History

Courses

HIST131L: American History I

This course covers American history from before European colonization until approximately 1865, and examines the development of American politics, society, and culture over this period.  The course pays special attention to colonization, the American Revolution and founding documents, political and economic developments, treatments of indigenous people, slavery, and the Civil War.

HIST132L: American History II

This course covers American history from approximately 1865 to the present, and examines the development of American politics, society, and culture over this period.  The course pays special attention to the Reconstruction period, American foreign policy, the World Wars, the Great Depression, the New Deal, the Cold War, and civil rights movements.

HIST138L: Women in U.S. History - 1600 to the Present

This course is a multicultural survey of women'92s roles, experiences and contributions to American society and culture from 1600 to the present. Topics included will be colonial women and domestic work; witchcraft persecutions; women as masters and slaves; women reformers; the suffrage and woman'92s rights movement; women and war; women'92s physical and mental health; women and political power; immigrant women; women as Other - lesbians and gender rebels; women in the Civil Rights and peace movements; women and political power; contemporary feminism.

HIST140L: New Hampshire History

This course examines major social, cultural, political, and technological events, trends, and movements in New Hampshire, from the time before the glaciers to today. Topics covered include: geology and geography of New Hampshire, the original inhabitants, European arrival, New Hampshire'92s role in the shaping of America and the world. Special attention will be given to the personalities and legends that give New Hampshire its unusual character and reputation.

HIST210L: World History I

This survey course covers the historical development of various representative world cultures and civilizations until approximately 1500. Areas covered include: human evolution and migration out of Africa, prehistoric human cultures, the Agricultural Revolutions in the Old and New Worlds, the major “Cradles of Civilization”: Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Mesoamerica, and the Andes, human technical developments, the development of political and legal systems, Ancient Europe, Medieval Europe, contact between Asia and Europe, and other topics. Students will understand history as not only WHO, WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN but will also understand the “WHY”.

HIST220L: World History II

This survey course covers the historical development of various representative world cultures and civilizations from approximately 1500 to the present. Areas covered include: European expansion and conquest; the development of the “modern” political and economic systems; the rise and fall of “empires”; the Industrial Revolution; the Enlightenment and its influence; the development of the modern nation-state; imperialism, colonialism, and nationalism. Students will understand history as not only WHO, WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN but will understand the “WHY”.

HIST225L: History of the Twentieth Century

The course examines major social, cultural, political, and technological events, trends, and movements in the world during the twentieth century. Topics covered include: Russian Revolution, Communism, World Wars I and II, industrial and technological advances and trends, the demise of colonialism, the Cold War, the Middle East, Vietnam, social and cultural trends in the 1950'92s and 1960'92s, and the downfall of the Soviet Union. It is hoped that class members will go beyond an understanding of history as simply “who, where and when,” and begin to understand why.

HIST235L: US Labor and Reform Movements

The focus of the course is on those trends, movements and leaders that have sought to give voice and power to the traditionally voiceless and powerless segments of American society. Movements that have fought to eliminate or reduce inequality based on class, gender and race and to realize the "American Dream” are studied. The history and development of organized labor and its effect on American life and culture and such related movements and trends as the Civil Rights and Women's Rights movements are discussed. Discussion of the music, art, literature and other elements of "popular culture" associated with these movements are examined.