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This course is based on the assumption that there is a place called “the West,” and that studying the history of “the West” is helpful in attempting to come to terms with the contemporary world. To this end, we will survey topics in Western society, culture, environment, and politics from the Protestant Reformation to recent events. We will pay attention to large, comparative themes. If you are interested in the environment, philosophy, in comparative religions, in women and gender history, in science, politics, art, empires and great battles of the past then this course if for you. If you are not sure, but think you might be interested in some of these things, this is especially the course for you! The course will focus on Europe but we will also consider Europe’s relationships with other parts of the world.
The course will be divided into three parts, punctuated by examinations. The first part will begin roughly with the Renaissance during the fifteenth century and carry forward to the “Age of Enlightenment,” while noting the impact of the Little Ice Age. The second part will begin with the French Revolution and industrialization, and will proceed to the eve of the First World War. The final part will examine the Russian Revolution, the rise of fascism and Stalinism, two world wars, and postwar themes such as the onset of global warming, decolonization, European unification, youth culture, the end of Communism, and the “new immigration.”