This course begins with the emergence of modern humans in the Paleolithic era and concludes in 1500 with the beginning of the Early Modern Period. It is the story of early human responses to the natural environment and how they exploited it for survival as well as how it determined the parameters of early civilizations. It explores the political, economic, social, cultural, artistic, and ethical relationships and institutions people fashioned to provide order and purpose in their lives. Early human encounter with the natural world encouraged beliefs in the supernatural and eventually gave birth to formalized religious faiths and institutions. These issues will be explored through an examination of the diversity of early, classical, and medieval civilizations, their contribution to the human experience across the globe, and our shared community.

This course begins with the Early Modern Period in 1500 when the voyages of discovery linked world trade routes and transformed human encounters and civilizations. Students explore Greek and Roman humanism and rationalism as revived in Renaissance Europe, and as foundational for the Scientific Revolution. Students then move to 17th and 18th century movements of the Age of Reason and Enlightenment, spawning the creativity of the Industrial Revolution and a capitalist economic system which provided the West with political, economic, and military might to lay the foundation for modern imperialism, racism, and global warfare. The course concludes with the theme of human use and abuse of planet earth and speculations on the future of humanity.

This is a discussion -based, analytical approach to global history which draws on the international best-seller, Sapiens, by Yuval Harari. Students will grapple with the conflicting arguments and evidence of contemporary historians to form their own interpretation of humanity's rise from endangered species in prehistroic times to global dominance, and what this rise has meant for our species, for ourselves as individuals, and for the animals with whom we share this planet. Did gaining power make us happier? Students will also explore their own personal search for meaning by considering how people from different civilizations made sense of their lives through philosophy and religion.

This is a discussion-based, analytical course which will inform the student of major issues in current events around the world. The course will require students to follow the news through a wide range of media sources, and will teach them how to identify the political and ideological perspective of news media. Additionally, the course will help students understand major interpretive frameworks that they are likely to encounter in the modern world, and will help them work through their own worldviews more self-consciously and coherently. Finally, the course will teach students to read current events in the deeper context of historical perspective.

This course looks at the major trends – political, social, and economic – from the 1500’s to the present. It begins with the Early Modern period, when the voyages of discovery linked world trade routes, and transformed human encounters and civilizations, and moves through Renaissance Europe, the Industrial Revolution, and the creation of a capitalist economic system. While elaborating on the principal topics of Global History 2, two themes will drive the narrative of the last 500 years in this course: the rapid transformation of science and technology from 1500 to the present and the remaking of the ways that human beings think about themselves and their place in the world. Students will explore how we interact with the world through technological innovation and how we conceive of ourselves, those around us, and our place within the world.

This course looks at the major trends – political, social, and economic – from the 1500’s to the present. It begins with the Early Modern period, when the voyages of discovery linked world trade routes, and transformed human encounters and civilizations, and moves through Renaissance Europe, the Industrial Revolution, and the creation of a capitalist economic system. While elaborating on the principal themes of Global History 2, students will use modern history to understand current events around the world. Students will regularly read the news through a wide range of global media sources and will learn how to identify political and ideological perspectives and other major interpretive frameworks that they are likely to encounter in the modern world.

This course looks at the major trends – political, social, and economic – from the 1500’s to the present. It begins with the Early Modern period, when the voyages of discovery linked world trade routes, and transformed human encounters and civilizations, and moves through Renaissance Europe, the Industrial Revolution, and the creation of a capitalist economic system. This course concludes with an examination of the way old values and modern demands continue to be negotiated on the global stage in a multi-polar world. Through a museum approach, students analyze art, architecture and material culture to illuminate and test hypotheses to understand the past and the present.

This survey begins with the early context of three cultures - Native American, European and African - and concludes with the Civil War era.

This survey covers the period from the Civil War to the present.

This survey covers the period from the Civil War to the present.

Students are introduced to and practice the methods of historical writing which include proper citation, thesis development, library/archival research skills, the use of primary and secondary historical sources, numeracy/statistics interpretive skills, and improved writing skills. Students will be introduced to schools of historical interpretation. This is a requirement for history majors.

A survey of the region's indigenous cultures, the Spanish colonial period, independence movements and development in the 20th century is presented.

Students study the land, people, and state from before the coming of the Europeans to the present.

This course takes a historical approach to evaluate the words of the US Constitution that asserted the values of political equality, natural rights, and the sovereignty of the people to analyze whether this nation has lived up to these values.

This course provides a survey of African history, early civilizations, kingdoms and empires, the Atlantic slave trade, colonialism, independence and current issues.

This course surveys the political, social, and cultural history of the Indian subcontinent/South Asia, including its early civilizations, colonial period, independence, and current issues. Emphasis is placed on the arrival of Islam in India, British rule, and the Independence movement. The rivalry between India and Pakistan as well as India’s relationship with Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh will be discussed.

This course considers broad historical developments in Sub-Saharan Africa from early pre-colonial civilizations through the colonial era to the present. An emphasis will be placed on understanding the historical legacy of interaction between Sub-Saharan Africa and the West in trade including the slave trade, ideas, and culture, the period of European partition and conquest, African resistance to colonialism, decolonization struggles, challenges to early independent governance, and current developmental and social policy issues facing African societies in the global arena, particularly Africa’s emerging relationship with the United States and China.

This course examines the political, legal, economic, religious, philosophic, racial, and social/cultural dimensions of the female experience in the prehistoric and historic era. The creation of patriarchy and female subordination is central to this investigation. Patriarchal belief systems themselves influenced historians to overlook the female experience. The course aims to rectify this omission and aims to uncover female agency in shaping and responding to historic events. The course concludes with an assessment of women in contemporary society.

This course examines the history of genocide in the modern world. It comparatively examines the psychological, socio-economic, as well as political origins and consequences of various historical instances of genocide across the globe before World War II, e.g. in colonial Africa, in Armenia, etc.

This course examines the roots of American culture, government, and society from Native America through the development of slavery and the American Revolution up to the Age of Jackson. By reading this history through the lenses of conservative, liberal, and radical interpretations, students will learn to recognize the political biases in historical arguments, will learn how to evaluate the quality of evidence an author uses, and will develop the ability to make their own well-supported historical arguments, verbally and in writing.

This course examines the background events and forces leading up to the Civil War and the process of Reconstruction. Topics include territorial acquisitions and the slavery issue, the interaction of nationalism and sectionalism, conflicts between state rights and federal authority, and the political developments of the 1850s, and some of the military aspects of the Civil War. The course concludes with an examination of the economic, social, and political changes of the post war period.

This course focuses on the impact of industrialization on American society and the ways that labor, Populist, Progressive, and New Deal reformers responded to those changes. By reading this history through the lenses of conservative, liberal, and radical interpretations, students will learn to recognize the political biases in historical arguments, will learn how to evaluate the quality of evidence an author uses, and will develop the ability to make their own well-supported historical argument, verbally and in writing.

Students examine World War II and contemporary U.S. social, economic and political history, with focus on the Cold War and its end, the Civil Rights movement, and current issues.

This course traces the evolution of places, peoples, and systems identified with urban America. Analysis considers cities from the perspectives of geography, demography, economics, politics, and culture. Special attention is given to New York City and Chicago.

This course investigates the non-academic applications of history with particular emphases on oral history, archival methods, museum studies, and preservation. This course provides exposure to an array of applications of historical study.

This course surveys America's military history from colonial times to 9/11. The course will primarily focus on America's foreign wars and examine significant strategies and tactics, military technology, and the interaction between military considerations and social and political components. In addition, consideration will be given to how various events and individuals, such as the French Revolution and Napoleon, the establishment of American military academies, the U.S. Civil War, Karl von Clausewitz, Alfred Thayer Mahan, and 9/11, have impacted the American military.

Studentslearn about the people who have held the office, constitutional and national issues, and the institution of the presidency from Washington to the present.

Through their cultural resources and creativity, Africans in America formed a distinct American identity, one that seesaws between ethnic separatism and inclusion in the American dream. The course will examine the words and actions, of African American people from the colonial period to the present as they sought a wide variety of strategies of survival in the face of tremendous challenges.

A social, cultural, and intellectual study of the African American experience, from the Civil War to the present.

This course surveys Native American cultures in what is now the continental United States. This course surveys Native American cultures in what is now the continental United States. The course concludes with an examination of contemporary issues of Native empowerment and presence in the American experience. Throughout the course students will learn how Native American history has been interpreted and revised over the years.

This course examines the historic dimensions of American diversity and political, economic, and social tensions. It will examine the experience of African Americans, Native Americans, waves of European immigrants, and immigrants from around the world. Periods of nativist hostility to foreigners, pressures for assimilation, and economic stresses of industrialization, urbanization, and a post-industrial economy will be addressed.

This course presents an overview of the history of American women with particular attention to the issue of cultural diversity from the perspectives of the construction of gender roles, interactions of men and women within culturally prescribed boundaries, and challenges to patriarchal structures. The student will explore the relationships among gender, class, and ethnic and racial diversity. This course is one of the foundational courses" for the Women's Studies Minor."

This course examines the development of the scientific attitude and the principles of scientific inquiry in the context of the history of ideas. Students trace science back to its Greek roots, examine Islamic and Chinese science and examine the particular nature of the western scientific tradition.

Why do we believe what we believe? Why do we think the way we do? What are the categories of our beliefs? How did we derive these categories? Starting with the Ancient Greeks and concluding with Post-Modernism, this course examines the intellectual history of Western thought.

This course explores Britain’s emergence as a global superpower and its influence in the modern world. The course will also consider how the Empire shaped Britain—particularly how it made it a more democratic and cosmopolitan society. The course will conclude with discussions on post-colonial critique of empire and contemporary issues of globalization.

This course examines how the Qing Empire failed to respond to external forces of Western modernization in the 19th century leading to the collapse of the imperial state, the formation of the republic, its demise, the rise and defeat of Chiang Kai-shek and the new China of Mao Zedong, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the radical political solution of his successors that created the China of today.

This course is a study of the Japanese response to Western intrusion and of Japan's world power status.

This course focuses on the interrelated history of the peoples of the Near East, with an introduction to ancient history and the rise of Islam, but with a concentration on modern times.

For the past five centuries, conflict in the Mediterranean has helped define the world's history. The primary focus of this course is the epic clash between Christian and Islamic forces starting in the 1500s. Subsequent events are considered through the same prism.

This course studies the development of the modern Middle East. Focus is on the Ottoman Empire, Iran, Egypt, and the Fertile Crescent with some coverage of North Africa, the Persian Gulf, and Afghanistan.

This course will give students the resources to think through the major debates surrounding the Vietnam War: Was it a “good war,” strategically and morally? Why did the U.S. get involved in it? What was the war like for soldiers on both sides? How has the legacy of this war affected both societies? Because this was the first “televised war,” the course will use regular documentary footage as well as primary documents and interpretive essays, often set in opposition to each other.

This course provides an overview of the development of the ancient civilizations of China, India, Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean world, with special emphasis on the Greco-Roman world.

This course studies Europe after the decline of Rome. The course also studies Byzantium and the Near East. Course topics include the feudal economy, the history of manners, the Crusades and the Arabs, the changes in technology, the lives of men and the lives of women.

A study of kingdoms, social orders, monarchs and rebels is provided from the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation through the Napoleonic era.

This course offers a study of politics and society with respect to the ways in which Europeans influence the world in economics and ideas.

This course studies the history of Ireland from early Neolithic peoples and rise of the Celts, English colonization, and Irish independent movements.

This course examines the modernization of Britain that created constitutional monarchy, political theories of individual rights, economic theories for modern capitalism, and industrialization.

Beginning with the Roman view of Germans, this course traces the development of German culture and polity by examining German lives and ideas.

This course examines the creation of a unified Germany by Otto von Bismarck, the development of that nation through both world wars, and its dismemberment following Hitler's Third Reich.

Students explore two contrasting national patterns and cultural traditions.

This course traces Russia’s long and turbulent history, from the origins of the Kievan Rus in the 9th century to the post-Soviet era of today. This course also covers the centuries of Mongol rule, the rise of Muscovy, the glory and demise of the Russian Empire, the chaos of the Russian Revolution, and the reign of communism in the Soviet Union. This course also examines the Russian people and their various cultural achievements in literature, music, art, architecture, and technology, in search of an understanding of the “Russian soul.”

This course studies the Baltic States, Poland, the old Austrian Empire, Hungary, the Czechs and Slovaks, and the South Slavs as they emerged on the modern international scene. A major segment of the course will deal with the twentieth century when the concept of “national self-determination” becomes both a constructive and destructive force in this region.

The students learn about the great revolutions and the political ideologies of the modern period of which they are a part - liberalism, socialism, Marxism and Maoism - as well as conservative fundamentalism and anti-colonialism.

This series of courses is organized by topic, event, or era. Examples include History of Iran, History of Mexico, and History of American Sport.

An in-depth examination of the First World War, this course explores its origins, global impact, military strategies, and the profound social and political changes it triggered. Students will analyze primary sources and historiographical debates to understand how the war reshaped the modern world.

Focusing on the spiritual, cultural, and political dimensions of pilgrimage across world religions and regions, this course examines historical pilgrimage routes and their significance. Students will explore how Christian pilgrimage has shaped identity, community, and cross-cultural exchange.

Explore the dynamic and often turbulent interactions among the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings in the British Isles. This course traces the cultural, political, and military transformations through history emphasizing identity, migration, and empire.

This course traces the transformation of the Ottoman Empire into the modern Turkish Republic, examining key reforms, conflicts, and cultural shifts. Topics vary and will inform on the contemporary political and social developments in Turkey.

Workshops are designed to enhance the study of History from various perspectives. Topics will vary. Credit may vary.

Explore how geography shapes cultural identities, practices, and historical development across regions. This workshop examines spatial relationships and the role of place in shaping human experience.

Examine the evolution of museums in contemporary society, including issues of representation, accessibility, and digital innovation from small private collections to large nonprofit institutions. Students will engage with current debates in museum studies and public history.

Learn the principles and practices of preserving historic sites and structures. This workshop introduces students to the tools and challenges of public history and heritage conservation.

The so-called Witchcraft Craze, from the 15th through 17th century, resulted in the trials and executions of tens of thousands of alleged witches in Europe, during a time of enormous religious, political, economic, and cultural upheavals. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this workshop will explore the historical origins and consequences of this phenomenon, by examining primary source materials, various theories from the fields of psychology and medicine, and tracing the subsequent development of the witch-figure in western popular culture.

With revolution sparking and the toppling of dictators in recent months, the general public has reawakened to the importance and volatility of North Africa. This region connects physically and cultural with surrounding regions, i.e. the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe, yet it remains distinct. The course will focus briefly on the rise of Islam in the region, but will focus most of its attention on the imposition of Islamic imperial rule in the region by the Ottoman Empire and various Moroccan dynasties and discuss the coming of the Europeans and imposition of European colonial rule. The modern states of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco will be highlighted. There will also be some attention given to Mauritania and the Western Sahara.

Concern for human impact on the natural environment has been growing over the past two centuries. This workshop will place the modern environmental movement in a deep history context by asking how humans have interacted with their environment over the past fifty thousand years. Should we see people as a part of nature or not? How have we both altered the ecosystems we lived in and found sustainable ways of living? What have been the turning points in the story, and the contributions of fascinating game-changers like Henry David Thoreau, John James Audubon, John Muir, Teddy Roosevelt, and Rachel Carson? In the second half of the workshop we will shift from history to science as we examine the evidence for contemporary environmental threats and solutions. The workshop will involve a mix of lecture, discussion, small group presentations and film, and will be team taught by a member of the chemistry department.

Examine the enduring political, cultural, and social consequences of the First World War. This workshop explores how the war reshaped national boundaries, ideologies, and collective memory across the globe.

Analyze the leadership styles, strategies, and legacies of three iconic World War II generals. This workshop offers a comparative look at Allied and Axis command through military history and biography.

The frequent occurrence of deadly terrorist attacks in various countries around the world, regular revelations of potential threats and foiled plots, as well as the introduction of more and more extensive security measures are constant reminders of how much terrorism has impacted and changed the modern world. However, the use of terror as a tactic to achieve political, religious, or ideological ends is not new in history, in fact it goes all the way back to ancient times. This workshop will critically examine the motivations and methods of various terrorist organizations of the last two centuries, from Narodnaya Volya, the Black Hand, the IRA, ETA, PLO, FLN, RAF, and many others, up to the present-day terrorist syndicates of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Boko Haram. Furthermore, this workshop will attempt to explore various moral and psychological aspects of terrorism, and analyze the successes or failures of counter-terrorist policies. The goal of this workshop is to illuminate the complexities of this problematic topic, and to stimulate thoughtful discussion.

Gain hands-on experience working with historical archives and primary source materials. This workshop introduces students to archival research methods and the role of archives in preserving public memory.

Students learn about the foundations and methodology of oral history. Review oral history projects as a powerful tool for meaningful contributions to the field of history.

Examine the religious, historical, and political dimensions of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This workshop explores sacred geography and the enduring significance of pilgrimage in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Reflect on the events leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. This workshop considers the political, social, and cultural legacies of a divided and reunited Germany.

Explore the rich and complex history of Central Asia, from ancient empires to modern nation-states. This workshop highlights cultural exchange, trade, and geopolitical significance in the region.

Examine key events and transformations in Germany from the Weimar Republic through reunification. This workshop focuses on war, ideology, division, and memory in modern German history.

Study the historical and geopolitical importance of the Persian Gulf region. This workshop explores colonial legacies, oil politics, and regional conflicts shaping the modern Middle East.

Trace the evolution of organized crime in Chicago from Prohibition-era gangsters to contemporary networks. This workshop examines crime, law enforcement, and cultural representations of the underworld.

Engage with the national debate over the founding narratives of the United States. This workshop explores competing historical interpretations and their implications for American identity and memory.

Explore the intersection of youth identity and popular music across the 20th and 21st centuries. This workshop examines how music reflects and shapes social movements, rebellion, and cultural change.

This internship provides an opportunity for supervised, history-related, work experience in non-academic settings.

Students undertake intensive study in an area jointly chosen by the student and a history faculty member and approved by the chairperson.

This course assists students in the writing of their senior history capstone essay while reviewing the major themes of historiography, the study of the ongoing debate between successive, competing schools of historical interpretation. The course is required for Senior History majors and some minors. With HIST 20300, this course fulfills the advanced writing requirement.