video phone).  Faculty are not required to provide accommodations without an official accommodation letter from SSD.

• Please notify me as early in the semester as possible if disability-related accommodations for assignments are required.

• Contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or 1-866-329-3986 (video phone) or reference SSD’s website for more disability-related information: http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/for_cstudents.php

Behavior Concerns Advice Line (BCAL)

If you are worried about someone who is acting differently, you may use the Behavior Concerns Advice Line to discuss by phone your concerns about another individual’s behavior. This service is provided through a partnership among the Office of the Dean of Students, the Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC), the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and The University of Texas Police Department (UTPD). Call 512-232-5050 or visit http://www.utexas.edu/safety/bcal.

Q drop Policy

The State of Texas has enacted a law that limits the number of course drops for academic reasons to six (6).  As stated in Senate Bill 1231:

            “Beginning with the fall 2007 academic term, an institution of higher education may not permit an undergraduate student a total of more than six dropped courses, including any course a transfer student has dropped at another institution of higher education, unless the student shows good cause for dropping more than that number.”

[1] You are overwhelmed by email. So are we. You will get better quality feedback and substantive discussion by coming to office hours. Please don’t email us with procedural and logistical questions unless you have asked your fellow students and consulted Blackboard.  In this course and in life, think before you send an email.

This course contains a Global Cultures flag.

Few developments in the early twentieth century were “bigger than radio.” Radio promised to overturn journalism, entertainment, advertising, and the practice and conception of politics – it went to the very heart of states’ relations to their citizens. Radio’s history was intimately bound up in the rise of new forms of twentieth century politics, both democratic and authoritarian. FDR’s “fireside chats” and Hitler’s speeches are only the most familiar examples; the relationship of radio to movements of national liberation was no less important. From the 1920s through the 1960s and beyond, radio riveted the attention of an extraordinarily wide variety of social thinkers: psychologists interested in the effects of oral communications; psychoanalysts keen on the relationship between hearing, the disembodied voice, and the unconscious; sociologists studying audiences, critical theorists trying to understand the relationship between the new media, its organization, and new kinds of authority.  Paul Lazarsfeld’s Princeton Radio Project, for instance, not only bridged European social theory, empirical sociology, and commerce (marketing, opinion polling, and audience surveys) in almost unprecedented ways, but in doing so created a force field that attracted C. Wright Mills, Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Ernest Dichter, pioneer in the psychology of (sexualized) marketing. 

This seminar combines the social and political history of radio broadcasting with an intellectual and cultural history of communications research (including its links to psychology and psychoanalysis). We will trace how conceptions of radio’s persuasive powers took shape and changed over the course of the twentieth century. We will consider the relationship between “audio” and “visual” culture. We cannot do everything in one course, but we will at least sample some of the new work of the “sonic boom:” research being done in history, sociology, comparative literature, anthropology, and media studies.

The literature on the topic is interdisciplinary. Students from all fields are welcome and will be able to work on topics they choose. 

Grading

The first two thirds of the class will be devoted to common reading, and students will write weekly papers on that common reading. (30%) Attendance and participation in seminar discussions are essential. (30%) In the last third of the class, students will pursue their own short research projects. (15 pages, 30%)

Texts

The reading list is still being established, since new material comes out every week.

Michele Hilmes and Jason Loviglio, eds., Radio Reader: Essays in the Cultural History of Radio (New York: Routledge 2001).

Debra Rae Cohen, Michael Coyle & Jane Lewty, eds., Broadcasting Modernism (2009). 

Horkheimer and Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment.

David Jenemann, Adorno in America.

Anke Birkenmaier, “From Surrealism to Popular Art: Paul Deharme’s Radio Theory,” Modernism/Modernity 16, no. 2 (2009): 357-374.

Hadley Cantril, The Psychology of Radio (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1935).

Tamara Chaplin, Turning on the mind : French Philosophers on Television (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007). 

Paul Deharme, “"Proposition for a Radiophonic Art," La Nouvelle Revue Française vol 30 (1928): 413-23,” Modernism/Modernity (2009): 403-413.

Henri F Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious: The history and Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry (New York: Basic Books, 1970).

Paul Felix Lazarsfeld, Radio and the Printed Page: An Introduction to the Study of Radio and its Role in the Communication of Ideas (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1940).

Susan J. Douglas, Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination . . . from Amos 'n' Andy and Edward R. Murrow to Wolfman Jack and Howard Stern (Times Books, 1999).

Alain Corbin, Village Bells: Sound and Meaning in the Nineteenth-Century French Countryside, Martin Thom, trans. (New York, 1998).

Veit Erlmann, ed., Hearing Cultures: Essays on Sound, Listening, and Modernity (Oxford, 2004).

Horst J. P. Bergmeir & Rainer E. Lotz, Hitler's Airwaves: The Inside Story of Nazi Radio Broadcasting and Propaganda Swing (Yale University Press, 1997). [Includes audio CD].

Spring, 2010  # 39245                                                            MWF 10-11 BEN 1.126

Professor: Judith Coffin

Office hours: Garrison 2.122 Wed. and Friday 11-12, and by appointment.

jcoffin@mail.utexas.edu

History 309L: Western Civilization in Modern Times

This course surveys Western culture, society, and politics from 1492 to the present. We will study political, religious, and cultural revolutions, Europe’s changing place in the world, the rise of the modern state, and legacies of war. We study the history of now-familiar concepts (nature, science, the self), institutions (the state, or religion), and debates (What does “the West” stand for? What is legitimate authority?). Along the way, the course aims to teach historical analysis. How do historians (as opposed to philosophers, for instance) explain events like the Holocaust? How do historians sort out webs of causation and context?

 Survey courses necessarily cover a lot of ground. You will have to synthesis lots of material. Do not let the details overwhelm you.  Focus on the major problems and on what the readings capture about the period in which they were written.

Some students will have relevant background knowledge, others none. I’d like everyone to participate in discussions regardless. Please be respectful of others’ ideas and considerate about their time. Do not hesitate to ask us questions in class or by email. I have posted writing and study aids on Blackboard.

• Be sure that your email address in the directory is accurate, since Blackboard (based on that address) is my means of communicating important information outside of class.

READINGS The following books are REQUIRED reading and available at the Coop.        

• Judith Coffin and Robert Stacey, Western Civilizations, vol. II  16^th edition[1]

• J.H. Elliott, The Old World and the New: 1492-1650
• Honoré de Balzac, Old Goriot
• Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
• Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem
• Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon

Additional required reading (Martin Luther, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Edmund Burke, et. al) is available on the web. I have either provided the URL or posted the excerpt on Blackboard.

Highly recommended: Diane Hacker, A Pocket Manual of Style; John Trimble, Writing with Style; or Peter Elbow, Writing with Power.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1)    Preparation for and participation in regular class discussions; informal writing assignments, short papers, and quizzes. 20%

2)    1 mid term 20% (the week before spring break)

3)    1 5-6 page paper 30%

4)    Final take-home exam (2 essays) 30%

GENERAL DIRECTIONS ON PAPERS

• All papers must be typed, with regular fonts and margins.
• Check your spelling and grammar carefully. It is impossible to separate form from content, and both count in your grade.  Consult your writer’s manual, or Purdue’s excellent on-line guide http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/index.html
• Your grades are based on the paper’s argument, clarity, and thoroughness, on how well you have synthesized the material in lectures, and on how well you have understood the reading. 
• Informal notes (for instance, Western Civs, p. 10) are fine. Don’t make bibliographies unless you use outside reading. 
• Questions? Ask. 

SOME POLICY MATTERS:

1) No laptops or cell phones in the classroom.

2) All the assignments are required, even if you are taking the course pass-fail.

3) You cannot Q drop the course after the deadline if you are failing it -- if, for instance, you have missed quizzes or forgotten to hand in papers. Please bear this in mind.

4) Since this is a small class, attendance and participation in discussion are important. You are responsible for the material in lectures, including announced changes in assignments, films and slides, and discussions. If you miss a class, get the notes. 

PLEASE DO NOT disrupt class by talking, wandering in late, or leaving early. If for some reason you have to leave class early, do so quietly and let me know beforehand.

5) It is easy to buy papers on the Web, or to copy from websites. If you do this, you will fail the course and be reported to the Dean.

SCHEDULE OF LECTURES, READINGS, AND ASSIGNMENTS

SECTION I: REORIENTING THE WEST

1.  Jan 20-22 1492

            Coffin and Stacey, ch. 11

            Elliott, The Old World and The New

Friday: Write a short summary of Elliott; see assignment on Blackboard

2. Jan 25-29 Columbus and Luther

            Coffin and Stacey, ch. 13 and pp. 561-572 (on Atlantic economies)

            Fouad Ajami “The other 1492: Jews and Muslims in Columbus's Spain” The New             Republic (April 6, 1992) posted on Blackboard

Martin Luther, “Address to the Nobility of a Christian Nation;” “On the Freedom of a Christian;” and (optional!) “The Jews and Their Lies” (Packet 1, on Blackboard)

If you picked up the class in the 2^nd week, do the Elliott assignment (see above) now.

3.  Feb. 1-5 Religious Warfare and the Rise of the State  

Coffin and Stacey, ch. 14

Friday: write a two-page paper on

one of the following images:

Titian, Charles 5 at Muhlberg (and, if you like, other Titian portraits of Charles)

Pieter Brueghel the Elder, “The Triumph of Death”

Pieter Brueghel the Elder, “The Massacre of the Innocents”

Rubens, “Charles 5 as Ruler of the World”

4. Feb 8-12 “Absolutism” and its Critics in France and England

            Coffin and Stacey, ch. 15 (focus on France and England)

Filmer and Bossuet excerpts in textbook, pp 541-2

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, excerpts; John Locke, Two Treatises on Government, excerpts (both in packet on Blackboard)

            What common problems were these thinkers trying to sort out? On what points did they agree? Disagree? Who was arguing with whom?                

5. Feb 15-17 Last War of Religion; First Modern Revolution? 17C England

            Coffin and Stacey, 16-17

No class Friday

SECTION II: THE AGE OF REVOLUTION

6. Feb 22-26 The Enlightenment

Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations,” section titled “Of Colonies” http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1776-1800/adamsmith/wealth01.htm,Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract” excerpts http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/Rousseau-soccon.html

Rousseau and his readers, pp. 622-3 in textbook (How could two women read Rousseau so differently?)

Begin reading Balzac, Old Goriot 

7. March 1-5 The Atlantic Revolutions

Coffin and Stacey, ch. 18

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France and Tom Paine, The Rights of Man (in packet 4) What philosophical issues did the French revolution raise? Please write out three points on which Burke and Paine disagree and bring them to class.

Finish Balzac, Old Goriot by Friday, and be prepared to discuss it.

8. Mar 8-12 19^th century Culture

             Coffin and Stacey, ch. 19-20

            Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto, chapter 1 “Bourgeois and Proletarians”.  There are many versions online.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm

If you find the whole text too difficult, look at this one, which is edited and explicated.        

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/marx.html#10

The midterm will consist of two parts:

1) factual/multiple choice

2) an essay, which you may either do in class on Friday or do at home and hand in by Friday, if you would like to leave early for spring break.

SPRING BREAK

9. March 22-26 Nations and Empires

            Coffin and Stacey, Ch. 23

Conrad, Heart of Darkness.

Question for paper will be handed out. The paper is due April 9

SECTION III MODERNITY AND ITS DISCONTENTS

10. March 29- April 2 Modernism and Crisis of Liberalism

            Coffin and Stacey, ch. 23

            See “Lawrence of Arabia”

11. April 5-9 World War I

            Coffin and Stacey, ch. 24

                                                                                    Friday: Conrad paper due

12. April 12-16 Our week for catching up

            Coffin and Stacey, ch. 25 Nazi propaganda, in the textbook pp 915-6

            Pick 3 themes of Nazism. To whom might they have appealed?        

            Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, begin

13.April 19-23 Dictatorship and terror

            Koestler, Darkness at Noon

14. April 26-30 World War II

            Coffin and Stacey, ch. 26

            Documents on Holocaust, pp. 949-953

            Arendt, finish

15. May 3-7 The Twentieth Century as History

            Coffin and Stacey, chs. 27-28

The final take-home essay will be handed out during the last week of class and is due at the time of the regularly-scheduled exam.

[1] Since I authored this book, and I don’t make profits from my courses, we will collectively pick a non-partisan cause to receive the royalties.

History 347L  (39615))                                                                                 Spring, 2010
M W 3:30-5 pm. GAR 0.132

Professor: Judy Coffin
Garrison 2.122
Office hours Wed. 5-6, Friday 11-12 and by appointment: jcoffin@mail.utexas.edu (475-7235)

HIS 347L:
SEMINAR IN HISTORIOGRAPHY: HONORS PROGRAM

            This seminar introduces you to a range of historical methods and topics, though with no claim to be comprehensive. The core of the course consists of sessions with different members of the History department faculty leading discussions about their areas of expertise. They will present examples of documents and sources that historians use, talk about problems of interpretation, and show how they generate questions for research. We will learn to use some of the rich archival collections at the University.
            The primary goal of the seminar is to launch all of you on your theses. That means exercises in writing and rewriting, (prepare yourselves for lots of that)  finding secondary materials, discovering and working with documents, and presenting your work to others. By the end of the semester, each of you will have come up with an advisor and a prospectus for the senior thesis you will write next year.

READING: Most of the documents and articles are on line. I have ordered three books at the Coop: Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre; Annette Gordon Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello; and Peter Elbow, Writing with Power

REQUIREMENTS:

1)     40 %:

• preparation for and participation in each weekly seminar, including short writing assignments (40%)
• 1 book review 5 pages
• 2 2-page papers on documents at various libraries, editing, and revisions.

2)     60%:  a 12 -15 page prospectus. This is your major requirement, and it needs to be good. There are several steps, each of which are required, and most of which are graded.

• individual meetings with me to discuss your proposed thesis topic
• a short description of your topic
• draft 1 of your prospectus 25%
• draft 2 of your prospectus 25%
• oral presentation 10%
• peer editing another student’s paper 10%

You will meet with me individually to consult on your topic the week of Feb 11. Short topic statements and bibliography are due a week later. We will spend the last three weeks of class in editorial session: discussing the structure, prose, style, and subject of each prospectus. Details to follow.

It is impossible to separate form from content: clarity, logic, syntax, and grammar all matter in your grade. In fact, the University requires writing quality to matter in your grade.

 
SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

 Some of the links below will work if you are on a campus computer; otherwise you may have to go through JSTOR (which is good practice). Professors may add materials for their sessions, so check your email through the address you gave to the University, and with which Blackboard works.

January 20 Introductions

Jan  25  What can historians do?

            Carl Becker, AHA address, “Everyman his own historian,” 1931
http://www.historians.org/info/AHA_history/clbecker.htm
(Published in The American Historical Review, Vol. 37, No. 2. (Jan., 1932):221-236

             Thomas L. Haskell,  “Objectivity is not Neutrality: Rhetoric vs. Practice in Peter Novick's That Noble Dream,” History and Theory, Vol. 29, No. 2 (May, 1990), pp. 129-157 (Blackboard)

Jan 27 Does context matter? Session with Professor Alison Frazier

             “Narrative of the Death of Pietro Paolo Boscoli and of Agostino Capponi” (blackboard)
            Alison Frazier, “Machiavelli, Trauma, and the Scandal of the Prince”(Blackboard)

Feb 1  Mentality and Cultural History

             Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History, chapters 1,2, and 6 (more if you can!)

Feb 3 “Common sense,” anthropology, and culture

            Roger Chartier, “Text, Symbols and Frenchness,” Journal of Modern History 7 (1985):682-95; Robert Darnton, “The Symbolic Element in History” (YOU MAY SKIM THIS) JMH, 58; Dominick LaCapra, “Chartier, Darnton, and the Great Symbol Massacre,” JMH 58.

 Feb  8  Courts online. 18^th century Britain through the Old Bailey Cases, session with Professor Julie Hardwick

Feb. 10  Courts online, continued.

February 15 individual consultations.

             Please think of 3 possible thesis topics. On March 31, you will have to hand in a review of two important books in that field. I’ll make suggestions, and I have to approve your choice. Don’t worry: your choice of field or topic will not be binding.)

Feb 17 Reading sources against the grain, session with Professor Jim Sidbury

            Ranajit Guha, “The Prose of Counter-Insurgency” Ranajit Guha, “The Prose of Counter-Insurgency,” in Nicholas Dirks, et. al., Culture/Power/History: A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory (Princeton: Princeton University  Press, 1994): 336-371.

             “The Confessions Of Nat Turner, The Leader Of The Late
Insurrection In South Hampton, Va. (1831)  ‘ http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/turner/turner.html

February 22  Researching National Security, session with Professor Mark Lawrence

            Melvyn P. Leffler, The Cold War: What Do "We Now Know"? The American Historical Review, Vol. 104, No. 2 (Apr., 1999), pp. 501-524 URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2650378

Feb 24 , session with Professor Virginia Burnett

 March 1 and 3 The Ransom Center, UT with Elizabeth Garver.

            Please open a research account at the Ransom Center beforehand, and meet at the entrance at 3 pm.  Note assignment for next week!

March 8 and 10: Writing and Rewriting

Write a 2-page paper on the document of your choice at the Ransom Center, and send it to me by Sunday night. I will post papers on Blackboard. Each of you will read their paper out loud, field comments, and rewrite. Hand in the rewrite before spring break.

SPRING BREAK

March 22-24 The Center for American History. I would like to meet at the entrance to the CAH at 3 pm.

Write a 1-2 page paper on the document of your choice at the Ransom Center (due Monday, March 29.)

March 29-31 Review essays

Hand in your papers, work on your reviews, and meet with me if you need to. See the American Historical Review for examples of book reviews.

April 5-7 Writing and Rewriting

            I will divide you into groups of three for reading and revising your reviews. Draft of review is due Monday; the revision should be emailed to me by Friday. BOTH are graded.

April 12-14 Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family

April 19-21 Editing Groups

discussion of proposals group I

April 26-28 Editing Groups

discussion of proposals, group II 

May 3-5 Editing Groups

discussion of proposals, group III

WHAT IS A PROSPECTUS?

A prospectus sets out a research project. You might think of it as a grant proposal. Aim to make your project sound interesting, well thought out, and feasible. You need to include the following, though not necessarily in this order:

• Introduction: Introduce your subject, locate subject in time and place, raise questions in prose, offer hypotheses. This should take you a page and a half.
• Provide broad historiographical background. What has been written on this subject already? What questions have different  historians asked? How have those questions changed? What sources have they used? What debates have been important?
•  Your questions, why they are important, why they’re interesting, and how they fit with the existing literature. Explain why you’ve framed the subject as you have.  What time period, region, social groups are you going to focus on and why?
• Research plan, including description of primary sources. What sources have you found? What do you hope to discover from them?

Bibliography –in proper format. List primary and secondary sources separately.

Please attach photocopies of a few primary sources. You may discuss the usefulness of the sources in either the text of the prospectus or in notes attached to the copies of the sources.

NOTE: Your prospectus is not binding; you should certainly change your topic as you do your research, and you may change it dramatically. Unexpected things happen. That is why it is important to do as much background work as possible now. I expect you to have looked at and “read in” (which means reading enough to get the important points)  8-10 books, articles, and review essays.

HISTORY 323 AND EUROPEAN STUDIES 361: EUROPE SINCE 1919
 
Professor: Judith G. Coffin
 
Political repression, racial, ethnic, and civil antagonisms, diplomatic blunders, and destructive warfare took sixty million lives in Europe during the first half of the century alone. This course covers the origins and course of the two world wars and the rebuilding of the continent – or the reinvention of “Europe” -- in the wars’ aftermath. Topics include the repercussions of World War I; the near collapse of democracy in the 1920s and 30s; the ideologies, weapons, and social relations that made World War II so murderous; the collapse of European empires (including the Soviet Union); and Europe’s experience of the Cold War and its end.
 
Readings:
           Felix Gilbert and David Large, The End of the European Era, 6th edition

           Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front

           John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash

           Ian Kershaw, The 'Hitler Myth': Image and Reality in the Third Reich

           Ian Kershaw, Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions that Changed the World

           Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz

           Albert Camus, Resistance, Rebellion, and Death

           Heda Margolius Kovaly, Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941-1968
 
Films:
            Giles Pontecorvo, “The Battle of Algiers”
 
Assignments: 2 4-5 page papers, an in-class test, and a final comprehensive exam
 
COURSE SCHEDULE
 
1. Introduction
2. “The Great War”
3. Peace?
4. Fascism and Nazism
5. Stalinism
6. The “Dishonest Decade”[1]?
7. The Western Front
8. The Eastern Front
9. Racial War, Civil War, Genocide
10. Settling scores
11. Recovery and Repression
12. Decolonization
13. The “economic miracle,” “le Boum” and the consequences of social change
14. November 24  1989
15. The new Europe
          



[1] W. H. Auden, "September 1, 1939."

Interdisciplinary topics relating to Women's and Gender Studies.  Seats restricted to WGS MA and Portfolio students during early registration.  Check cross-listings for home departments and originating field of study.

Course Overview: In this course, we examine the central cultural characteristics of the Western heritage after the Reformation and discuss their transformation up to the present. A chronological narrative of the history in question will be provided by the lecturer and the textbook, but the most significant portion of our time together will be devoted to the examination of a number of central questions within western society since the Reformation. We will attempt to formulate an understanding of “western civilization” and its central concerns and transformations, with a particular attention paid to economy and politics in their relationships to culture and freedom. We will discuss such issues as the construction of political authority and its relationship to emerging conceptions of political liberty, revolution, popular sovereignty, and political economy. We will examine and explain the emergence of the central characteristics of modern Western society, including mass society, democracy, colonialism, secularism, political sovereignty, and the nation-state. Focus in the course is away from memorization of factual information about European history and toward reading, discussion, interpretation and criticism of texts that exemplify certain moments in the western tradition. By reading, discussing, analyzing and criticizing these sources, students will receive an introduction to the tasks involved in “thinking like a historian.”

Prerequisites:  Students taking this course are assumed to be capable of an informed, critical stance toward the claims of the lecturer. No previous knowledge of the subject matter is assumed.

Possible Texts:

Mark Kishlansky et al., Civilization in the West, vol. 2

Jean Calvin, Golden Book of the True Christian Life

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government

Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (selections)

Émile Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise

Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel

J. M. Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire / Economic Consequences of the Peace (selections)

Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (selections)

Additional readings will be distributed in class or are available on the Internet

Assignments & Grading:

Compliance with syllabus policy 0%

Compliance with attendance policy 0%

Paper 1 @ 15%

Paper 2 @ 25%

Final paper @ 30%

Average of regular quizzes @ 30% each (I will drop your two lowest scores)

SEMINAR IN HISTORIOGRAPHY: HONORS PROGRAM

Open only to students admitted to the History Honors program.

This seminar introduces students to a range of historical methods, topics, and sources, with no claim to being comprehensive. We will consider how “history” has changed along with other forms of knowledge. We will read different kinds of history (social, intellectual, cultural, and so on). We emphasize research with primary sources that students will be able to use in their theses.

Faculty from the Department of History will lead discussions about their areas of expertise, giving the class examples of documents and sources that historians use, or showing how they generate questions for research.  By the end of the semester, each student will have come up with an advisor and a prospectus for the senior thesis she or he will write next year.

This is a reading- and writing-intensive course, and it moves quickly from introductory to advanced work.

 REQUIREMENTS:

1)   preparation for and participation in each weekly seminar, including short writing assignments (40%). Reading is about 200 pages a week.

2)   the various steps in drafting and revising a 10-12 page research prospectus as described below (60%). The preliminary stages of research entail reading at least 10-15 books, review essays, and articles.

You will meet with me individually to consult on your topic a little over halfway through the semester. Short topic statements and bibliography are due a week later. We will spend the last three weeks of class in editorial session: discussing the structure, prose, style, and subject of each prospectus.

PROSPECTUS

         A prospectus is a “description in advance of a proposed undertaking.” It sets out your topic based on preliminary research. It should identify the problem or event that will be investigated, explain why it is important, survey the historical literature on the subject, describe the primary sources you will use, and discuss how you intend to carry out the work.

 The prospectus is not binding; you will certainly change your topic in some way during your senior year, and you may change it entirely. It is nonetheless very important preparation. It also requires substantial background work. I expect you to have looked at and read in at least 10 books, articles, and review essays.

The prospectus should also include a bibliography and four to six photocopied samples of primary sources. You may discuss the usefulness of the sources in either the text of the prospectus or in notes attached to the copies of the sources.

Course Overview: In this course, we examine the central cultural characteristics of the Western heritage after the Reformation and discuss their transformation up to the present. A chronological narrative of the history in question will be provided by the lecturer and the textbook, but the most significant portion of our time together will be devoted to the examination of a number of central questions within western society since the Reformation. We will attempt to formulate an understanding of “western civilization” and its central concerns and transformations, with a particular attention paid to economy and politics in their relationships to culture and freedom. We will discuss such issues as the construction of political authority and its relationship to emerging conceptions of political liberty, revolution, popular sovereignty, and political economy. We will examine and explain the emergence of the central characteristics of modern Western society, including mass society, democracy, colonialism, secularism, political sovereignty, and the nation-state. Focus in the course is away from memorization of factual information about European history and toward reading, discussion, interpretation and criticism of texts that exemplify certain moments in the western tradition. By reading, discussing, analyzing and criticizing these sources, students will receive an introduction to the tasks involved in “thinking like a historian.”

Prerequisites:  Students taking this course are assumed to be capable of an informed, critical stance toward the claims of the lecturer. No previous knowledge of the subject matter is assumed.

Possible Texts:

Mark Kishlansky et al., Civilization in the West, vol. 2

Jean Calvin, Golden Book of the True Christian Life

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government

Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (selections)

Émile Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise

Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel

J. M. Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire / Economic Consequences of the Peace (selections)

Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (selections)

Additional readings will be distributed in class or are available on the Internet

Assignments & Grading:

Compliance with syllabus policy 0%

Compliance with attendance policy 0%

Paper 1 @ 15%

Paper 2 @ 25%

Final paper @ 30%

Average of regular quizzes @ 30% each (I will drop your two lowest scores)

Interdisciplinary topics relating to Women's and Gender Studies.  Seats restricted to WGS MA and Portfolio students during early registration.  Check cross-listings for home departments and originating field of study.

Course Overview: In this course, we examine the central cultural characteristics of the Western heritage after the Reformation and discuss their transformation up to the present. A chronological narrative of the history in question will be provided by the lecturer and the textbook, but the most significant portion of our time together will be devoted to the examination of a number of central questions within western society since the Reformation. We will attempt to formulate an understanding of “western civilization” and its central concerns and transformations, with a particular attention paid to economy and politics in their relationships to culture and freedom. We will discuss such issues as the construction of political authority and its relationship to emerging conceptions of political liberty, revolution, popular sovereignty, and political economy. We will examine and explain the emergence of the central characteristics of modern Western society, including mass society, democracy, colonialism, secularism, political sovereignty, and the nation-state. Focus in the course is away from memorization of factual information about European history and toward reading, discussion, interpretation and criticism of texts that exemplify certain moments in the western tradition. By reading, discussing, analyzing and criticizing these sources, students will receive an introduction to the tasks involved in “thinking like a historian.”

Prerequisites:  Students taking this course are assumed to be capable of an informed, critical stance toward the claims of the lecturer. No previous knowledge of the subject matter is assumed.

Possible Texts:

Mark Kishlansky et al., Civilization in the West, vol. 2

Jean Calvin, Golden Book of the True Christian Life

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government

Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (selections)

Émile Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise

Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel

J. M. Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire / Economic Consequences of the Peace (selections)

Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (selections)

Additional readings will be distributed in class or are available on the Internet

Assignments & Grading:

Compliance with syllabus policy 0%

Compliance with attendance policy 0%

Paper 1 @ 15%

Paper 2 @ 25%

Final paper @ 30%

Average of regular quizzes @ 30% each (I will drop your two lowest scores)

SEMINAR IN HISTORIOGRAPHY: HONORS PROGRAM

Open only to students admitted to the History Honors program.

This seminar introduces students to a range of historical methods, topics, and sources, with no claim to being comprehensive. We will consider how “history” has changed along with other forms of knowledge. We will read different kinds of history (social, intellectual, cultural, and so on). We emphasize research with primary sources that students will be able to use in their theses.

Faculty from the Department of History will lead discussions about their areas of expertise, giving the class examples of documents and sources that historians use, or showing how they generate questions for research.  By the end of the semester, each student will have come up with an advisor and a prospectus for the senior thesis she or he will write next year.

This is a reading- and writing-intensive course, and it moves quickly from introductory to advanced work.

 REQUIREMENTS:

1)   preparation for and participation in each weekly seminar, including short writing assignments (40%). Reading is about 200 pages a week.

2)   the various steps in drafting and revising a 10-12 page research prospectus as described below (60%). The preliminary stages of research entail reading at least 10-15 books, review essays, and articles.

You will meet with me individually to consult on your topic a little over halfway through the semester. Short topic statements and bibliography are due a week later. We will spend the last three weeks of class in editorial session: discussing the structure, prose, style, and subject of each prospectus.

PROSPECTUS

         A prospectus is a “description in advance of a proposed undertaking.” It sets out your topic based on preliminary research. It should identify the problem or event that will be investigated, explain why it is important, survey the historical literature on the subject, describe the primary sources you will use, and discuss how you intend to carry out the work.

 The prospectus is not binding; you will certainly change your topic in some way during your senior year, and you may change it entirely. It is nonetheless very important preparation. It also requires substantial background work. I expect you to have looked at and read in at least 10 books, articles, and review essays.

The prospectus should also include a bibliography and four to six photocopied samples of primary sources. You may discuss the usefulness of the sources in either the text of the prospectus or in notes attached to the copies of the sources.

SEMINAR IN HISTORIOGRAPHY: HONORS PROGRAM

Open only to students admitted to the History Honors program.

This seminar introduces students to a range of historical methods, topics, and sources, with no claim to being comprehensive. We will consider how “history” has changed along with other forms of knowledge. We will read different kinds of history (social, intellectual, cultural, and so on). We emphasize research with primary sources that students will be able to use in their theses.

Faculty from the Department of History will lead discussions about their areas of expertise, giving the class examples of documents and sources that historians use, or showing how they generate questions for research.  By the end of the semester, each student will have come up with an advisor and a prospectus for the senior thesis she or he will write next year.

This is a reading- and writing-intensive course, and it moves quickly from introductory to advanced work.

 REQUIREMENTS:

1)   preparation for and participation in each weekly seminar, including short writing assignments (40%). Reading is about 200 pages a week.

2)   the various steps in drafting and revising a 10-12 page research prospectus as described below (60%). The preliminary stages of research entail reading at least 10-15 books, review essays, and articles.

You will meet with me individually to consult on your topic a little over halfway through the semester. Short topic statements and bibliography are due a week later. We will spend the last three weeks of class in editorial session: discussing the structure, prose, style, and subject of each prospectus.

PROSPECTUS

         A prospectus is a “description in advance of a proposed undertaking.” It sets out your topic based on preliminary research. It should identify the problem or event that will be investigated, explain why it is important, survey the historical literature on the subject, describe the primary sources you will use, and discuss how you intend to carry out the work.

 The prospectus is not binding; you will certainly change your topic in some way during your senior year, and you may change it entirely. It is nonetheless very important preparation. It also requires substantial background work. I expect you to have looked at and read in at least 10 books, articles, and review essays.

The prospectus should also include a bibliography and four to six photocopied samples of primary sources. You may discuss the usefulness of the sources in either the text of the prospectus or in notes attached to the copies of the sources.

Course Overview: In this course, we examine the central cultural characteristics of the Western heritage after the Reformation and discuss their transformation up to the present. A chronological narrative of the history in question will be provided by the lecturer and the textbook, but the most significant portion of our time together will be devoted to the examination of a number of central questions within western society since the Reformation. We will attempt to formulate an understanding of “western civilization” and its central concerns and transformations, with a particular attention paid to economy and politics in their relationships to culture and freedom. We will discuss such issues as the construction of political authority and its relationship to emerging conceptions of political liberty, revolution, popular sovereignty, and political economy. We will examine and explain the emergence of the central characteristics of modern Western society, including mass society, democracy, colonialism, secularism, political sovereignty, and the nation-state. Focus in the course is away from memorization of factual information about European history and toward reading, discussion, interpretation and criticism of texts that exemplify certain moments in the western tradition. By reading, discussing, analyzing and criticizing these sources, students will receive an introduction to the tasks involved in “thinking like a historian.”

Prerequisites:  Students taking this course are assumed to be capable of an informed, critical stance toward the claims of the lecturer. No previous knowledge of the subject matter is assumed.

Possible Texts:

Mark Kishlansky et al., Civilization in the West, vol. 2

Jean Calvin, Golden Book of the True Christian Life

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government

Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (selections)

Émile Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise

Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel

J. M. Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire / Economic Consequences of the Peace (selections)

Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (selections)

Additional readings will be distributed in class or are available on the Internet

Assignments & Grading:

Compliance with syllabus policy 0%

Compliance with attendance policy 0%

Paper 1 @ 15%

Paper 2 @ 25%

Final paper @ 30%

Average of regular quizzes @ 30% each (I will drop your two lowest scores)

Course Overview: In this course, we examine the central cultural characteristics of the Western heritage after the Reformation and discuss their transformation up to the present. A chronological narrative of the history in question will be provided by the lecturer and the textbook, but the most significant portion of our time together will be devoted to the examination of a number of central questions within western society since the Reformation. We will attempt to formulate an understanding of “western civilization” and its central concerns and transformations, with a particular attention paid to economy and politics in their relationships to culture and freedom. We will discuss such issues as the construction of political authority and its relationship to emerging conceptions of political liberty, revolution, popular sovereignty, and political economy. We will examine and explain the emergence of the central characteristics of modern Western society, including mass society, democracy, colonialism, secularism, political sovereignty, and the nation-state. Focus in the course is away from memorization of factual information about European history and toward reading, discussion, interpretation and criticism of texts that exemplify certain moments in the western tradition. By reading, discussing, analyzing and criticizing these sources, students will receive an introduction to the tasks involved in “thinking like a historian.”

Prerequisites:  Students taking this course are assumed to be capable of an informed, critical stance toward the claims of the lecturer. No previous knowledge of the subject matter is assumed.

Possible Texts:

Mark Kishlansky et al., Civilization in the West, vol. 2

Jean Calvin, Golden Book of the True Christian Life

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government

Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (selections)

Émile Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise

Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel

J. M. Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire / Economic Consequences of the Peace (selections)

Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (selections)

Additional readings will be distributed in class or are available on the Internet

Assignments & Grading:

Compliance with syllabus policy 0%

Compliance with attendance policy 0%

Paper 1 @ 15%

Paper 2 @ 25%

Final paper @ 30%

Average of regular quizzes @ 30% each (I will drop your two lowest scores)

SEMINAR IN HISTORIOGRAPHY: HONORS PROGRAM

Open only to students admitted to the History Honors program.

This seminar introduces students to a range of historical methods, topics, and sources, with no claim to being comprehensive. We will consider how “history” has changed along with other forms of knowledge. We will read different kinds of history (social, intellectual, cultural, and so on). We emphasize research with primary sources that students will be able to use in their theses.

Faculty from the Department of History will lead discussions about their areas of expertise, giving the class examples of documents and sources that historians use, or showing how they generate questions for research.  By the end of the semester, each student will have come up with an advisor and a prospectus for the senior thesis she or he will write next year.

This is a reading- and writing-intensive course, and it moves quickly from introductory to advanced work.

 REQUIREMENTS:

1)   preparation for and participation in each weekly seminar, including short writing assignments (40%). Reading is about 200 pages a week.

2)   the various steps in drafting and revising a 10-12 page research prospectus as described below (60%). The preliminary stages of research entail reading at least 10-15 books, review essays, and articles.

You will meet with me individually to consult on your topic a little over halfway through the semester. Short topic statements and bibliography are due a week later. We will spend the last three weeks of class in editorial session: discussing the structure, prose, style, and subject of each prospectus.

PROSPECTUS

         A prospectus is a “description in advance of a proposed undertaking.” It sets out your topic based on preliminary research. It should identify the problem or event that will be investigated, explain why it is important, survey the historical literature on the subject, describe the primary sources you will use, and discuss how you intend to carry out the work.

 The prospectus is not binding; you will certainly change your topic in some way during your senior year, and you may change it entirely. It is nonetheless very important preparation. It also requires substantial background work. I expect you to have looked at and read in at least 10 books, articles, and review essays.

The prospectus should also include a bibliography and four to six photocopied samples of primary sources. You may discuss the usefulness of the sources in either the text of the prospectus or in notes attached to the copies of the sources.

Course Overview: In this course, we examine the central cultural characteristics of the Western heritage after the Reformation and discuss their transformation up to the present. A chronological narrative of the history in question will be provided by the lecturer and the textbook, but the most significant portion of our time together will be devoted to the examination of a number of central questions within western society since the Reformation. We will attempt to formulate an understanding of “western civilization” and its central concerns and transformations, with a particular attention paid to economy and politics in their relationships to culture and freedom. We will discuss such issues as the construction of political authority and its relationship to emerging conceptions of political liberty, revolution, popular sovereignty, and political economy. We will examine and explain the emergence of the central characteristics of modern Western society, including mass society, democracy, colonialism, secularism, political sovereignty, and the nation-state. Focus in the course is away from memorization of factual information about European history and toward reading, discussion, interpretation and criticism of texts that exemplify certain moments in the western tradition. By reading, discussing, analyzing and criticizing these sources, students will receive an introduction to the tasks involved in “thinking like a historian.”

Prerequisites:  Students taking this course are assumed to be capable of an informed, critical stance toward the claims of the lecturer. No previous knowledge of the subject matter is assumed.

Possible Texts:

Mark Kishlansky et al., Civilization in the West, vol. 2

Jean Calvin, Golden Book of the True Christian Life

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government

Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (selections)

Émile Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise

Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel

J. M. Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire / Economic Consequences of the Peace (selections)

Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (selections)

Additional readings will be distributed in class or are available on the Internet

Assignments & Grading:

Compliance with syllabus policy 0%

Compliance with attendance policy 0%

Paper 1 @ 15%

Paper 2 @ 25%

Final paper @ 30%

Average of regular quizzes @ 30% each (I will drop your two lowest scores)