HIST 229 - Topics in European History

FDR: HU
Credits: 3 credit in fall or winter; 4 in spring

Winter 2019, HIST 229A-01: England in the Age of Shakespeare (3). William Shakespeare (1564-1616) lived during a fascinating time of political turmoil, religious change, artistic expression, and global expansion. This course explores the history of England in these years, which span the important reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. Together, we examine the era of personal monarchy and the growing resistance of parliament, the mechanisms of national consolidation and imperial growth, the discoveries and encounters with “others” beyond England’s shores, the spread of religious convictions and contradictions, and the great literary and artistic figures of the day. We also investigate what life was like for the average men and women who lived and died during England’s “golden age.” (HU). Brock.
 
Winter 2019, HIST 229A-02: England in the Age of Shakespeare (3). William Shakespeare (1564-1616) lived during a fascinating time of political turmoil, religious change, artistic expression, and global expansion. This course explores the history of England in these years, which span the important reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. Together, we examine the era of personal monarchy and the growing resistance of parliament, the mechanisms of national consolidation and imperial growth, the discoveries and encounters with “others” beyond England’s shores, the spread of religious convictions and contradictions, and the great literary and artistic figures of the day. We also investigate what life was like for the average men and women who lived and died during England’s “golden age.” (HU). Brock.

Winter 2019, HIST 229B-01: ‘The ‘War to End War’: The First World War in History and Literature (3). Open to all class years and majors. No course prerequisite. Progressives in Britain and the USA justified participation in the First World War with the argument that the defeat of Imperial Germany would make the world “safe for democracy” and bring about the end of warfare. The horrific reality of combat defied their expectations, however, and left the world more bitterly divided after 1918 than it ever had been. In this discussion- and writing-intensive course, we focus on different forms of personal testimony about the experience of war, beginning with the autobiography of a British officer who became a pacifist in the trenches, a memoir by a patriotic German soldier who never lost faith in his nation’s cause, and a collection of poems by British women who served as munitions workers or nurses. Students write a term paper to analyze a body of testimony about the war experience of particular interest to them. Our goal is to analyze how war changes individuals and societies, and to ponder what lessons can be learned today from the “Great War” of 1914-1918. (HU) Patch.

Fall 2018, HIST 229A-01: Saints and Sinners in the Puritan Atlantic (3). May be counted as an American elective toward the major with department head notification to the University Registrar. In the mid-20th century, H.L. Mencken famously defined Puritanism as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy”. The popular memory of Puritans has deviated little from this caricature. But what were these devoted English (and early American) Protestants really like? This class explores the history of the Puritans—a term that was itself derisive— on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the legacy of Puritanism in Britain and America. Topics include the development of Puritanism after the English Reformation, the settlement of Massachusetts, the dramatic trial of Anne Hutchison, relationships and conflicts with Native Americans, the English Civil War and rule of Oliver Cromwell, and the infamous Salem Witch Trials. (HU) Brock.

Fall 2018, HIST 229B-01: Making Modern Sexuality (3). From where do we get our ideas about sex and sexuality? Are they based in evidence, or do they speak to cultural forces and anxieties of long standing? This course investigates these questions by examining selected topics in the history of sexuality in the modern West, as well as contemporary clinical understandings of these issues and how moral, economic, and cultural forces serve to shroud sexual expression and identities in metaphor and myth. (HU) Horowitz.