History Courses
Cat. II
A survey of ecological thought from origins in ancient ideas about nature and the human place in nature, through the environmental thought of the Romantic Movement and responses to industrialization in the United States, and of the rise of ecology as a scientific discipline, this course will examine both the development of ecological sciences themselves and the relationship of the science of ecology to historically evolving schools of environmental thought.
This course will be offered in 2008-09 and in alternate years thereafter.
HI 2328. History of Revolutions in the Twentieth Century.
Cat. II
A survey of some of the most important revolutionary movements of the twentieth century. We may consider topics such as racial, nationalist, feminist and non-violent revolutionary ideologies, communist revolution, the "green" revolution and cultural revolution. No prior knowledge of the history of revolutions is expected.
This course will be offered in 2007-08 and in alternate years thereafter.
IS 1813. American History for International Students.
Cat. I
An introduction to American history designed to provide international students with a basic understanding of the history and culture of the United States. Written and oral assignments will also help these students gain a more effective command of the English language.
HI 3343. Topics in Asian History.
Cat. I
This seminar course examines topics in the cultural, socio-economic, religious and political history of East Asia. Topics vary each year and may include the following: nationalism and the writing of history, travel and exploration narratives, cross-cultural contact, the role of religion and ideology in political history, development and the environment in Asia, film and history, and the place of minorities and women in Asian societies.
Suggested background: previous courses on Asia such as HU 1412, HI 2328, HI 2343, or RE 2724.
HI 3342. Topics in Comparative Civilizations.
Cat. II
This seminar course compares and contrasts major religious, philosophical, social, and political themes in different civilizations. Comparisons will vary each year but may be drawn from Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, Africa, and indigenous cultures of the Americas. It examines the historical foundations of these civilizational differences and draws comparisons with common features of Western civilization. One important goal of the course is to enhance student appreciation of non-Western values and traditions.
This course will be offered in 2008-09 and in alternating years thereafter.
HI 3341. Topics in Imperial and Postcolonial History.
Cat. II
This seminar course examines topics in the history of European imperialism, colonialism, and the postcolonial aftermath. Topics vary each year among the following: culture and imperialism, the expansion of Europe, the economics of empire, travel and exploration narratives, imperialism in literature and anthropology, decolonization in Asia and Africa, postcolonial studies. Readings will include primary and secondary sources.
This course will be offered in 2008-09 and in alternating years thereafter.
HI 3334. Topics in the History of American Science and Technology.
Cat I
This seminar will examine a particular issue or theme in the history of American science and technology. Topics will vary from year to year, but may include: technology and the built environment; science, technology and the arts; communications of science and scientific issues with the larger public; technology and scientific illustration; science in popular culture; science and the law; or close examination of episodes in the history of American science and technology such as the American Industrial Revolution; science and technology in the years between the world wars; the Manhattan Project; science and the culture of the Cold War; or science, technology and war in American history. This course will require significant reading and writing.
Suggested background: Some familiarity with history of science or history of technology, and with United States history.
HI 3333. Topics in American Technological Development.
Cat. I
A seminar course examining selected examples of technological change in the United States. Topics from which these case studies might be chosen include: colonial technology; mechanization of ante-bellum industry; the impact of science on Gilded-Age technology; 20th-century behavioral technologies; the evolution of the military-industrial complex; the Manhattan Project; the exploitation of space; computers and post-World-War-II technology; and the emergence of biotechnology. In addressing these cases, this seminar will employ and seek to evaluate one or more significant historical theses about the nature of technological change.
Suggested background: Some familiarity with the basic outlines and concerns of both American history and the history of American technology.
HI 3331. Topics in Science, Technology, and Society.
Cat. I
A seminar course on the relationships among science, technology, and society in Europe through a series of case studies. Topics from which the case studies might be drawn include: the harnessing of science for industrial purposes; the role of the chemical industry in war; the function of the science advisor in government; the military-industrial complex in Nazi Germany; the political views and activities of major scientists such as Einstein.
Suggested background: Courses in European history and the history of science and technology.
HI 3323. Topics in the Western Intellectual Tradition.
Cat. II
This seminar course in the history of ideas focuses each year on a different theme within the intellectual-cultural traditions of Western Civilization. Some topics are the following: The Impact of the New Physics on 20th Century Philosophy; The Social History of Ideas; The Enlightenment and the French Revolution; Sexuality, Psycho-analysis, and Revolution. The course is structured around classroom discussion of major texts on the topic under study and a related research paper.
This course will be offered in 2009-10 and in alternating years thereafter.
HI 3321. Topics in Modern European History.
Cat. II
This seminar course examines topics in the cultural, socio-economic and political history of modern Europe, with a focus on Great Britain. Topics may vary each year among the following: nationalism, class and gender, political economy, environmental history, sport and society, film and history. Readings will include primary and secondary sources.
This course will be offered in 2009-10 and in alternating years thereafter.
HI 3317. Topics in Environmental History.
Cat. II
In this seminar course, students will explore one aspect of U.S. or global environmental history in more depth. Topics vary each year but may include environmental thought, environmental reform movements, comparative environmental movements, natural disasters, the history of ecology, built environments, environmental justice, New England environmental history, or the environmental history of South Asia or another region of the world. The course will require substantial reading and writing.
Suggested background: HI 2401 U.S. Environmental History.
This course will be offered in 2008-2009, and in alternating years thereafter.
HI 3316. Topics in Twentieth-Century U.S. History.
Cat. II
In this advanced seminar course, students will explore one aspect of twentiethcentury U.S. history in more depth. Topics vary each year but may include political movements such as the New Deal or the Civil Rights Movement, an aspect of American foreign policy such as the Cold War, a short time period such as the 1960s, a cultural phenomenon such as consumption, or a geographical focus such as cities or New England. The course will require substantial reading and writing.
Suggested background: HI 2314 (American History, 1877-1920), HI 2315 (The Shaping of Post-1920 America), or other American history courses.
This course will be offered in 2009-10, and in alternating years thereafter.
HI 3314. The American Revolution.
Cat. I
This seminar course considers the social, political, and intellectual history of the years surrounding American independence, paying particular attention to the changes in society and ideas that shaped the revolt against Great Britain, the winning of independence, and the creation of new political structures that led to the Constitution.
HI 3312. Topics in American Social History.
Cat. I
A seminar course on analysis of selected aspects of social organization in American history, with emphasis on the composition and changing societal character of various groups over time, and their relationship to larger social, economic, and political developments. Typical topics include: communities, families, minorities, and women.
Suggested background: Some college-level American history.
HI 3311. American Labor History.
Cat. I
This seminar course will deal with the history of organized labor in America as well as with the historic contributions of working people, whether unionized or not, to the growth and development of American ideas, politics, culture, and society. Among the topics to be covered will be: the origins, growth, and expansion of trade and industrial unionism; the roots and development of working class consciousness; the underlying causes and eventual resolution of labor disturbances; the philosophical and ideological perspectives of the labor movement. Students will explore topics raised by common readings via written papers, seminar presentations, and work with primary source materials.
Suggested background: HI 2314, American History, 1877-1920; or HI 2315, The Shaping of Post-1920 America.
HI 2402. History of Evolutionary Thought.
Cat. II
This course will trace the history of evolutionary thought, including the growth of the geological sciences and expanding concepts of geological time, increased global travel suggesting new perspectives on biogeography, discoveries of fossils of now-extinct animals, and developments in comparative embryology and anatomy, culminating in the synthesis effected in 1859 by Charles Darwin, and in the Modern Synthesis of the 1940s. It will include emphases on the relationships of evolutionary and religious thought, and on depictions of evolutionary themes in the larger culture, including the arts, film, literature and popular culture, and will examine controversies, including current controversies, over evolution and the teaching of evolution in public schools in the United States.
This course will be offered in 2009-10 and in alternate years thereafter.
HI 2401. U.S. Environmental History.
Cat. II
This course surveys the environmental history of North America from the time of Columbus until the present, exploring how the environment has shaped human culture, and how human activity and human ideas have shaped nature. We will examine changes during three periods: a "contact" period focusing on the ecological, economic and cultural ramifications of Old World-New World interconnection; a "development" period focusing on the rise of a market-based, urban-industrial society during the nineteenth century; and a final period characterized by the growth of reform movements to protect nature and the increasing global movement of goods and ideas in the twentieth century. In each period, we will trace changes in production, labor, and consumption patterns; transportation and other technologies; science, knowledge, and planning; disease, health and medicine; and cultural understandings, political debates, and place-making strategies.
This course will be offered in 2009-10 and in alternating years thereafter.
HI 2343. East Asia: China at the Center.
Cat. II
This course will explore two thousand years of Asian participation in an international system, in Asia and with the rest of the world. Whether ruled by Chinese, Turks, Mongols or Manchus, China has been the political and cultural center of East Asia. Understanding the role of this superpower is critical to Asian and world history. The course will focus on themes such as the cosmopolitan experience, the early development and application of ‘modern’ ideas such as bureaucracy, market economy, and paper currency, and the centrality of religious ideology as a tool in statecraft. No prior knowledge of Asian history is required.
This course will be offered in 2008-09, and in alternate years thereafter.
HI 2341. Contemporary World Issues in Historical Perspective.
Cat. II
This course examines the historical origins of contemporary global crises and political transformations. Students keep abreast of on-going current events through periodical literature and explore the underlying long-term causes of these events as analyzed by scholarly historical texts. Topics will vary each time the course is taught but may include such topics as: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Democratization in Africa, The Developing World and Globalization. No prior knowledge of world history is required.
This course will be offered in 2007-08 and in alternating years thereafter.
HI 2334. European Technological Development.
Cat. I
A survey of the development of technology in Europe from the late medieval period to World War I. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the evolution of technology within its cultural, social, and political contexts. Topics may include the military, mechanical, maritime, and building technologies of the medieval and Renaissance periods; the commonly misunderstood figure of Leonardo da Vinci; the causes and nature of the Industrial Revolution; the effects of the British Industrial Revolution in France and Germany in the 19th century; the transition from craft-based industries to those that are science based such as the dyestuffs and electrical power industries; World War I as a technological conflict.
HI 2330. History of American Science and Technology.
Cat. I
This course surveys American science and technology from the colonial period to the present. Topics will include: the influence of the Scientific Revolution in the United States; the American Industrial Revolution; the rise of science as a profession; Darwinism and Social Darwinism; scientific education; positivism and the growth of the physical sciences; the new biology and medicine; conservation; the gospel of efficiency and progressivism; science, World War I and the 1920s; the intellectual migration and its influence; science, technology and World War II; Big Science, the Cold War, and responses to Big Science; and cultural responses to science and controversies about science.
Cat. II
This course examines the historical origins of modern France and the distinguishing features of French society and culture. Some of the topics covered include: Bourbon absolutism; the cause and effects of the French Revolution; the struggle for democratic liberalism in the 19th century; class and ideological conflict in the Third Republic; Vichy fascism, and present-day politics in the Fifth Republic. No prior knowledge of French history is required.
This course will be offered in 2008-09 and in alternating years thereafter.
HI 2324. Industry and Empire in British History.
Cat. I
A survey of modern Britain from the 18th century to the present. Topics include the British state and national identity, the industrial revolution, political and social reform, the status of women, sport and society, Ireland, the British Empire, the World Wars, the welfare state, economic decline. Especially appropriate as background for students planning IQP's or Sufficiency Projects in London. No prior knowledge of British history is required.
HI 2322. Europe Since World War I.
Cat. I
A survey of the major political, socio-economic, and cultural developments in European history since World War I. The course will focus upon those factors and events that have led to the current world situation: the World Wars, fascism and communism, the Holocaust, the Cold War, the welfare state, decolonization, post-industrial society, popular culture, the collapse of communism, contemporary Europe. No prior knowledge of European history is required.
HI 2321. Europe from the Old Regime to World War I.
Cat. I
A survey of the major socio-economic, political, and cultural developments in European history from the Old Regime to World War I. The course will focus upon those factors and events that led to the formation of modern European society: Nation-State building, The French Revolution, industrialization; liberalism, democracy, and socialism; national unification of Italy and Germany; the coming of World War I. No prior knowledge of European history is required.
HI 2317. Law and Society in America, 1865-1910.
Cat. I
This survey course explores the dramatic expansion of government's role in American life between the Civil War and World War I. It does so by examining the response of constitutional, common, and statutory law to the social, economic, and political change associated with this pivotal period in the nation's history.
HI 2316. American Foreign Policy from Woodrow Wilson to the Present.
Cat. I
This survey of American diplomatic history begins with the legacy of Woodrow Wilson, continues through our apparent isolation in the 1920's, American neutrality in the 1930's, World War II, the early and later Cold War periods, and concludes with an overview of the current global involvement of the United States.
HI 2315. The Shaping of Post-1920 America.
Cat. II
This course surveys the major political, social, and economic changes of American history from 1920 to the present. Emphasis will be placed on the Great Depression, the New Deal, suburbanization, McCarthyism, the persistence of poverty, the domestic effects of the Vietnam war, and recent demographic trends.
HI 2314. American History, 1877-1920.
Cat. I
This course surveys the transformation of the United States into an urban and industrial nation. Topics will include changes in the organization of business and labor, immigration and the development of cities, the peripheral role of the South and West in the industrial economy, politics and government in the age of "laissez-faire," and the diverse sources and nature of late 19th- and early 20thcentury reform movements.
HI 2313. American History, 1789-1877.
Cat. I
This course surveys American history from the Presidency of George Washington to the Civil War and its aftermath. Topics include the rise of American democracy, the emergence of middle-class culture, and the forces that pulled apart the Union and struggled to put it back together.
HI 2311. American Colonial History.
Cat. I
This course surveys early American history up to the ratification of the Constitution. It considers the tragic interactions among Europeans, Indians, and Africans on the North American continent, the growth and development of English colonies, and the revolt against the Empire that culminated in the creation of the United States of America.
HI 1341. Introduction to Global History.
Cat. I
An introduction to the study of global history since 1500. Topics include global expansion, the Columbian exchange, and the slave trade; Renaissance, Reformation, and revolution in Europe; global industrialization, imperialism, and nation building; the world wars and revolutionary movements; decolonization and the Cold War. The course will also discuss case studies of developing nations of interest to students. Especially appropriate as background for students interested in International Studies or any of WPI's global Project Centers.
HI 1332. Introduction to the History of Technology.
Cat. I
An introduction to concepts of historical analysis - i.e., the nature and methodology of scholarly inquiry about the past - through the concentrated examination of selected case studies in the history of technology. Possible topics include: the influence of slavery on the development of technology in the ancient world and the middle ages; the power revolution of the middle ages; the causes of the Industrial Revolution in 18th-century Britain; and the emergence of sciencebased technology in 19th-century America.
HI 1331. Introduction to the History of Science.
Cat. I
An introduction to the methods and source material historians use to study science. Topics covered will range from early Greek science to Newton and the Scientific Revolution in the 17th-century.
Suggested background: elementary knowledge of science.
HI 1322. Introduction to European Cultural History.
Cat. I
In this course students think through some of the major intellectual currents that have defined modern Western Civilization. Topics include the philosophical impact of science on modern thought, the development of liberalism and socialism, the crisis of culture in the twentieth century. Students read selections from major thinkers in the Western tradition and develop their skills at critical thinking, analysis, oral and written argument. No prior knowledge of European history is required.
HI 1321. Introduction to European Social History.
Cat. I
An introduction to the study of modern European social history since the Industrial Revolution. Topics will include industrialization in Britain and Europe, class formation, gender and the condition of women, technology and economy, culture and society. Students will learn to work with historical sources, to formulate arguments, to read critically, and to write clearly. No prior knowledge of European history is required.
HI 1314. Introduction to Early American History.
Cat. I
An introduction to historical analysis through selected periods or themes in the history of America before the Civil War. A variety of readings will reflect the various ways that historians have attempted to understand the development of America.
HI 1313. Introduction to the Study of Foreign Policy and Diplomatic History.
Cat. I
An introduction to the various components of U.S. foreign policy decisionmaking and the basic techniques of diplomatic history. The course will focus on one or two topics in the history of American foreign relations, using a variety of primary documents and secondary sources.
HI 1312. Introduction to American Social History.
Cat. I
An introduction to the historical study of American society. It addresses two questions: What is social history? And how do social historians work?
HI 1311. Introduction to American Urban History.
Cat. I
An introduction to the history of the American city as an important phenomenon in itself and as a reflection of national history. The course will take an interdisciplinary approach to study the political, economic, social, and technological patterns that have shaped the growth of urbanization. In addition to reading historical approaches to the study of American urban history, students may also examine appropriate works by sociologists, economists, political scientists and city planners who provide historical perspective.
HI 2342. CULTURES IN CONTACT: THE WORLD TO 1650.
Cat. II
This course surveys global history from the adoption of agriculture to the initial stage of global colonialism, focusing on major and informative instances of intercultural contact. The course is organized around case studies that may include the agricultural revolution; the diffusion of religious traditions; Rome as multicultural empire; the Silk Road; exchanges around the Indian Ocean; the expansion of Islam; The Crusades; European encounters with the New World; and Japanese contact with the West.
This course will be offered in 2006-07 and in alternating years thereafter.