Historical Foundations of the Modern West

Matthew N. Vosmeier

Winter 2005

866-7211          vosmeier@hanover.edu

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First Page	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4
Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9
Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Week 13

Course description and required texts:

This course is one of a "stacked" pair of courses in the new Modern Societies LADR. This LADR is designed to enable students to examine modern society from anthropological and historical perspectives. "Historical Foundations of the Modern West" is an introduction to the ideas, themes, events, and personalities that have shaped modern Western Civilization, emphasizing the history of Western Europe and America since the Renaissance. It is designed to provide students with an introduction to historical thinking and method. Students will analyze primary sources, consider the importance of historical context and perspective, discuss their ideas with colleagues, and interpret the sources in light of the broad themes that have characterized the history of modern Europe and America.

Required Texts:

1. Thomas H. Greer and Gavin Lewis, A Brief History of the Western World. Volume 2, Since 1300, 9th ed.
2. Eugen Weber, The Western Tradition. Volume 2, From the Renaissance to the Present
3. Online Documents and Articles

You will need to print out online reading assignments and to make photocopies of material on reserve at Duggan Library.

Study Guide for Primary Sources

The final course grade will be calculated from the following:

1. Three exams: a short first exam (5%), a midterm (20%), and a final exam (25%). The first exam will be an essay question. The other two will consist of identification terms and essays. Students are expected to take the exams on the days scheduled. In cases of necessity, requests for make-ups should be made before the day of the exam.

2. Two papers (each 14%). These papers will involve an analysis of primary sources. Late papers will be assessed a penalty.

3. A Presentation (7%). Students will make a presentation to the class. The topic will be approved by both instructors and will integrate themes from both classes.

4. Class participation (15%). Class participation includes collegial involvement in class discussions and the completion of brief assignments.

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Jan. 10: Introduction and Background

Jan. 11: E. D. Hirsch, Cultural Literacy (1987): on reserve, xiii-32

Jan. 12: Individuals in Community: A Classical Perspective. Pericles, "Funeral Oration" (431 BC), online.

Jan. 14: Individuals in Community: A Biblical Perspective. Paul, 1 Cor. 1:1-17, 10:23-13:13 (ca. AD 54); 2 Cor. 11:16-29 (ca. AD 55). Gal. 3:23-29 (ca. AD 53).

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Jan. 17: Historical Analysis and Writing
Petrus Paulus Vergerius, "De Ingenuis Moribus" (ca. 1404), online

Renaissance and Reformation

Jan. 18: Transformation of Europe; Renaissance Humanism. Greer & Lewis, 299-307, 335- 342, 344-356. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, from Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486), in Weber, 3-6.

Jan. 19: Review session

Jan. 21: Renaissance Politics. Greer & Lewis, 307-313. Niccolò Machiavelli, from The Prince (1513), in Weber, 10-23.

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Jan. 24: Overseas Exploration and Expansion. Greer & Lewis, 318-334. Charles C. Mann, "1491," in Atlantic Monthly (March 2002).

Jan 25: Jan. 26: Individualism and Community in Early Modern Society. Discussion of the film Le retour de Martin Guerre (1982 film, set ca. 1560).
"The Spectacle of Public Executions" (Jacques Callot, early seventeenth century), in Weber, 44- 45
"Intimacy" pictorial essay, in Weber, 208-212

Jan. 28: The Reformation. Greer & Lewis, 364-367, 384-387. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (1545), in Weber, 71-73. Council of Trent (1545- 1563), in Weber, 76-85

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Jan. 31. The English Reformation and English Puritanism. Greer & Lewis, 380-384. John Winthrop, "A Modell of Christian Charity" (1630).

Feb 1: Review Session
Presentation Topics due

The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: Absolutism, Enlightenment, and Lockean Liberalism

Feb. 2: Absolutism. Greer & Lewis, 398-400, 408-411, 416-418. Jacques Bossuet, On the Nature and Properties of Royal Authority (1678) in Weber, 178-182. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651), in Weber, 182-194.

Feb 4: The English Revolution, Greer & Lewis, 446-451. John Locke, Second Treatise on Government (1690), in Weber, 194-206.

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Feb. 7: The Scientific Revolution. Greer & Lewis, 418-425. Galileo Galilei, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany (1615), in Weber, 150-153. Isaac Newton, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687), in Weber, 162-164.

Feb. 8: Discuss Paper Drafts

Feb. 9: Discuss Paper Drafts

Feb. 11: The Enlightenment.
First Paper due

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Feb. 14: The Enlightenment, Greer & Lewis, 425-431. John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) in Weber, 164-167. Voltaire, The Philosophical Dictionary (1764).

Feb. 15: The American Revolution and Early Republic. Greer & Lewis,451-456. Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence (1776), in Weber, 267-270. Preamble to the Constitution (1787) and The Bill of Rights (1791)."" James Madison, Federalist #10 (1787).

Feb. 16: The French Revolution and Empire. Greer & Lewis, 445-446, 456-464. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1763), in Weber, 224-232. Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789), in Weber, 294-296. Maximilien de Robespierre, Notes and Democracy and Terror(1793- 1794), in Weber, 306-308.

Feb. 18: Review for Midterm Exam

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Feb. 21: Midterm Exam

Feb. 22: Discuss presentation topics

The Nineteenth Century

Feb 23: Conservative Reaction. Greer & Lewis,473-478. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the French Revolution (1790), in Weber, 310-319.

Feb. 25: Romanticism. Greer & Lewis, 480-489. William Blake, poems (1794-1810), in Weber, 340-342. William Wordsworth, poems (1792, 1802), in Weber, 342-343.

(Winter Break begins at the close of class day, Friday, Feb. 25. Class resumes Monday, Mar. 7.)

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Mar. 7: Music of the Western World. Greer & Lewis, 439-442, 490-491, 672-673

Mar. 8: Liberalism. Greer & Lewis, 491-497. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859) and John Stuart Mill, "Utilitarianism" (1854), in Weber, 354-370

Mar. 9: Nationalism. Greer & Lewis, 497-501. Joseph Mazzini,An Essay On the Duties of Man (1844), in Weber, 389-394. Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address (1863)

Mar. 11: Socialism. Greer & Lewis, 517-523. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Communist Manifesto (1848), in Weber, 415-434.

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Mar. 14: Review Session

Mar. 15: American Security, American Liberty, and the Patriot Act. (Discussion in conjunction with the CFI Winter Symposium)

Mar. 16: Class Presentations

Mar. 18: Class Presentations

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Mar. 21: Late Nineteenth-Century Social Thought. Greer & Lewis, 528-530. Andrew Carnegie, "The Gospel of Wealth" (1889), in Weber, 464-467. Thomas Huxley, Evolution and Ethics (1893), in Weber, 458-461.

Mar. 22: Review Session

Imperialism, Racism, Statism

Mar. 23: Race and Racism in the Progressive Era. Booker T. Washington, "The Atlanta Exposition Address" (1895). W. E. B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903).

Mar. 25: The New Imperialism. Greer & Lewis, 548-556. Rudyard Kipling, "The White Man's Burden," (1898), in Weber, 520-522 . Dadabhai Naoroji, "London Speech of 1871" (1871).

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Mar. 28: World War I. Greer & Lewis, 556-567. World War I poetry, in Weber, 540-544.

Mar. 29: Discuss paper drafts

Mar. 30: The Russian Revolution. Greer & Lewis, 568-576. V.I. Lenin, "State and Revolution," (1918). Joseph Stalin, "Industrialization of the Country" (1928).

Apr. 1: Statist Regimes and World War II. Greer & Lewis, 576-582, 585-591. Benito Mussolini, "The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism" (1932), in Weber, 586-593. Adolf Hitler, from Mein Kampf (1926),

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American Society and the World since 1945

Apr. 4: The Cold War. Greer & Lewis, 595-603, 626-637. Second Paper Due

Apr. 5: Discussion of Film

Apr. 6: Decolonization. Greer & Lewis, 603-612, 614-624. Jawaharlal Nehru, various excerpts.

Apr. 8: Civil Rights. Greer & Lewis, 612-614. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" (1963), online. Black Panther Party Platform (1966), online