2. What is the significance of the Reformation?

3. How were good and evil blended in the religious wars and the economic expansion of the 16th and 17th centuries?

KEY DATES:

1. On Monday, Oct. 13, Laurie will give her second art presentation.

1. On THURSDAY, Oct. 16, we will have a test on the Reformation, Economic Expansion, and the Wars of Religion.

2. On Tuesday, Nov. 25, your Chain of Circumstance research paper is due.

THE WEEK OF SEPT. 29

CLASS ONE: THE RENAISSANCE TEST. HOMEWORK: for the third class period: read pages 77-98 in Palmer and the handout, “Luther Against the Peasants” (1525)

CLASS TWO: we will choose the officers for the magazine and its theme. The latter will also be your general topic for your fall research paper or Chain of Circumstance assignment.

CLASS THREE: we will discuss Monday’s homework. HOMEWORK: finish the Manchester handout–beginning on page 132–on Luther and the Reformation, and read the Bainton handout on Christianity that I will give you at the end of the period.

CLASS FOUR: we will discuss the homework: HOMEWORK: read sections 11 and 12 in Palmer.

THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 6

CLASS ONE: we will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: read sections 13 and 14 in Palmer.

CLASS TWO: we will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: finish chapter 3 in Palmer.

CLASS THREE: we will discuss the reading and choose questions for the test on the Reformation, Economic Renewal and the Wars of Religion Test. We will also choose people to outline for the blog. HOMEWORK: Work on these questions over the weekend . We will review them in class during the class period of next week.

CLASS FOUR: MAGAZINE DAY.

Feel free to use the page to discuss/share any materials relevant to the Art Lectures.

Enjoy!

1.First essay is a summary of Laurie Rojas talk that will be given on Sept. 23. This should be typed and handed in on the day of the test.

2. What is Humanism? Make sure you touch on as many facets as you can. Also, check the student blogs that should go up after Wednesday, the 24th.

3. What is Machiavelli’s political philosophy? How might it apply to the Presidential campaign?

4. Did women have a Renaissance?

Biweekly Eye Opener: He looks like a fool and talks like a fool, but don’t let him deceive you–he is a fool. The Marx Brothers

KEY DATES:

1. We will only meet twice this week because of Sophomore Retreat

2. Laurie Rojas will give her first art lecture on Tuesday, September 23. You will write up her talk and hand it in as one of your essays on the Renaissance test. It should be typed written and at least two pages.

3. On Wednesday, Sept. 24, your blog essays are due. Go toSign in to blog  so that you can post your blog.

4. The new date for the Renaissance test is Monday, September 29.

CLASS ONE: we will discuss the second half of the Perry handout on the Renaissance. HOMEWORK: read the handout on Machiavelli.

CLASS TWO: we will discuss the handout on Machiavelli. HOMEWORK for Monday, September 22: the handout by Joan Kelly, “Did Women have a Renaissance?”

THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 22

CLASS ONE: we will discuss the Joan Kelly article. HOMEWORK FOR THIRD CLASS PERIOD: the handout, “The Renaissance Family” by David Herhily.

CLASS TWO: the Laurie Rojas lecture on Renaissance art.

CLASS THREE: we will discuss Herhily and assign students to do outlines for possible essay questions.

CLASS FOUR: we will review possible essay questions for the test on Monday.

Syllabus

EUROPEAN HISTORY
COURSE INTRODUCTION
INSTRUCTOR: CHRIS JANUS
INSTRUCTOR FOR EUROPEAN ART: Laurie Rojas
2008/09

THE RATIONALE

The value of teaching European history has been increasingly questioned recently by those who consider themselves expert in the social sciences. There have been warnings about the dangers of a Eurocentric approach to Modern World history and calls for multiculturalism. Such warnings seem particularly appropriate at a school as diverse as ours and in a country which is becoming more ethnically varied. The cultural foundations of this country, however, remain European and it is often forgotten that the origins of European civilization are diverse. Also, the most significant event in Modern World history (from 1500 onwards) is the expansion of Europe and its subsequent domination of the globe until after World War I.

THE NATURE OF THE COURSE

The most important focus of the course is to improve your research and writing skills, largely through a series of short research papers for, as we all know, history at the college level is mostly an exercise in writing. In conducting our research, we will use William Manchester’s concept of historical understanding, which he outlines in an A World Lit Only By Fire. In an author’s note to this book, he argue’s that understanding the past is based on seeing the “chains of circumstance” or “catinas” that are always waiting to be discovered by those that delve deeply into a period. However, Manchester is aware, as we will be, of the limitations of even this deep historical “truth” that is based on seeing how events are linked. He notes that when experts shake their “kaleidoscopes” when looking at a period, they can see vastly different things. He cites as an example the Medieaval Period and his and Henry Osborn Taylor’s very different views of it. When Mancester shakes his kaleidoscope and looks at this period, he sees the “brutality, ignorance, and delusions” of the Age; Taylor sees the spirituality of the Middle Ages.

Another important focal point of the course is art as a reflection of European history. Here we examine the crossroads of art and history in each of the major historical periods. To help us, Laurie Rojas gives eight lectures throughout the year. She also plans two trips to the Art Institute during the autumn and winter quarters where you are asked to answer questions on paintings in the collection. Answering these questions should help you review the art periods that we have previously gone over in class.

Finally, a unique aspect of the course is that each class is required to create a magazine modeled after The New Yorker on some theme in European history. This project is a yearlong and is run by you. Shortly into the quarter, we hold elections for an editor-in-chief, an art editor, a technical editor, and someone to be in charge of fundraising so we can pay for the publication of the magazine. Those who are not part of the leadership of the magazine are asked to write a five to six page article as their contribution to this enterprise. More on this later.

AP EXAM

This course will help prepare you for the AP exam in European History that is given during the second week in May. This examination has a multiple choice section, a document -based section, and an interpretive essay portion that has two sets of three essays where you are asked to write on one topic from each set. These topics are drawn from three broad themes for the period 1450 to the present around which the Development Committe of the AP European History Board now structures the exam. These themes are 1) political and diplomatic, 2) intellectual and cultural, 3) social and economic. Throughout the year you are given objective tests and interpretative essays in preparation for this exam. You are also asked to form study groups to help you prepare for the exam.

TEXTS FOR THE COURSE

I would like you to purchase from the school bookstore the two volumes of R. R. Palmer and Joel Colton’s A History of the Modern World (9th edition), two review texts for the AP entitled Cracking the AP European History (Princeton Review), and Modern European History by Birdsall S. Viault as well as Stefan Zweig’s The World of Yesterday. If money is an issue, you need only purchase the first volume of Palmer and the Viault review text this quarter.

EVALUATIONS

TEACHER: Grades are a reflection of the standard of excellence that I set for BOTH you and me. A grade, once given, will NEVER be changed although I encourage all students to come and talk to me about why they received a grade. Grading will be TOUGHER at the beginning of the year, especially on essays. I will also be more inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt on your final grade than on your quarter grades. Further, I want to make very clear to you now that how well your assignments are written will be as important as their content when determining your grades. You will find attached to this course introduction a checklist for essays that I made up as well as the proper footnote form for research sources. In addition to your grades on essays, class participation will be a significant part of your grade. This will be particularly true when your discussion is original and when it displays evidence that you have read assigned work carefully. The final consideration that I use in determining grades is to check how many times you have been absent and LATE. I will keep a running record of both. I have found lateness to be a particular problem for the first period class.

STUDENT: Throughout the year one of my rules will always be to keep my evaluation of your work private. I expect you to extend to me the same courtesy. I ENCOURAGE you to talk to me about your grades, how you think the course might be improved, or how a specific assignment might be changed. However, I would like you to do this in private and not in front of the class. I would also expect you to discuss any problems you are having with me before you bring in a third party. I will extend to you the same courtesy.

HOW THE CLASS WILL BE CONDUCTED

Most classes will be conducted by a student facilitator while several other students will observe how well the facilitator runs the class. This is the Harkness Method that I learned at Exeter. The seminar tables in the classroom are based on this method though instead of having one large table, we have six smaller tables that have been made to accommodate larger groups and in increase the flexibility of the configurations we can have in the classroom. One observer will simply note interactions among the participants using a form that I will provide. The other observer will evaluate the quality of the discussions, again using a form that I will provide. The following criteria will be judged on the following criteria:

Evaluating the Facilitator:

1. Do you lead the discussion by asking thoughtful questions rather than lecturing on what is in the reading?
2. Are you capable of answering the questions that you ask and those that the students ask?
3. Do you involve most of the students in the class or just a few bright , eager ones?

Grading the Facilitator:

1. A “C” is a poor lecture.
2. A “B-” is a good lecture.
3. A “B” is good questions but no real command of the material.
4. A “B+” is good questions that you know the answers to, however, you have difficulty answering questions that students raise.
5. An “A” is good questions, good command of the material, and good board or screen work.
HOMEWORK

QUIZZES: I reserve the right to quiz you on any homework assignment on its due date without prior notice. The rationale behind these pop evaluations is that good discussions will play an important role in the course and this is not possible unless you have read the material.
LATE WORK: All late work will be marked down one full grade for each day that it is late.

BOOKS AND NOTEBOOKS

One characteristic of most good students is their ability to assimilate, organize, and be inquisitive about the material they read for the course. I want to encourage these tendencies in all of you. Therefore, you are expected to bring book(s) we are studying and a European History notebook to class every day.

ATTACHMENTS

You will find attached to this course introduction a Checklist for Essays and a document that describes the footnote and bibliography form that I want you to use. YOU MUST USE FOOTNOTES AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH ANY WORK THAT YOU DO OUTSIDE OF CLASS. YOU WILL BE MARKED DOWN A FULL GRADE IF YOU DON’T.

ART LECTURES AND FIELD TRIPS TO THE ART INSTITUTE FOR THE YEAR BY QUARTER

THE CHANGING ROLE OF ART IN SOCIETY

FIRST QUARTER:

1. Tuesday, Sept. 23. The Renaissance (1400-mid 1500s): The Autonomy of Art and the Social Status of the artist. Early Renaissance in Florence: Nature and Space; Humanism and Individualism; The High Renaissance. Artists: Bruneleschi, Ghiberti, Jan Van Eych, Durer, Boticelli, Da Vinci, Titan, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

2. Tuesday, Oct. 9th. Mannerism and Baroque (1500s-1700): A reaction to the Renaissance.Political Realism, Roman Catholic Church, Academicism, Courtly Art, Protestant Bourgeois. Artists: Tintoretto, El Greco, Caaravaggio, A. Gentileschi, Velazquez, Rembrandt, Rubens and Poussin

.3. Tuesday, October 23rd (1700s). The project of the Enlightenment: a new Society and its Discontents. Rococo, Neo-Classical, Palace of Versailles, Revolutionary Classicism. Artists: Hograth, Watteau, Reynolds, Boucher, Vigee-Ligee-Lebrun, Fragornard, Goya and Jacques Louisie David.

4. Monday, November 18. Field Trip the Rare Book Room and the Art Institute.

SECOND QUARTER:

5. Thursday, January 17. The Origins of Modernism (1800-to mid 1800s). The emergence of the Bourgeois as the new art public. Romanticism, Realism, Nationalism, and History painting. Artists: Ingres, Blake, Caspar David Friedrich, Goya, Delacroix, Courbet, and Manet

.6. Thursday, January 31. The emergence of Photographyj, Modernist Architecture and Sculpture. Artists: Muybridge, J.M. Cameron, Atget, Rodchenko, Steiglitz, Sander, Rodin, Brancusi and Bauhaus.

7. Tuesday, February 26. Field Trip to the Art Institue: Modernist Paintings: Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and beyond. Artists: Manet, Monet, Seurat, Klee, Picasso, Mondrian, Redon, Grant Wood, Hopper.

8. Thursday, March 13th. The Avant Grade and the Crisis of Modernism: Dada, Surrealism, Russian, Constructivism, Suprematism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art.

THIRD QUARTER:

9. Thursday, April 3. After Modern Art: Anti-Modernism and Post-Modernism (1960s until today). Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Feminism, Contemporary Painting and Photography. Artists: Stella, Judd, Agnes Martin, Serra & Nauman, Buren & Smithson, Bechers, Diane Arbus, Sherrie Levine, Cindy Sherman, Gillian Wearing, Hanine Antoni, Gien Ligon and Felix Gonzaierz-Torres.

10. Thursday, April 24. Review Session. Why is Art important today. Jeff Wail and ways of looking back through Art History.

SELECTED QUESTIONS, EVALUATIONS, AND SOURCES FOR ART LECTURES

Selected Questions: What is art? How has that definition changed from the Renaissance to the present? How do the major works of art reflect the time periods in which they were created? And what is the key vocabulary that you need to analyze and describe works of art?

Selected Evaluations: You will be required to write a summary of each of Laurie’s lectures on art and you will be given special assignments to do when you go to the Art Institute and the Rare Book Room at Regenstein. These latter assignments will require you to use a special visual language and involve comparative analysis of works of art. You will also be asked to do one DBQ during the year that will require you to explore linkages between a work of art and the period in which it was created. Finally, an art-related question based on Eric’s talks will appear from time to time on your biweekly essay/multiple choice exams.

Selected Sources: Ways of Seeing, John Berger; Practices of Looking, Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright; Seeing Ourselves: Women’s Self-Portraits, Frances Borzello; The Journal of Eugene Delacroix; The Painter of Modern Life, Charles Baudelaire; The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh, Ronald de Leeuw ed.; Noa Noa: The Tahiti Journal of Paul Gauguin, John Miller, ed.; Futurist Manifesto, F.T. Marinetti: Dada Manifesto, Tristan Tzara; Surrealist Manifesto, Andre Breton; Literature and Revolution, Leon Trotsky. Film: Un Chien Andalou by Luis Bunuel; Vincent, directed by Paul Cox; La Commune, directed by Peter Watkins.

PRINCIPAL HISTORY TOPICS OF THE YEAR BY QUARTER PLUS SELECTED QUESTIONS, EVALUATIONS, AND SOURCES

FIRST QUARTER:
1. The nature of HistoricalUnderstanding
2. The Twelfth Century Awakening and the Renaissance
3. The Reformation and Counter Reformation
4. Religious Conflict and the Commercial Revolution
5. The contrasting development of Western and Eastern Europe
6. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment
7. The French Revolution and Napoleon

SECOND QUARTER:
1. Europe, 1815-1848: Revolution andCounterrevolution
2. Europe at the “Top of its Game”: the“Civilized World.”
3. Europe, 1848-1914: An Age ofContradiction: Progress and Breakdown
4. Mode
rn Consciousness: New View ofNature, Human Nature and the Arts5. World War I
6. The Russian Revolutions
7. Post war depression and other ills
8. The False Hope: the “Spirit of Locarno”
9. The Great Depression
10. The Decade of Appeasement

THIRD QUARTER:
1. World War II
2. Rescuers versus Obedience
3. Reconstruction and the Cold War
4. The difficult process of Decolonization
5. From Benelux to the European Union
6. Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
7. The Transformation of Communism: Deng versus Gorbachev and Yeltsin
8. Review for AP Exam
9. Finish reading Stefan Zweig’s The World of Yesterday and the completionof the magazines.

FIRST QUARTER: Selected questions, evaluations, and sources.

Selected Questions: How does William Manchester use the concepts of a catena and a kaleidoscope to create an idea of historical understanding? Was the Renaissance a distinct period? Did women have a Renaissance? Did women play a significant role in creating Renaissance culture? What distinctions can be made between virtue and virtu? What impact did Luther’s childhood have on his understanding of Christianity? What impact did the Reformation have on the emergence of Modernity? What role did religious toleration play in the emergence of the Dutch and Spanish nations? What is the Commercial Revolution and why is it so significant? Why ultimately was the Glorious Revolution’s brand of Parliamentary government more successful than Louis XIV’s Absolutism? What is the “problem of knowledge”? Why was its solution key to European progress and to the emergence of modernity? Why was it necessary for a new “space” to be created for the Enlightenment to succeed? Based on the Enlightenment, how dangerous are “reformers” to the established political order? How did the Enlightenment change the concept of human nature? Why is the idea of self-interest such a key concept of the Enlightenment? How was the idea of evil transformed by the Enlightenment? Who has a more accurate idea of Rousseau’s concept of the general will, Marvin Perry or Paul Johnson? What is a Marxist interpretation of the French Revolution? How is it accurate, how not? How does it contrast with the theory of the notables? Do you agree with Simon Schama that violence was the “motor of the Revolution”? How do you answer Marvin Perry’s question, Was Napoleon, “the preserver or destroyer of the Revolution?” Might the origins of political correctness be traced to the German reaction to Napoleon’s occupation?

Selected Evaluations: you will write a “chains of circumstance” research paper this quarter as a way of improving your idea of historical understanding. You can use as a model the four developments of the Kennedy Administration that William Manchester links together, i.e. the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy’s confrontation with Khrushchev in Vienna, the razing of the Berlin Wall, and the commitment of ground troops to Southeast Asia. The paper will be due two weeks before the end of the quarter, it should be five to six pages long, have footnotes and a bibliography and include original sources. It should be more analytical than descriptive; that is, it should have a robust thesis. You will also have your biweekly evaluations that will include twenty multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank questions and two to three essay questions that we will decide on in advance of the test. You should make careful outlines of each of these questions. On one of these evaluations you will be asked to write a DBQ in addition to one other essay. Finally, as I suggested above, several of the essays during the course of the term may refer to material in the art lectures.

Selected Sources: A World Lit Only by Fire by William Manchester; Petrarch, The First Man of Modern Letters by Robinson; Renaissance and Renaissances by Edwin Panofsky; The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559, by Eugene F. Rice; The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt; The Prince and The Discourses by N. Machiavelli; Women, History, and Theory by Joan Kelly; “The Family in Renaissance Italy” by David Herlihy; In Praise of Folly by Erasmus; Christianity by Rolland Bainton; “On Jews and their Lies” by Martin Luther; “The Price of Conversion”, Francisco de San Antonio and Mariana de los Reyes; “Fictions of Privacy: House Chapels and Spatial Accommodation of Religious Dissent in Early Modern Europe” by Benjamin J.Kaplan; The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir; Elizabeth I by Christopher Haigh; The Virgin Queen by Christopher Hibbert; Witchcraft and Magic in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Europe by Geoffrey Scarre; On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres by N. Copernicus; Novum Organum by Francis Bacon; Principia Mathematica by Issac Newton; Intellectuals by Paul Johnson (the essay on Rousseau); The Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau; The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith; Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes; Two Treatises of Government and An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke; The French Revolution: Conflicting Interpretations, ed. by Frank Kafker and James Laux; A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution, ed. by Francois Furet and Mona Ozouf; Questions of the French Revolution by Jacques Sole; and Citizens by Simon Schama; Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind by J. G. Herder; “Addresses to the German Nation” by J.G. Fichte.

SECOND QUARTER: selected questions, evaluations, and sources.

Selected questions: Was Romanticism a continuation or reaction to the Enlightenment? Why was the early nineteenth century an age of isms? Why did the Congress of Vienna ignore “the fundamental problem” of the nineteenth century? Why was the process of political reform more successful in England than on the Continent? Why did the revolts of 1848 spread so rapidly and end so quickly? Was the failure of the Frankfurt Assembly of great significance in European history? What were the consequences of the shift to a new “toughness of mind” or Realism at mid-century? Who has a better understanding of Marxism, Palmer or Paul Johnson in his essay, “ Karl Marx, ‘Howling Gigantic Curses.’”? What in your view was the most successful example of national consolidation in the latter part of the nineteenth century? The least successful? What did Europeans “lose” through the process of industrialization? What did European civilization look like in the latter part of the nineteenth century? Could the argument be made that European civilization was in fact a superior civilization, at least based on quantitative indices? How violent was the process of imperialism? Was it an inherently racist institution? What were its benefits? How is the imperialism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries still shaping our world today? What distinctions does Marvin Perry make between Early Modernity (the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment) and Late Modernity (that begins with Romanticism)? Why did the forces of irrationalism, uncertainty and anomie grow stronger in the latter half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century? What catenas can you draw among the fields of philosophy, sociology, biology, psychiatry, art, politics, and science in the latter part of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century? How does Freud change our conception of ourselves? What does Nietzsche mean when he says that, “God is Dead”? What does he mean when he writes that, “The you is older than the I”? Finally, what does Nietzsche suggest when he says, “Truths are illusions that we have forgotten are illusions”? Was World War I all but inevitable, as Palmer suggests, or do you agree with S. L. A. Marshall, that “But for the murder at Sarajevo there might never have been a war. Men can speculate to the contrary. They cannot know.”? What are the specific instances of failure of leadership that Gordon Craig cites in the “Political Leader as Strategist” that might lead one to conclude that World War I became a Late Modernity War? Were the treaties that ended the First World War “peace” treaties? Why might it be argued that the 1920s was among the cruelest and most deceptive of decades because of the false hopes that it engendered? Would Marx have been pleased with the Russian Revolution and its aftermath? How did the Great Depression increase our understanding of economics? Why is the 1930s known as the decade of appeasement?

Selected Evaluations: You will probably be asked to hand in the first and second drafts of your magazine articles this quarter by the editor-in-chief of the magazine. I will grade the magazine third quarter but your grade will be negatively affected if these drafts are not handed in on time. The key evaluation this quarter, other than the biweekly exams, is a research paper on Late Modernity. The evolution of the concept of Modernity as described by Marvin Perry in his text Western Civilizaiton is probably the most important intellectual idea in the course. In this paper, I want you to find linkages between at least two Late Modernity thinkers such as Freud and Nietzsche or Le Bon and Mussolini and develop a thesis based on these concatenations. Your paper should be based on primary sources and should be five to six pages long.

Selected Sources: The Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx; “Karl Marx: Howling Gigantic Curses’” from Paul Johnson’s Intellectuals; “The Force of Circumstance” by Somerset Maugham; Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson; The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott; Sowing by Leonard Woolf; “Modern Consciousness: New Views of Nature, Human Nature, and the Arts” in Western Civilization by Marvin Perry et al.; Nietzsche and the Death of God,translated and edited by Peter Fritzsche; On the Origins of the Species by Means of Natural Selection. Or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin; Marx-Darwin correspondence 1861-73; Physics and Philosophy by Werner Heisenberg; Discussions with Einstein on Epistemological Problems in Atomic Physics by Niels Bohr; The Crowd by Gustave Le Bon; Women’s Suffrage and Class Struggle by Rosa Luxembourg; On Proletarian Culture by V.I. Lenin; Communist Policy Towards Art by Leon Trotsky; Art and Politics Are Inseparable; National Socialist Art both by Adolf Hitler; Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty That Causes Havoc by Arthur Miller; “’Decent’ vs. ‘Degenerate’ Art: The National Socialist Case” by Mary-Margaret Goggin; Freud-Einstein Correspondence, 1931-32; Thoughts for the Times on War and Death, 1915 by Sigmund Freud; Good and Evil; Fascism and Science; Why Do they Hate the Jews; The Religious Spirit of Science all by Albert Einstein; World War I by S.L.A. Marshall; “The Big One” by Adam Gopnik; Makers of Modern; Strategy: from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, edited by Peter Paret.

THIRD QUARTER: selected questions, evaluations, and sources.

Selected Questions: What were the causes of World War II? Did Fascism capture as much of the human condition as Adam Smith did through his concept of self-interest? How credible is the German defense that they were just following orders when confronted with the Holocaust? Who were the rescuers? Did they share a set of common characteristics that might be described as human goodness? What is existentialism? How is it related to World War II? What were the arguments pro and con for dropping the first atomic bomb on Japan? The second atomic bomb? How successful were the various peace conferences associated with World War II? What were the origins of the European Union in the aftermath of World War II? If you looked at the evolution of what has now become the European Union at any particular moment in time, how successful an organization would you say it has become? If you looked at this same organization from the larger perspective of European history, would you have a different assessment? How successful have the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund been over time? Henry Kissinger often argued that the United States never really conducted its foreign policy through any kind of conceptual framework; does the Truman Doctrine or policy of containment belie that view? Could the Vietnam War be viewed as a failure in an overall successful policy of containing communism? How realistic was the optimism surrounding independence in the newly freed colonies? Could it be argued that formerly colonial universities made the transition to independence more successfully than the political or economic systems of these countries? What is the state of many of these universities today? How did the stagflation of the 1970s change our understanding of economics? What is your assessment of Reagan’s supply side economics? Why was Eastern Europe freed so suddenly? Why did the Soviet Union collapse so suddenly? Why was the problem of apartheid in South Africa resolved so quickly? What role did leadership play in these events? Other causes? Compare the leadership of Gorbachev/Yeltsin with Deng? Was Deng right to confront the students at Tiananmen Square?

Selected Evaluations: You will be asked to hand in the final draft of your magazine article. We will continue to have our biweekly tests to help prepare you for the AP exam. You will also be asked to write a short piece of historical fiction. In this assignment, I would like you to get the broad historical facts right—that is have some evidence for them. However, you may make up dialogue among historical figures and even create minor figures out of whole cloth. This work should again be about five to six pages long; I want to see a draft with footnotes and a bibliography to make sure your work is well-grounded.

Selected Sources: Article in Italian Encyclopedia by Benito Mussolini on Fascism; The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir; The Rescuers by Gay Block and Malka Drucker; the film, Obedience as well as the interview with Stanley Milgram; Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior, by Margot Strom and William Parsons; “Why Men Love War” by William Broyles; The Community of Europe: a history of European Integreation since 1945 by Derek W. Urwin; The Cold War: 1945-1963 by Michael Dockrill; Mr. Johnson by Joyce Carey; Women in European History by Gisela Bok; Becoming Visible: Women in European History ed. by Bridenthal, Koonz, and Stuard; Russia and the West: Gorbachev and the Politics of Reform by Jerry Hough; and The Grand Failure: the Birth and Death of Communism in the Twentieth Century by Zbigniew Brzezinski.

BIWEEKLY WORK HANDOUT

Every other Monday I will give you a copy of the assignments for the next two weeks (though the first handout will cover three weeks). I will also post a copy of the biweekly work on the bulletin board in the front of the room. You are RESPONSIBLE for this work. If you are not in class on Monday, please check with a friend to find out Tuesday’s assignment.

KEY DATES:

1. On Monday, September 22, you will have an in-class test on the Renaissance. The test will have three essays and a multiple choice/fill-in-the-blank section.2. On Tuesday, Sept. 23, Laurie Rojas will about the autonomy of art and the social status of the artist in the Renaissance.
TRIWEEKLY WORK FOR THE WEEKS OF SEPTEMBER 8, 15, AND 22, 2007

EYE-OPENER OF THE TRIWEEKLY: “People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise.”W. Somerset Maugham

The week of September 8

CLASS ONE: the course introduction will be handed out and we will discuss the Exeter Harkness method that will often be used in this class. We will also break the class up into study groups that I hope will last the whole year. Each group will assign a member to outline the chapter on the Renaissance. One of these outliners will be the facilitator in tomorrow’s discussion. We will also assign an observer for tomorrow’s discussion. HOMEWORK: read the course syllabus and the Manchester handout from A World Lit Only by Fire. Read the author’s note and pages 76-89.

CLASS TWO: We will go over the course introduction and then a facilitator will lead the class discussion on the homework. We will need to pay particular attention to Manchester’s view of history. Once we have understood that as a class, we can talk about the nature of this quarter’s research paper. HOMEWORK: read pages 47-61 in A History of the Modern World to 1815 and pages 301-308 of the Renaissance handout, “The Renaissance: Transition to the Modern Age” by Marvin Perry et al. We need to choose a facilitator and observer for tomorrow’s discussion.

CLASS THREE: we will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: read pages 62-77 and pages 301-308 of the Renaissance handout. We need to select outliners for your groups and one of the outliners to be the class facilitator.

CLASS FOUR: a facilitator` will lead the discussion on the reading. HOMEWORK: finish the Renaissance handout. We will need to choose a new facilitator and observer.

The week of September 15

CLASS FIVE: we will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: a handout: “Did Women have a Renaissance?” by Joan Kelly.
CLASS SIX: I will lead a discussion on the reading. We will also decide on the essay questions for the first test and what kind of expectations I have for them. HOMEWORK: “The Renaissance Family” by David Herhily.

CLASS SEVEN: A facilitator will lead a discussion on the reading. HOMEWORK: an excerpt from Machiavelli’s, The Prince.

CLASS EIGHT: A student will lead a discussion on the reading. We will also assign students to lead brief overviews of the essay questions for the test during our review day during the last class period of the week.

The week of September 22

CLASS NINE: Review for Renaissance test.

CLASS TEN: The first art lecture by Laurie Rojas entitled “The Renaissance: the autonomy of Art and the Social Status of the artist. You must write up her talk and hand it in on Monday.

CLASS ELEVEN: RENAISSANCE TEST. HOMEWORK: pages 77-96 in Palmer.

CLASS TWELVE: we will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: finish the Manchester handout (the part on Luther and the Reformation).

I am looking forward to our discussion.

best to all,

Laurie

The week of April 14.

CLASS ONE: we will discuss the chapter on the Russian Revolution. HOMEWORK: read chapter 19.

CLASS TWO: we will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: read chapter 20 for next Monday and answer briefly the following two questions: how did revolution transform Russia? Why were the 20s a cruel decade? Each answer should be typed and no more than a page long. I will not accept an answer more than a page.

CLASS THREE: Laurie Rojas’ talk.

THE WEEK OF APRIL 21

CLASS ONE: we will discuss chapter 20. HOMEWORK: read chapter 21.

CLASS TWO: we will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: sections 108-111

CLASS THREE: we will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK FOR MONDAY: finish chapter 22 and read chapter 23

CLASS FOUR: we will do a document based question in class.

The week of April 28

CLASS ONE: we will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: read chapter 24.

CLASS TWO: we will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: read chaper 25

C LASS THREE: we will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: read chapter 26

CLASS FOUR: we will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: write one page responses to the following questions: 1. Explain the good and the bad that emerged in the wake of World War II. Why? 2. Why did the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe collapse? 3. How successful has decolonization been? They are due Monday.

The week of May 3

CLASS ONE: CONTINUE OUR REVIEW. collect your essays.

CLASS TWO: REVIEW

CLASS THREE: REVIEW

CLASS FOUR: REVIEW. AP EXAM

KEY DATES:

1. On Thursday, April 3, Laurie will speak to us again. On the day of the next test, please hand in a combined summary of Laurie’s last two talks.

2. During the third class period of next week, we will test on chapters 16 and 17. You will be asked to answer the following two questions. 1. What were the nature and causes of imperialism in the Americas, Africa, or Asia? Choose one area and cite specifics. 2. To what extent does Lincoln’s statement in the biweekly eye-opener, All dreaded it, all sought to avert it, and the war came, apply to World War I? The multiple choice section will consist of a number of questions from the first multiple choice packet that I will hand out to you this Monday.

The week of March 31

CLASS ONE: I will review the Renaissance and hand back those tests that I have done. I will also hand out the first multiple choice packet for the next test. HOMEWORK: create and hand in a typed review schedule. Those that don’t will be marked down in the grade book. Read sections 77-79.

CLASS TWO: I will review the Reformation for fifteen minuetes. I will collect the your review sheets. HOMEWORK: sections 80-83.

CLASS THREE: ROJAS TALK except for the fifth period class. That class will discuss the reading and for the first fifteen minutes “Economic Renewal and the Wars of Religion” from 1560-1648.

CLASS FOUR: we will discuss the reading except for period five that will hear Laurie We will also spend the first fifteen minutes looking at “Economic Renewal and the Wars of Religion” from 1560-1648. HOMEWORK: the Marshall handout and sections 84-86.

The week of April 7

CLASS ONE: For the first fifteen minutes, we will discuss the “Growing Power Of Western Europe from 1640-1715.” We will then discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: finish chapter 17.

CLASS TWO: For the first fifteen minutes, we will discuss the “Transformation of Eastern Europe from 1648-1740.” We will discuss the reading. HOMEWORK: we will assign two students to outline the test questions.

CLASS THREE: we will discuss the outlines of the test questions.

CLASS FOUR: TEST ON CHAPTERS 16 AND 17. HOMEWORK: read chapter 18.