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History
H333 The Reformation 3 credits
In traditional terms the Reformation refers to the sixteenth-century religious movement that culminated
in both the reforms of the Church and its division. The course balances a study of the theological issues
that defined the magisterial Protestant Reformation and its Catholic counterpart with an exploration of
popular religion and the everyday religious experience of sixteenth-century men and women.
H335 American Environmental History 3 credits
The course introduces students to environmental history as an academic discipline and teaches
American history through the lens of that discipline. It emphasizes the reciprocal and symbiotic
relationship between human beings that historically have occupied North America and their
surroundings - the natural environment as these human beings encountered and transformed them. As
such, the course introduces students to the various strands in environmental thought, environmental
science, environmental practices, religious belief as it pertains to the relationship between human
beings and the environment, and environmental politics that have shaped the history of North America
and the United States. The course also familiarizes students with the practices of historiography and the
specific historiography of environmental history.
H340-349 Selected Topics 3 credits
Selected topics in history may be offered depending on student and faculty interest.
H355 U.S. Women’s History 3 credits
This course is an examination of the image, roles, status, and activities of American women. In addition,
gender issues are explored within their socio-political, cultural, and historical contexts. Special emphasis
is be placed on a comparative approach to the study of women’s lives as they interact with race, class,
and ethnicity.
H357 The History of Rock and Roll 3 credits
This course analyzes the rise, development, and socio-cultural impact of rock and roll, broadly defined
to include soul, rhythm and blues, punk, reggae, country, hip hop, heavy metal, and other genres that
have become essential parts of American popular culture. Through critical analysis of the texts, images,
sounds, business practices, and media machinery of rock culture, as well as of rock and roll’s profound
impact on television, fashion, race relations, gender relations, advertising, and politics students gain an
understanding of the functions of popular art and culture in the political, social, and economic life of
the United States. The course challenges students to critically examine primary source materials and
secondary readings about topic such as the southern roots of rock music, postwar youth culture, race
and racism, class, gender and sexuality, technology and mass media, the culture wars, and rock music as
an American export, and thereby come to a greater understanding of the development and interaction
of modern and postmodern culture.
H365 Early Modern Europe 3 credits
The early modern period is one of the most tumultuous in Western history. Religious division, state
building, war, and intellectual revolution are some distinctive features. Students have an opportunity
to investigate selected topics and historical methods including the development of absolutism, the
Scientific Revolution, popular culture, and the Enlightenment. Topics may be added or deleted from
time to time.
H366 Modern Europe 1789-1914 3 credits
This course is an introduction to the history of Europe during its explosive period of modernization,
beginning with two concurrent world-changing events — the French Revolution and the Industrial
Revolution. Using a variety of sources, including works by historians but also primary sources ranging
from manifestos and letters to plays and novels, students investigate the ideas and movements which
emerged from this “dual revolution” to change the world, including imperialism, liberalism, socialism,
feminism, and nationalism.
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