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History Courses for Spring
2006
100 Level Courses
History 101A&D.
Western Civilization to 1700 (3h). TR 8-9:15 & 9:30-10:45. B117. Williams. At
light speed (in one class period) we will traverse the prehistory
of our
species and then set about a more intensive review of the next
5200 years (3500 B.C.E to 1700 C.E). Our journey will carry
us from Sumeria and the appearance of that form of culture
historians
call civilization to the eve of industrialization and political
revolution in Western Europe. While examining the the communal
structures, achievements, tribulations, and transformations
of peoples who, for the most part, spoke Indo-European languages
and who, from their origins somewhere north of the Caucasus,
came to control not only Europe, but the Americas and the whole
of northern Asia, we will try to determine what sense it makes
to speak of the tangible and intangible worlds they made as
a single civilization and on what bases we might distinguish
this civilization from others that appeared elswhere.
History 102A&B. Europe and the World in the Modern Era (3h). MWF 10-10:50 & 11-11:50. A103. Bobroff. A survey of modern Europe from 1700 to the present.
History 102C. Europe and the World in the Modern Era (3h). TR 12-1:15. B117. Sinclair. A survey of modern Europe from 1700 to the present.
History 102D. Europe and the World in the Modern Era (3h). TR 8-9:15 . A103. Gillespie. Europe and the World in the Modern Era will examine the legacy of the western world from the end of the seventeenth century to the present. The course will consider the implications of this legacy for understanding the human experience in all its diversity today. Using a combination of primary and secondary readings and a lecture-discussion format, we will explore the role of Europe in shaping the trans-Atlantic economy and the spread of slavery, the scientific revolution and the ideas of the Enlightenment, the causes and consequences of the French Revolution, industrialization and the Marxist response, the ideologies of change and the national state, the rise of modernity and the age of anxiety, the new imperialism, the world wars and their impact, the Cold War and the transition to a new European order in a global society.
History 103A&B. World Civilizations to 1500 (3h). MWF 10-10:50 & 11-11:50. A102. Howard. A study of the cultural dynamics of a selection of world civilizations dating from 3500 B.C. to A.D. 1500. It includes overviews of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, Persia, Greece, and Rome.
History 103C. World Civilizations to 1500 (3h). TR 12-1:15 . A102. Villagomez. A survey of the ancient, classical and medieval civilizations of Eurasia with a brief look at American and sub-Sararan societies. Focus varies with instructor.
History 103D. World Civilizations to 1500 (3h). TR 12-1:15 . A208. O'Connell.
A survey of the ancient, classical and medieval civilizations of Eurasia with a brief look at American and sub-Sararan societies. Focus varies with instructor.
History 104A&B. World Civilizations since 1500 (3h). MWF 8-8:50 & 9-9:50. A103. McConnell. A survey of the major civilizations of the world in the modern and contemporary periods.
History 104C&D. World Civilizations since 1500 (3h). MWF 10-10:50 & 11-11:50. B117. Fitzgibbon. This course will provide you with an overview of world history since 1500. Topics covered will include state building, long-distance trade, the development of capitalism, plantation economies, the political and religious ideologies of major 18th c. states, new urban cultures, new ideas and political movements, industrialization, imperialism, mass societies, anti-colonial struggles, woman’s emancipation, the Cold War, and ethnic violence. The supplementary reading will be used to explore the social construction of race and ethnicity in the modern world.
History 104E&F. World Civilizations since 1500 (3h). TR 9:30-10:45 & MW 2-3:15. A103. Hellyer.
This course will consider world civilizations since 1500 through the lens of prominent foods and beverages. We will first explore how weather and environment shaped trends in consumption and how global flows of foods and beverages influenced larger political, economic, social, and cultural trends in the 16th and 17th centuries. We will also use food and beverages to consider industrialization and nationalism in the 18th and 19th centuries. The course will conclude by looking at how the production and consumption of processed food influences our world today.
History 104G&H&I. World Civilizations since 1500 (3h). MWF 12-12:50 & 1-1:50 & 3-3:50. B117. Staff.
History 162. History of Wake Forest (1.5h). T 3-4:15. B117. Hendricks.
A survey of the history of Wake Forest University from its beginnings, to include reading assignments, lectures, tours, and presentations. A tour of the Old Campus is encouraged.
Credit cannot be received for both 101 and 103 or 102 and 104.
All classes held in Tribble Hall unless otherwise noted.
200 Level Courses
History 211A. Jacksonian Biography (1.5h). R 3-4:15. B117. Hendricks.
This course covers the period from l815 to l850 and assumes a working knowledge of United States history during this period. If needed, any good history text or brief history will help if used diligently. The course will be taught primarily from a biographical perspective. Each student will be expected to read and present an oral and written report on four full-length biographies of significant individuals from this period (at least 1,500 pgs). Reports should follow an assigned format, which asks for a review of the contents of the book and an analysis of the volume from a historical perspective. Written reports should range between 750 and l000 words and will be graded on content as well as form and style. Oral reports should follow the same format in an abbreviated form (about ten minutes). Students will be expected to contribute to class discussion and to respond, when called on, to questions about current reading. Material from lectures, reports, and reading will be included on the exams.
History 211B. American Cities (3h). MWF 2-2:50. A104. Fitzgibbon.For centuries, young adults have ventured off to American cities in search of freedom and opportunity. Many of the people who lived in American cities, however, were determined to cling to traditional folkways or to enforce hierarchical relationships and restrict personal freedom. Even individuals who sought personal advancement for themselves were sometimes unwilling to grant similar opportunities to others. American cities, therefore, have always been contested terrain. In their most vital periods, American cities have provided ways for millions of diverse people to work and play together peacefully, despite enormous differences in wealth, power, and values. In other periods, inept leadership and a scarcity of good jobs and housing have encouraged hatred, violence, and flight. In this course, we will explore the diverse people who came together to create the United States’ cities and its distinctive urban social fabric and popular culture. Topics include street life, machine politics, immigrant neighborhoods, Harlem, sports, the department store, nightlife, gay subcultures, racial conflict, suburbanization, and Las Vegas. Students will write an essay, a research paper, and take three essay exams (2 midterms and 1 final).
History 211C. Russian Foreign Policy (3h). MWF 1-1:50. A103. Bobroff.
The subject of this course is the diplomatic history of Russia and the Soviet Union from the time of Napoleon to the present. Diplomatic and political histories will be used to explore Russia’s competition and cooperation with other states, both near and far. While the course will focus on Russia’s relationships with Europe and the United States, it will also consider Russian and Soviet activity in Asia and Africa, both as part of its relations with the above states and in their own right. Religious, cultural and intellectual history also play their part as we examine influences on the Russians' understanding of the world and their place in it.
History 287. Honor Colloquium (3h). TR 9:3-10:45. A104. Parent.
300 Level Courses
History 310A. Seminar: Conquest in Mediterranean (3h). T 2-4:30. A104. O'Connell. Does the Mediterranean showcase a clash of civilizations or provide an enduring model for co-existence? The Mediterranean presents the historian with colorful tableaux of competing, yet intimately connected civilizations; the persistent understanding of Christianity and Islam as two cultures in conflict and of the region that contains them as permanently divided contrasts with the intrinsic cross-cultural nature of the Mediterranean world during the Renaissance/early modern period. This course approaches the history of the Mediterranean thematically, focusing on merchant culture, piety and violence, diplomacy and slavery, and honor and shame. Students will approach these themes through the autobiographies and travel narratives of the mercenaries, pilgrims, merchants, and diplomats who regularly crossed religious, political and commercial frontiers.
History 310B. Seminar: The Cold War in Asia (3h). W 3-5:30. A104. Sinclair.
History 310C. Seminar: Philanthropy in US History (3h). R 3-5:30. A104. Smith.
History 310D. Seminar: Slave Rebellion (3h). TR 12-1:15. A104. Parent.
History 315. Greek History (3h). MWF 1-1:50. A102. Howard. Examines the development of ancient Greek civilization from the Bronze Age to the end of the Classical Period stressing social institutions, individual character, and freedom of social choice within the framework of cultural, political, and intellectual history. We will pay particular attention to the development of the polis and the roots of democratic government in Athens.
History 317. French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire (3h). MWF 9-9:50. B117. Williams.
History 328. History of English Common Law (3h). TR 3-4:15. A102. Zick.
History 332. Russia & Soviet Union: 1865-Present (3h). MWF 11-11:50. A208. Rupp. This course explores the social, political and economic history of Russia and the Soviet Union from the late imperial period through the collapse of Communism. It will focus on those issues that have been of fundamental, long term significance for Russia and the Soviet Union, including economic underdevelopment and the problematic relationship between state and society.
History 344. Modern China (3h). TR 1:30-2:45. B117. Sinclair.
History 345. The Middle East since 1500 (3h). TR 9:30-10:45. A208. Villagomez.
History 348. Japan since 1800 (3h). TR 12-1:15. A103. Hellyer. An examination of Japan from the end of the Edo period to the present. Topics covered include: the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the development of the Japanese nation-state, the Japanese empire, victory and defeat in WW II, and postwar economic growth. The course also considers the economic and political difficulties that plagued Japan in the 1990s as well as trends that have shaped Japan in the 21st century.
History 357. Civil War & Reconstruction (3h). TR 9-10:45. A102. Escott.
History 360. US since World War II (3h). TR 1:30-2:45. A102. Smith. The United States has gone through World War II and the Cold War with the prosperity that both created. In the prosperity of the 1950's and 1960's the nation experimented with the idea of providing equal opportunity to all or most of its children. The heated realities of Vietnam and Watergate withered that optimism. For two decades conservative ideals and free market rhetoric salved the nation's wounds and promised healing. In more recent times internationalism made inevitable by technology, the lack of a major moral enemy, and the problem of overproduction have left the nation to face the question of how to prosper and to be proud in a world without a world war. It must also solve the question of how minorities can appreciate, admire, and empathize with other minorities and at the same time be immensely glad that they are of their own minority. Assignments will include explorations of the library and internet, comprehensive exams, oral reports, and experience in oral history. Textbook and supplemental readings.
History 364. The New South (3h). TR 1:30-2:45. A103. Gillespie. This course examines the making of the “New South” over the past 138 years. It seeks to understand the multiple “New Souths” that have appeared since 1865 and to assess their meanings and legacies in the past, for the present, and into the future. The course will be run as a seminar, although some lectures will be used to give context and coherence to the course content. Readings will include classic texts, recent scholarship, and primary sources. Key themes will include emancipation and reconstruction; the restructuring of gender, race and class in the post-war South; the Lost Cause and white southerners' myth-making; progressivism and reform; segregation, disfranchisement, and Jim Crow; the impact of the New Deal and WW II; literature, religion, and music; the transformation of the southern working class; political bosses and “the Solid South”; the Civil Rights movement; and “The Post-Modern New South.” History 369. Modern Military History (3h). MWF 12-12:45. A103. McConnell. This class involves the study of modern warfare as a conceptual construct and in a global historical context. As an intellectual subject, students will be exposed to primary materials and secondary arguments which help us to define and understand modern warfare. Primary works such as Carl von Clausewitz’s On War and the Memoirs of General William T. Sherman will illuminate one perspective of how modern war is understood. Other primary and secondary works will further delineate these definitional boundaries. Conceptual arguments related to modern warfare such as absolutism, consequentialism, and just war will be featured during the semester. In addition students will examine various modern wars in particular historical contexts including the Napoleonic Wars, American Civil War, Taiping Rebellion, World War I & II, and Vietnam. Other issues such as genocide, children soldiers, and terrorism will be covered in the course.
First Year Seminars
FYS 100. The Two Reconstructions: Civil Rights in America (3h). TR 9:30-10:45. A104. Escott.
FYS 100. Fallout Shelters & Cold War: Weapon, Propaganda, or Survival (3h). TR 9:30-10:45. Collaway 008. Hendricks. During the 1950s and 60s, in response to the nuclear threat and encouragement from the Federal government’s Civil Defense program, thousands of Americans either built fallout shelters or created secure places in their homes for refuge. Public shelters were located, marked, and stocked with survival necessities. The Soviet Union made similar provisions for surviving a nuclear holocaust. The shelters provided more realistic options for surviving a nuclear war than earlier civil defense evacuation policies, but even in the 1960s official statements on the dangers of nuclear fallout greatly overestimated their effectiveness. Most shelters provided limited protection and inadequate food, water and ventilation for the time necessary to avoid damage in the case of severe fallout. The Civil Defense program of these years has been called more propaganda than substance. September 11, 2001 and subsequent events have produced an elaborate Homeland Security program to protect the U.S. and the world from Terrorism. How are the programs similar and how do they differ?
FYS 100. WWII: Memory & Meaning (3h). MWF 1-1:50. A104. Rupp.
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