History
Note: Course details for Summer 2018 will be available on December 15. The courses below were offered in Summer 2017 and can serve as a guide to what is typically offered.
Colleges: College of Arts & Sciences | Metropolitan College
College of Arts & Sciences
The Emergence of Modern Europe: Renaissance to the Present
CAS HI 102
What is Europe? Explores the emergence of Europe as an idea and place. Draws on literature and art from Machiavelli to Russian ballet to explain Europe's changing meaning; focuses on nation- and state-building to explain Europe's shifting boundaries. 4 cr.
The United States since 1865
CAS HI 152
After the Civil War, Americans created a new urbanizing and industrializing landscape, flush with immigrants, growing class conflict, and racial divisions. This course explores how, through times of prosperity, depression, and war, Americans transformed the United States into one of the world's leading nations. 4 cr.
World History after 1500
CAS HI 176
Examines the religious encounters, economic rivalries, and military battles produced by European imperialism since 1500 in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Analyzes how European colonialism came to dominate the world and how nationalist movements succeeded in gaining independence. 4 cr.
History of the Crusades
CAS HI 204
The origin and development of the Crusade movement in Western Christendom: the first four Crusades, their cause and results; crusader finance, preaching, and military recruitment; changing focus of Crusade movements from the Holy Land to other areas. 4 cr.
Cities and Cultures
CAS HI 226
Examines the relationship between cultural expression and political, social, and economic change by focusing on cities such as Boston, Paris, London, Casablanca, and Johannesburg during times of intense creativity and upheaval. 4 cr.
Special Topics in American History
CAS HI 280
Topic for Summer 2017: History of Rock and Roll. Examines the role of popular music in American culture. Studies the origin and growth of the music industry, and attempts to integrate it into the general social and intellectual history of the country. The emphasis is on rock 'n' roll and its impact on America from 1954-1970. 4 cr.
History of International Relations, 1900-1945
CAS HI 332
The causes and consequences of the First World War; the search for postwar reconstruction and stability during the twenties; economic collapse, revolutionary nationalism, and fascism during the 1930s; the Second World War and the advent of the bipolar world. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS HI 349 and CAS HI 289. 4 cr.
History of International Relations since 1945
CAS HI 334
The causes and consequences of the Soviet-American Cold War from its origins in Europe to its extension to Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The rise of the multipolar international system, the emergence of the nonaligned blocs, and inter- and intra-alliance conflicts. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS HI 350 and CAS HI 290. 4 cr.
War in Film and Literature
CAS HI 408
Explores, through works of film and literature, human experiences of combat, suffering, and death. Topics range from medieval Japan to Africa, the Americas and Europe, WWI, WWII, and various "small wars" from the 19th through 21st centuries. 4 cr.
Metropolitan College
Metropolitan College
Special Topics
MET HI 215
Topic for Summer 2017: The Vietnam War. Explores the origins, events, and consequences of the wars in Vietnam from 1945 to 1979. Special emphasis is given to the causes of American involvement and the reasons for the failures of U.S. policy. The events of the wars are placed in different contexts demonstrating how ideological, diplomatic, social, cultural, and economic considerations influenced the conduct, duration, and end of the war. Topics include: French colonialism in Vietnam, the outbreak of the Cold War and America's road to Indochina, how the wars were fought, the battlefield experience of American troops, the media and the war, the American antiwar movement, the impact of war on Vietnamese society, Ho Chi Minh and Vietnamese nationalism, the roles of the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union, the Khmer Rouge and Cambodia, the Sino-Vietnamese war, cinematic representations of the American War, and the Vietnam War's legacies in South East Asia and in the U.S. 4 cr.
History of America at War
MET HI 342
A survey of the history of America at war from pre-conquest Native American warfare to modern times. Covers colonial-era traditions; the Revolutionary War; 19th-century wars with Britain, Mexico, and Spain; the Civil War; the two World Wars; Korea; Vietnam; and modern wars in the Greater Middle East. Attention is paid to varying military traditions as well as military culture and capabilities: from backwoods skirmishing to set-piece battles, to total war on a global scale, to today's fighting against irregular enemies who employ evolving combat doctrines and assets. Documentary and other films will enhance class discussion of the evolution of American warfare and of Americans at war. 4 cr.