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Course Descriptions

Lower Division Courses

HIST 100    
Foundations of Western Civilization to 1500
3 Semester Hours
Survey of Western civilization in the ancient and medieval periods.

HIST 101    
Western Traditions
3 Semester Hours
Survey of Western civilization from the Renaissance to the present.

HIST 152    
Modern Middle East
3 Semester Hours
An introduction to the social and political history of the Middle East during the 19th and 20th centuries.

HIST 161    
Young America, 1607-1900
3 Semester Hours
A survey of American history during the colonial period, the Revolutionary era, and the 19th century.
Fulfills U.S. Constitution requirement.

HIST 162    
Contemporary America
3 Semester Hours
The United States from 1900 to the present; emphasis on political and social history.
Fulfills U.S. Constitution requirement.

HIST 172    
Modern Latin America
3 Semester Hours
An introduction to 19th- and 20-century developments in Latin America.

HIST 182    
Modern Asia
3 Semester Hours
This course introduces major themes in East Asian history and historiography since 1600, comparing the experiences of China and Japan, and placing them in a global context.

HIST 192    
Contemporary Africa
3 Semester Hours
An introduction to the history of sub-Saharan Africa, from the colonial to the modern period.

Upper Division Courses

Historical Method Courses

HIST 310    
History and Historians
3 Semester Hours
An introduction to the study of history, including historical method, writing of history, and historical interpretation.

HIST 330    
History as Detective
3 Semester Hours
This course on historical evidence examines the sources which historians use: oral tradition, archeology, objects, sites, and documents.

Area 1: Europe

HIST 314    
Authority and Resistance in Medieval Europe
3 Semester Hours
Discusses the dominant conceptions of spiritual and political authority from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries and their social and intellectual challenges.

HIST 318    
Victorians to Moderns
3 Semester Hours
Covers the enormous changes in society and technology, art and science, gender and religion from Victoria’s reign through the First World War and the Great Depression.

HIST 322    
Seventeenth-Century Europe
3 Semester Hours
An examination of the social, political, and cultural developments in continental Europe during the Age of the Baroque.

HIST 324    
Revolutionary Europe, 1750-1850
3 Semester Hours
A study of European cultural change ranging from Romanticism to industrialization, materialism to religious revival.

HIST 326    
Nineteenth-Century Europe, 1815-1914
3 Semester Hours
An investigation into the political, social, and economic crises of the European nations between the Congress of Vienna and the outbreak of World War I.

HIST 327    
Twentieth-Century Europe
3 Semester Hours
Europe from 1900 to the present with emphasis on political and social history.

HIST 328    
States and Nations in Eastern Europe, 1795-1991
3 Semester Hours
An analysis of the forces of nationalism and socialism in the history of modern Eastern Europe. The course will focus on the interrelated cases of Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic states.

HIST 335    
Women in European History
3 Semester Hours
An analysis of how philosophical constructs, religion, education, employment, and family structures have defined the role of women since the Renaissance.

HIST 405    
History of Ancient Greece
3 Semester Hours
The history of Greece from its origins to the death of Philip of Macedon.

HIST 406    
Alexander and the Hellenistic World
3 Semester Hours
An investigation of the spread of Greek culture through the lands of the successors of Alexander the Great and its relations with the older civilizations of the known world.

HIST 407    
Ancient Rome
3 Semester Hours
The history of Rome from its origins to the creation of the empire.

HIST 408    
Imperial Rome
3 Semester Hours
A study of the Roman Empire and world to the seventh century and the end of antiquity.

HIST 410    
History of the Byzantine Empire
3 Semester Hours
A study of the eastern Roman Empire to its fall in 1453. Topics include the Byzantine recovery, the Slavic and Moslem invasions, and the Crusades.

HIST 411    
The Rise of Medieval Europe
3 Semester Hours
Traces the emergence of a coherent European civilization from the collapse of Roman power in the fifth century to the rise of new forms of Latin Christian unity in the eighth through eleventh centuries.

HIST 412    
The Transformation of Medieval Europe
3 Semester Hours
Examines the fragmentation of the medieval forms of European unity from the twelfth through sixteenth centuries. Topics include political and social change, questions of authority, and religious strife.

HIST 414    
The Crusades
3 Semester Hours
A study of the origins and the impact of the Crusades on medieval Europe and on the Middle East.

HIST 418    
From Viking to Crusader
3 Semester Hours
Studies the Viking invasions of the Early Middle Ages, pre-Christian Scandinavian religion, Christianization, Norse colonization from Russia to North America, and the complex “Europeanization” of the Vikings in the eleventh through thirteenth centuries.

HIST 420    
Age of the Renaissance
3 Semester Hours
A study of the origins and character of the Renaissance in Italy; its social, political, and economic context; and its cultural expressions.

HIST 422    
Age of the Reformation
3 Semester Hours
The religious, political, and cultural upheaval of the Protestant challenge to medieval Christendom and the Catholic response.

HIST 425    
The French Revolution
3 Semester Hours
An inquiry into the causes of the fall of the French monarchy, the creation of a civic order, a new political culture, and the impact of war and terror on French society.

HIST 430    
The Rise of Russia, 900-1825
3 Semester Hours
A study of the origins of the Russian Empire from the arrival of the Vikings to the emergence of Russia as a Great Power. Topics include autocracy, serfdom, religious revolts, imperial expansion, and competitive emulation of the West.

HIST 431    
Modern Russia, 1825-1991
3 Semester Hours
Traces the revolutionary challenges to the Romanov dynasty, attempts to modernize the multi-national empire, the revolution and civil war, and the interplay between communism and nationalism in the history of the Soviet Union.

HIST 435    
Modern Germany
3 Semester Hours
An analysis of the political, economic, social, and cultural developments during the 19th and 20th centuries.

HIST 444    
Tudor and Stuart England
3 Semester Hours
An examination of the relations between the English monarchs and their parliaments during the Tudor and Stuart periods, intending to show conflict and collaboration, and the role of political and economic interest groups.

HIST 446    
Modern Britain
3 Semester Hours
How Britain became the world’s first industrial nation, came to rule over a quarter of the world’s population, became a democracy, lost an empire, and joined the European Union.

HIST 447
Modern Ireland
3 Semester Hours
Covers key events of Ireland’s struggle for independence, incorporating debates about the uses of history and memory, the formation of national identity, and the politics of nostalgia.

HIST 448
The British Empire
3 Semester Hours
An examination of the rise of the British empire, its impact on British and colonial culture, and its collapse and imperial legacy.

HIST 450
Modern Greek History and Society
3 Semester Hours
An examination of the crises and challenges that have shaped modern Greek society, the transformations that have taken place, and the culture and literature it produced.

Area 2: United States

HIST 340    
American Slavery and Racism
3 Semester Hours
A survey of the origins and evolution of slavery and racism in American society.

HIST 345    
War and Violence in America
3 Semester Hours
An examination into the various incidents of war and violence to show how they have affected the American experience.

HIST 351    
American Reform Movements
3 Semester Hours
An examination of the major movements for reform of American society, with emphasis on abolitionism, Women’s Rights, Progressivism, and Civil Rights.

HIST 352    
Health and Disease in American Culture
3 Semester Hours
The history of health, medicine, and disease in the American social and cultural context, from the colonial period to the present.

HIST 354   
Women in Early American History
3 Semester Hours
An exploration of women’s experience in American history from the colonial period to the end of the 19th century, with emphasis on such variables as class, race/ethnicity, and region and the changing role of women in both the private realm of the family and in public life.

HIST 355    
Women in Modern American History
3 Semester Hours
History of women’s experience in American history from the late 19th century to the present, considering the impact of changing gender roles on American society, culture, and politics.

HIST 356    
The American Family
3 Semester Hours
Traces the changing nature of the family in America from the colonial period to the present, with emphasis on the difference in family forms and experiences by region, race, and class.

HIST 357    
Immigrant American
3 Semester Hours
A study of the patterns of emigration and assimilation for European, New World, and Asian immigrants to the United States from the colonial period to the present.

HIST 360    
Chicana/o History
(See CHST 360)

HIST 365    
The American West
3 Semester Hours
An examination into the patterns of frontier settlement from the colonial period to 1890 and the regional history of the trans-Mississippi West from 1890 to the present.

HIST 366    
History of California
3 Semester Hours
The political, economic, social, and cultural development of California from its Spanish origins to the present.

HIST 367    
History of Los Angeles
3 Semester Hours
An inquiry into the multi-cultural origins and development of Los Angeles and the challenges facing the modern urban center.

HIST 368    
Hollywood and History
3 Semester Hours
An examination of the American motion picture industry and the films it produced from the 1890s through the 1960s, including a study of shifting gender, class, racial, and ethnic positionings.

HIST 388
Asian Pacific American Visual Culture
3 Semester Hours
Using interdisciplinary approaches and cross-cultural perspectives, the class explores the ways in which certain Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been portrayed and, in turn, have portrayed themselves throughout historical time and space.

HIST 389    
The Invention of Communities
3 Semester Hours
Examines a multitude of socio-economic and cultural conditions that have caused the formation and the disintegration of communal bonds in 19th- and 20th-century United States.

HIST 460    
Colonial America, 1607-1763
3 Semester Hours
Origin and growth of the English colonies from 1607; the development of colonial economic, social, and intellectual life.

HIST 461    
Revolutionary America, 1763-1787
3 Semester Hours
The origins, course, and results of the American Revolution; the Articles of Confederation.

HIST 462    
Founding Fathers
3 Semester Hours
Formation of the Constitution; formation of political parties; cultural, economic, social, and diplomatic developments.

HIST 463    
Jacksonian America, 1815-1845
3 Semester Hours
A study of thirty pivotal years in American history, focusing on the social, cultural, economic, and political developments of the era.

HIST 464    
The Civil War and Reconstruction
3 Semester Hours
A history of the Civil War era that covers the causes, fighting, and consequences of the war, as well as the problems and challenges of Reconstruction.

HIST 465    
The Age of Theodore Roosevelt
3 Semester Hours
A study of the age of Populism, Progressivism, overseas expansion, and American involvement in World War I.

HIST 466    
The Rise of Modern America, 1920-1945
3 Semester Hours
A study of the emergence of the mass consumption culture, the Great Depression, the rise of the welfare state, and World War II.

HIST 467    
Recent America, 1945 to the Present
3 Semester Hours
This course examines the dimensions of affluence and poverty, the politics of the welfare state, the Cold War, and détente.

HIST 468    
Social and Cultural History of the United States in the Nineteenth Century
3 Semester Hours
A historical overview of 19th-century America through a social and cultural lens, including such topics as industrialization, urbanization, religion, literature, westward migration, class formation, gender roles, and notions of race.

HIST 478    
Asian Pacific American History
3 Semester Hours
Traces the many-faceted histories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from cross-cultural and transnational perspectives, focusing on interactions and exchanges between Asian Pacific Americans and various ethnic and racial groups.

HIST 479    
The Politics and the Culture of the Cold War, 1917-1989
3 Semester Hours
An inquiry into the impacts of the Cold War on American domestic policies, foreign relations, as well as cultural and social developments.

HIST 488    
Consensus and Conflict: America in the 1950s and 1960s
3 Semester Hours
This upper division class will focus on 1950s and 1960s United States. Some of the issues that will be addressed include the counterculture, the Civil Rights Movement, and changing gender ideals.

Area 3: World Regions

HIST 300    
History of Global Encounters before 1500
3 Semester Hours
A history of global encounters among the regions of the Middle East, the Mediterranean World, Europe, and Asia. It will include a focus on the exchange of ideas, trade, and cultural developments.

HIST 301    
History of Global Encounters after 1500
3 Semester Hours
A history of global encounters during the early modern and modern periods that includes the regions of the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe. It will examine the global impact of Christianity, Islam, and the market economy. Through the use of primary and secondary sources, different interpretations are offered on historic and current events.

HIST 338    
Islam in History
3 Semester Hours
The study of the role of Islamic culture and institutions in the social and political history of the Middle East from the rise of Islam to the present.

HIST 372    
History of Mexico
3 Semester Hours
An analysis of the colonial and national periods, with emphasis on 20th-century revolution and socio-economic development.

HIST 376
Pirates, Revolutionaries, and Runaways in the Caribbean, 1570-1930
3 Semester Hours
This course will introduce students to the history of the circum-Caribbean, a region that includes the southern coasts of the
United States, the northern coasts of South America, the Caribbean islands, and Central American states. We will focus on how this trans-imperial (and later transnational) region was crisscrossed by a wide variety of historical actors whose lives defied political borders and boundaries.

HIST 378
Understanding Uncle Sam: Latin America's Viewsof the United States
3 Semester hours
President Porfirio Diaz of Mexico allegedly said, “Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.” This course will explore how Latin Americans have viewed the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. Students will gain a more nuanced understanding of the history of the two Americas and of the tense and conflictive nature of the relationship between them.

HIST 390    
African Kingdoms
3 Semester Hours
A study of significant kingdoms of Black Africa exploring the major themes of the period.

HIST 392    
Colonial Africa: 1860-1980
3 Semester Hours
A study of the inception and development of European rule over various parts of Africa by European imperialists of the 19th century.

HIST 395    
Orientalism
3 Semester Hours
This course will introduce students to the history of Euro-American discourse on the “East,” often referred to as Orientalism, and its social, political, and cultural consequences for both “westerners” and people in the Middle East or Asia.

HIST 455    
The Ottoman Empire
3 Semester Hours
A study of the Ottoman Empire from the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 until its dismemberment in 1918.

HIST 458    
Society and Culture in the Modern Middle East
3 Semester Hours
A topical exploration of the history and politics of the Middle East in the 20th century that will be based on essays and novels written by Middle Eastern men and women.

HIST 459    
The Palestine/Israel Conflict
3 Semester Hours
This course will trace the history of the conflict from its beginnings in the 19th century to the present. It will cover Zionism, Ottoman Palestine, and the conflict itself in its regional and international contexts.

HIST 474    
Brazil
3 Semester Hours
Brazil from colonial times to the present, analyzing national development, major socio-economic problems, class, caste, power, poverty, and revolution.

HIST 482    
Imperial China
3 Semester Hours
This course explores the origins of Chinese civilization and culture and the growth of the Chinese Imperial state from earliest times to the early 19th century, just prior to full-scale contact with the Western world.

HIST 483    
Modern China
3 Semester Hours
This is a course on modern Chinese history from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Major themes examined are the collapse of the traditional Chinese world order, the failure of the republican revolution of 1911, the birth of Chinese nationalism, Mao Zedong’s Chinese communism, and Deng Xiaoping’s strategy for modernization.

HIST 484    
Samurai in Japanese History
3 Semester Hours
This course explores the cultural, political, religious, and military history of the samarai as a status group from their earliest emergence in Japan to the collapse and abolition of samarai rule in Japan’s quest to remake itself as a modern nation-state in the 19th century.

HIST 485    
Twentieth-Century Japan
3 Semester Hours
This course examines the history of Japanese experiences of modernity across the 20th century, focusing on the diversity, unevenness, and conflicts that are often elided by assertions of Japanese homogeneity.

HIST 490    
The Quest for the Nile’s Source
3 Semester Hours
A study of the quest for the source of the Nile River and the interaction of African, European, and Asian peoples in the area.

HIST 491    
South Africa
3 Semester Hours
The history of South Africa during the last two centuries with emphasis on political rivalries, apartheid, and economic development.

HIST 494    
Bodies and Gender in Japanese History
3 Semester Hours
This course investigates how embodiment, a fundamental aspect of human experience, varies over time and across cultures. Readings and lectures compare Euro-American ideas about bodies and gender with Japanese examples from various time periods.

Seminars

Area 1: Europe

HIST 501    
Seminar in European History
3 Semester Hours

HIST 505    
Seminar in Ancient History
3 Semester Hours

HIST 510    
Seminar in Medieval History
3 Semester Hours

HIST 515    
Seminar in Early Modern Europe
3 Semester Hours

HIST 520    
Seminar in Modern Europe
3 Semester Hours

Area 2: United States

HIST 550    
Seminar in American History
3 Semester Hours

HIST 555    
Seminar in Early America
3 Semester Hours

HIST 560    
Seminar in 19th Century America
3 Semester Hours

HIST 565    
Seminar in Recent America
3 Semester Hours

Area 3: World Regions

HIST 568    
Seminar in Comparative/Global History
3 Semester Hours

HIST 570    
Seminar in Latin America
3 Semester Hours

HIST 580    
Seminar in Asian History
3 Semester Hours

HIST 585    
Seminar: Achilles in Vietnam
3 Semester Hours

HIST 590    
Seminar in African History
3 Semester Hours

HIST 595    
Seminar in Modern Middle East
3 Semester Hours

Senior Thesis

HIST 500    
Senior Thesis
3 Semester Hours
A course for those students who wish to conduct independent research under faculty direction.

Special and Independent Studies

HIST 398    
Special Studies
1-3 Semester Hours

HIST 399    
Independent Studies
1-3 Semester Hours

HIST 498    
Special Studies
1-3 Semester Hours

HIST 499    
Independent Studies
1-3 Semester Hours

HIST 598    
Special Studies
1-3 Semester Hours

HIST 599    
Independent Studies
1-3 Semester Hours

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