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.