HIST 102
Spring 2013
History 102
Dr. A. Wingenter
TTH 5:30-6:15
EVOLUTION OF WESTERN IDEAS AND INSTITUTIONS SINCE 1648
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND LEARNING OUTCOMES:
This course will provide an analytical overview of the major intellectual, political, and socio-economic developments of the past three centuries that have fundamentally shaped the contemporary world. In the process, students will not only learn what changes took place, but, more importantly, why they occurred and when they did. Students will also be exposed to historical methods of analysis that can help them to understand the past and analyze more deeply the realities of the world in which they live. This course satisfies the historical knowledge area of the core curriculum and, in essay tests, online postings and class discussions, it also hones critical thinking skills. In addition this course meets the core course value criterion by promoting an understanding of the evolution of western concepts of social justice since the seventeenth century.
SKILLS:
This course teaches how to assess forces for social change over time by examining key people, ideas, and institutions that fostered or resisted these changes. Students will realize that today’s world has not always existed and will not continue in the same form forever and that each individual is part of historical change and has a responsibility to promote social justice based on knowledge of the past.
The course will rely on both primary and secondary source materials found in the lectures, textbook and primary source readings, and in oral and written responses to these materials. The goal of this work is to develop critical thinking about historical change itself and also about how historical thinking is created and evaluated.
VALUES:
This course will illustrate how societies can promote social justice and injustice and how an understanding of history can develop social conscience in the present day.
Class lectures, reading assignments, and writing exercises will ask students to use their expanding knowledge of history in assessing the changing social values of past societies in the west.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
McKay, Hill & Buckler, A History of Western Society, Vol. C
Primary sources: on Blackboard
LECTURE THEMES AND READING ASSIGNMENTS:
Week 1, Jan. 15-17: INTRODUCTION/SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
Reading: documents on BlackBoard
Week 2, Jan. 22-24: ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
Reading: McKay, pp.618-633; documents on BlackBoard
Week 3, Jan. 29-31: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEON
Reading: McKay, pp.633-651; documents on BlackBoard
Week 4, Feb. 5-7: THE BRITISH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Reading: McKay, pp.654-681 documents on BlackBoard
Week 5, Feb.13-17: CONSERVATISM, LIBERALISM, & NATIONALISM
Reading: McKay, pp.684-713; documents on BlackBoard
** FIRST MIDTERM EXAMINATION **
Week 6, Feb. 12-14: FROM REVOLUTION TO CONSERVATIVE TRIUMPH
Reading: McKay, pp.748-759; documents on BlackBoard
Week 7, Feb.19-21: THE EMERGENCE OF MASS SOCIETY
Reading: McKay, pp.716-746; documents on BlackBoard
Week 8, Feb 26-28: THE NEW MASS POLITICS
Reading: McKay, pp.761-778; documents on BlackBoard
Week 9, March 5-7: SPRING BREAK
Week 10, Mar.12-14: EUROPEAN IMPERIAL EXPANSION
Reading: McKay, pp.780-811; documents on BlackBoard
** SECOND MIDTERM EXAMINATION**
Week 11, Mar. 19-21-22: ORIGINS AND NATURE OF WORLD WAR I
Reading: McKay, pp.814-833; documents on BlackBoard
Week 12, Mar 26: THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
Reading: McKay, pp.833-838, 891-898; documents on BlackBoard
Mar 28 is part of Easter Break
Week 13, Apr.2-4: POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF WAR & REVOLUTION
Reading: McKay, pp.838-849, 852-871; documents on BlackBoard
Week 14, Apr. 9-11: FROM NATIONAL SOCIALISM TO WORLD WAR II
Reading: McKay, pp.871-883, 898-920;
Week 15, Apr. 16-18: THE WEST AND THE WORLD SINCE 1945
Reading: McKay, pp.922-991
FINAL EXAMINATION: TBA
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1. Class Participation, BlackBoard postings - 20%
2. Midterm Examinations (2) - 40%
3. Final Examination - 40%
OFFICE HOURS: Room 117 TTH 4:30-5:25
E-MAIL ADDRESS: Awingen@luc.edu
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Students who engage in cheating or plagiarism on any quiz or examination will be awarded a grade of “F” in the course.