Foundations of the Modern Age
Winter Semester 2006

Frank Luttmer
113 Classic Hall
M W F: 10:00-11:00
866-7205 (office) (502) 451-5351 (home)
historians@hanover.edu


Course Description and Objectives

Foundations of the Modern Age is a historical introduction to the ideas, institutions, and events that shaped modern Western civilization. The course is designed both to develop essential knowledge of the origins and evolution of the modern world and to encourage a basic understanding of historical perspective and context. It also seeks to promote the skills essential to historical inquiry, including the capacity to define historical questions, analyze primary documents carefully, evaluate alternative interpretations critically, develop original arguments, and write essays clearly and effectively.


Required Readings

1. Thomas Greer and Gavin Lewis, A Brief History of the Western World Volume 2 Ninth edition (Harcourt) 0534642365
2. Diana Hacker, Rules for Writers Fifth edition (Bedford /St. Martins) 0312406851
3. Robert Strayer, et al, The Making of the Modern World (on reserve in the Duggan Library)
4. Electronic Texts and Images from the Internet


Grades

Final grades will be based on an evaluation of the following.

1. Three exams (20% each)
2. Research paper (20%)
3. Prospectus and in-class presentation (10%)
4. Class participation (10%)


Schedule


Jan. 11: Greer, 335-344; Vergerius; Pico
Jan. 13: Greer, 309-313; Machiavelli

Jan. 16: Greer, 364-380; Calvin
Jan. 18: Greer, 380-387, 394-400, 408-411, 416-418; Bossuet
Jan. 20: Greer, 445-451; Locke 1

Jan. 23: Locke 2
Jan. 25: Greer, 418-425; Galileo; Newton
Jan. 27: Greer, 425-432; Hume; Smith

Jan. 30: Greer, 299-307, 318-333; Equiano
Feb. 1: Strayer, 138-142; Winthrop; Franklin
Feb. 3: Greer, 451-456; Strayer, 142-143; Declaration; Federalist Papers

Feb. 6: First Exam
Feb. 8: Greer,456-471; Declaration; Robespierre
Feb. 10: Greer, 473-478, 491-501; Metternich; Mazzini; Bismark

Feb. 13: Strayer, 144-147; South Carolina
Feb. 15: Lincoln; Lincoln
Feb. 17: Greer, 503-516; Sadler Report

Feb. 20: Greer, 517-521; Marx and Engels 1
Feb. 22: Marx and Engels 2
Feb. 24: Greer, 521-523; Bernstein; Webb

Mar. 6: Green; Spencer; Hearing
Mar. 8: Strayer, 147-149; Carnegie; Populist; Washington; Du Bois
Mar. 10: Second Exam

Mar. 13: Greer, 526-530, 548-556; Strayer, 149-150; Lin Cixu; Naoroji; Kipling
Mar. 15: Greer, 556-567; WWI Poetry
Mar. 17: Greer, 568-572; Lenin; Prospectus Due

Mar. 20: Presentations
Mar. 22: Presentations
Mar. 24: Presentations

Mar. 27: Greer, 572-576; Stalin; Famine
Mar. 29: Greer, 576-582; Mussolini
Mar. 31: Greer, 582-591; Strayer, 150-152; Roosevelt; Himmler

Apr. 3: Greer, 595-612; Strayer, 152-154; Nehru
Apr. 5: Greer, 612-614; Strayer, 154-156; Martin Luther King Jr.; The Black Panther Party Platform
Apr. 7: Greer, 654-661; The Port Huron Statement; NOW

Apr. 10: Greer, 614-637; Strayer, 156-158; Reagan
Apr. 12: Greer, 676-710; Blair
Apr. 14: Greer, 720-730

Apr. 17-21: Third Exam