History 143 Spring Semester 2014 History 143
Spring Semester
2014 History 143
Class Schedule For
a given day, the readings listed should be read in full
by the class time. All readings are potentially
the subject of reading quizzes, but the quizzes for the
outside readings (such are Martin Guerre) are
worth three regular reading quizzes.
Unit One: Europe from 1500 to 1789
Aug 28--Introduction.
Sept 2--Long Ago and Far Away: The World of 1500.
Sept 4--Critical Thinking, Systematic Doubt, and History
Sept 9--No class--read Intro of Nicolas Copernicus's great
work at http://www.bartleby.com/39/12.html
and write up a 100-word (minimum) summary of the Intro. To give
background, before you read the intro, look at the Copernicus
entry in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus
Turn in the summary via Turnitin.com by 11:20 pm.
Sept
11--No Class--http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english233/Luther-Diet_of_Worms.htm And an excerpt from the superb 2003 film, Luther: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5P7QkHCfaI Watch the movie excerpt, and read the speech. Write a
150-word summary and turn it in by 11:59 via Turnitin.com.
Feel free to use one third of the paper to compare the film
version with the original.
Sept 16--No Class: finish The Return of Martin Guerre.
By 11:29 pm, hand in via Turnitin a 250-word (minimum) summary of
the book. Be sure to comment on the SOURCES of the Martin
Guerre story in particular.
Sept 18--Class meets! Short Test on The Sources of History,
based on our earlier discussion and on the intensive week of reading
and reflection. Then class discussion.
Read Etienne de la Boetie, Discourse of Voluntary Servitude.
This is the whole book in pdf form: http://mises.org/rothbard/boetie.pdf.
You need read only pp. 7-12 of Rothbard's intro and pp. 39-45 of
the text itself.
Oct 9-- The Enlightenment
Optional: look over the Wikipedia entry on Stoicism, as a
background for the following material: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism
Oct 23--Industrial Revolution:
Read Lewis Hackett's chapter on the Industrial Revolution: http://history-world.org/Industrial%20Intro.htm
AND
Read all of Dickens, Hard Times. Reading quiz for this
will of course count double.
Oct 28--Liberals, Conservatives, Socialists. Read
the excerpt from The Law, by classical liberal Frederic
Bastiat http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html#SECTION_G005
(read from "Life is a Gift from God" to the end of "The Results of
Legal Plunder")
Also read the first section of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto,
just the section including the short preface and the first “chapter”
called “Bourgeoises and Proletarians” http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html
Dec 4--The Fall of Communism and the Brave New World of the
nineties. Please explore the CNN page on the fall of the
Berlin Wall and related issues. Take about thirty minutes
exploring the links:
Also read the entire Wikipedia entry on Gorbachev: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorbachev
Tank Man at Tienanamen Square: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrQqDqOx3KY
