History

Program Offerings

Offering type
A.B.

The plan of departmental study encourages the student to gain further knowledge of the major developments in (and problems of) history, spanning a broad range of time and place. Students also develop more focused expertise through independent historical research and writing. Through coursework and rigorous independent research, the history major emphasizes both depth and breadth. The department's department's website describes the program and requirements in detail.

Goals for Student Learning

The history major provides foundational and advanced undergraduate courses on the study of the past. History courses range over the past two thousand years of human experience in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Students can learn about these areas of the globe and periods of the past from a variety of different perspectives including cultural, economic, environmental, ethnic, gender, intellectual, political and social history. Students have the opportunity to pursue independent work in two junior papers and a senior thesis. Within the context of a research seminar in the first semester of their junior year, students learn the basic tools of historical research such as finding a research subject, formulating a historical question and canvasing an archive. In the second semester of their junior year, students pursue a junior paper in consultation with a faculty member and independent of the seminar. In their senior year, students deploy these skills in research and writing a 75-page senior thesis based on original historical research. History majors graduate from Princeton with a sense of the depth and the breadth of the historical study of the human past and with the capacity to express themselves on a range of issues in clear and analytic prose.

 

Prerequisites

For the Class of 2025 and beyond, students are required to take and pass one course at the 200 or 300 level; a second course is recommended but not required.

Program of Study

Course Advising

Before preregistration each term, each history student must consult with one of the department's designated undergraduate advisers.

Departmental Distribution Requirements

University regulations stipulate that undergraduates may not take more than 12 departmental courses, plus up to two departmental prerequisites taken during the first or sophomore years. Departmental regulations stipulate that undergraduates must pass at least 10 courses, including HIS 400, in order to receive the A.B. degree. Students who exceed the 31 courses required for graduation will be permitted to take extra departmentals. History courses taken in the first year and sophomore year are numbered among the 10 to 12 required for graduation. Starting with the class of 2023, students must take at least one course in each of the following four thematic areas: Knowledge & Belief (KB), Power & Conflict (PC), Pre-Modern, pre-1700 (PM), Race & Difference (RD). See the Distribution Requirements for a list of courses satisfying each of these areas. Many courses carry more than one designation. A single course may satisfy only one thematic requirement. In addition to the thematic areas, at least two (2) courses must also fulfill the Geographical Distribution Requirements that are principally focused on Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Middle East. These courses may double-count with the thematic courses.

*Students who entered the major in the spring of 2020, took a gap year, and joined the class of 2023 should consult with the director of undergraduate studies about the new requirements.

Cognates

The department allows students to take courses in other departments that will add depth and variety to their study of history.  When taken during the junior and senior years, up to two (2) such courses may be counted as departmental courses, i.e., cognates, provided they contribute significantly to the student's major and/or independent work, and are substantially historical in their content. Cross-listed courses, such as CLA 217 and NES 201, are not cognates; they are automatically considered departmental courses. The designation of a course as a cognate must be approved by the director of undergraduate studies. The designation of a cognate course as a departmental should take place during the enrollment/advising period but no later than the University's "deadline for 'free course' change" (approximately two weeks after the beginning of the semester). Courses cannot be declared cognates retroactively, nor can they be changed later to non-departmentals. Cognate courses do not satisfy distribution requirements; however, they count in the determination of departmental standing and honors.

Departmental Tracks

History of Science

Students should have an understanding of the history of science, technology and medicine at various times and in various places and be able to address questions concerning the conceptual and institutional development of these activities in relation to the societies that pursued them.

History majors wishing to concentrate in the History of Science are required to meet thematic requirements (four courses) and geographic requirements (two courses, which can overlap with the thematic) among their 10 to 12 courses. They must also take courses that satisfy the following requirements:

  1. Two courses in science, engineering, or mathematics in addition to those used to fill the university's science distribution requirement.
  2. Four of the following courses (with the permission of the director of undergraduate studies, one of these courses may be replaced by a cognate course from another department, for example, in philosophy or sociology of science). These specific courses can and almost certainly will also serve to at least partially meet the geographic and thematic requirements:
  • 277 Technology and Society (see EGR 277)
  • 290 The Scientific Worldview of Antiquity and the Middle Ages
  • 291 The Scientific Revolution and European Order, 1500–1750
  • 292 Science in the Modern World
  • 293 Science in a Global Context: 15th to 20th Century
  • 294 Science and Medicine in the Early Modern World
  • 295 Making America: A Technological History of the United States
  • 297 Transformative Questions in Biology (see STC 297)
  • 298 Information Revolutions
  • 355 The Art & Archaeology of Plague (see ART 361)
  • 382 Beyond Tuskegee: Race and Human Subjects Research in U.S. History (see AAS 331)
  • 391 History of Contemporary Science
  • 392 History of Evolution
  • 393 Race, Drugs, and Drug Policy in America
  • 394 History of Ecology and Environmentalism
  • 395 History of Medicine and the Body
  • 396 History of Biology
  • 397 Medicine and the Mind: A History of Psychiatry from the Asylum to Zoloft
  • 398 The Einstein Era
  • 399 In the Groove: Technology and Music in American History, from Edison to the iPod (see AMS 399)
  • 452 Magic, Matter, Medicine: Science in the Medieval World
  • 458 History and the Body (see GSS 426)
  • 472 Medicine and Society in China: Past and Present
  • 481 Science and Film
  • 488 The Soviet Atomic, Space, and Information Ages
  • 489 The Scientific Self
  • 491 Fertile Bodies: A Cultural History of Reproduction from Antiquity to the Enlightenment
  • 492 The Therapeutic Persuasion: Psychotherapy and American Life
  • 493 '1, 2, 3, Testing,'. . . in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
  • 495 Alchemy: Art and Science
  • 494 Broken Brains, Shattered Minds
  • 496 History of Neuroscience
  • 497 Eating, Growing, Catching, Knowing: Historical Perspectives on Food, Science, and the Environment
  • 498 History of Pseudoscience
  • 499 Things

The independent work and comprehensive examination requirements are the same as for all other departmental majors.

Independent Work

Junior Year

Juniors write two junior papers of roughly 25–30 pages in length, one in each semester.

In the fall term of junior year, students are required to enroll in the HIS 400 Junior Seminars. Work in the junior seminar involves exercises in defining a topic for historical research and in identifying and evaluating a body of historical literature. Each student may expect to gain experience in the use of the library and bibliographical sources, to learn the correct technical form for presenting evidence clearly, and to develop a historical presentation convincingly. Students in HIS 400 will have the opportunity to choose from a number of seminars devoted to historical events or themes of wide importance, such as Irregular Warfare, Space History, Early Native American History, The United States and Latin America, or The Political Uses of American Streets.

In the spring term of junior year, in consultation with their adviser, the student selects a topic and writes a research paper on an independent basis. Written work equivalent to that submitted in the first term is required. The two semesters of junior independent work must be focused in two different geographical fields and in two different time periods. Students should consult their advisers about this requirement.

Senior Year

The independent work consists of writing a thesis on an approved subject of the student's choice. The thesis usually relies on research in original source materials, but it may also involve reinterpretation of familiar materials.

Senior Departmental Examination

The senior departmental examination in the department consists of an oral examination based on the senior thesis and related topics.

Study Abroad

Students in the department are encouraged to participate in those programs for foreign study recognized by the University. (For further information, consult the Office of International Programs.) The department has the following policies and resources for students:

  1. Sophomores intending to major in history may count one history course taken abroad toward the requirement to enter the department. The course cannot be used as a substitute for the 200-level prerequisite (see section on Prerequisites).  A HIS 400 Junior Seminar is offered each spring for sophomores intending to major in history but who will study abroad in the fall of their junior year.
  2. The department's spring HIS 400 junior seminar will be open to sophomores intending to go abroad in the fall of their junior year, thus enabling them to write their first junior paper in the spring of their sophomore year and preparing them to write the second while abroad or in the resident semester of their junior year (if they elect to spend only one semester abroad). Students who meet the requirements of junior independent work while at Princeton will still be expected to undertake a full course load while abroad. Moreover, to take full advantage of the international experience, study abroad should include some research work, and we urge students to take seminars that include a research component. 

Additional Information

Interdepartmental Programs

Interdepartmental programs of particular interest to history department students are the programs in African studies, African American studies, American studies, Asian American studies, classics, East Asian studies, European cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, Hellenic studies, sistory and the practice of diplomacy, Judaic studies, Latin American studies, Medieval studies, and Near Eastern studies. Students should consult the director of undergraduate studies and the director of the relevant program.

Offering type
Minor

Understanding the human past is essential to living in the present and shaping the future. The themes explored in history courses address questions about the transformation of societies over time and the diversity of human experience, through the study of politics and conflict, religion, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, or the production of knowledge (among many themes). By juxtaposing current-day assumptions and biases against the norms and prejudices from the distant past and other cultures, the study of history provides valuable insights on how we are situated in the present. For students majoring in the natural sciences or engineering, the history minor provides the opportunity to pursue a parallel intellectual journey. For students majoring in other humanities or social science disciplines, the history minor complements their course of study.

Goals for Student Learning

The history minor provides students an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the human past. Through coursework and a research paper, students learn how to pose historical questions, how to build answers by analyzing historical evidence in context, how to evaluate existing interpretations of the past, and how to write persuasively and elegantly. The department’s courses explore a wide variety of regions, themes and periods, and history minors have the flexibility to undertake a broad range of inquiry or to pursue a specific passion in depth. No matter which pathway they choose, though, history minors develop key critical thinking skills. They foster empathy for different perspectives and gain new insight into the diversity of human experience. And they learn to research and debate how and why societies change over time, as well as how prior eras have helped to produce our own. By becoming more informed students of the past, history minors improve their ability to scrutinize the present and to thoughtfully shape the future.

Prerequisites

The history minor is open to all undergraduate students, without prerequisite.

Admission to the Program

Students may declare their interest in the history minor from the spring of sophomore year to the spring of junior year.

Students register their interest by contacting the Director of Undergraduate Program for History in the history department.

Students majoring in history or pursuing a minor in the history of science, technology, and medicine are not eligible.

Program of Study

Students are required to complete five history courses. These courses may range broadly across regions, themes and time periods, or they may be focused on a single area of study. Upon declaring their interest in a history minor, students will articulate their goals and plan an individualized pathway to the minor in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Program for History

All courses for the history minor must be taken on a graded basis (no pass/D/fail). No cognates are permitted.

No more than one course may double-count with a course taken for credit in the major or another minor.

Interested history minors may apply to take the junior seminar for majors (HIS400) during the fall or spring of junior year or fall of senior year. For minors enrolled in HIS 400, the course requirements are standard except that the research paper written for the course will be slightly shorter than the length required for majors. Available spots will be allocated after history majors have registered. 

Independent Work

Students are required to write a research paper (minimum length of 12 pages) with substantive primary source engagement. The research paper will normally be written for a HIS course and revised as needed to meet the requirements of the minor. In addition, students will submit a 500-word methodological reflection on the research and writing process. The undergraduate program director for history will review the submitted work and verify that it satisfies departmental requirements.

Faculty

  • Chair

    • Angela N. Creager
  • Associate Chair

    • Margot Canaday
  • Director of Undergraduate Studies

    • Yaacob Dweck (acting)
  • Director of Graduate Studies

    • Beth Lew-Williams
    • Jennifer M. Rampling (acting)
  • Director of Undergraduate Program

    • Michael A. Blaakman
    • Katja Guenther
  • Professor

    • Jeremy I. Adelman
    • David A. Bell
    • D. Graham Burnett
    • Margot Canaday
    • Janet Y. Chen
    • Linda J. Colley
    • Thomas D. Conlan
    • Angela N. Creager
    • Yaacob Dweck
    • Laura F. Edwards
    • Sheldon M. Garon
    • Michael D. Gordin
    • Anthony T. Grafton
    • Molly Greene
    • Katja Guenther
    • Tera W. Hunter
    • Alison E. Isenberg
    • Harold James
    • Matthew L. Jones
    • William C. Jordan
    • Emmanuel H. Kreike
    • Kevin M. Kruse
    • Michael F. Laffan
    • Erika L. Milam
    • Yair Mintzker
    • Gyan Prakash
    • Ekaterina Pravilova
    • Helmut Reimitz
    • Marina Rustow
    • Emily Thompson
    • Keith A. Wailoo
    • Sean Wilentz
    • Julian E. Zelizer
  • Associate Professor

    • Edward G. Baring
    • He Bian
    • Vera S. Candiani
    • Jacob S. Dlamini
    • Elizabeth Ellis
    • Joshua B. Guild
    • Matthew J. Karp
    • Beth Lew-Williams
    • Rosina A. Lozano
    • Federico Marcon
    • Jennifer M. Rampling
    • Teresa Shawcross
    • Jack B. Tannous
    • Wendy Warren
    • Max D. Weiss
  • Assistant Professor

    • Rhae Lynn Barnes
    • Michael A. Blaakman
    • Divya Cherian
    • Yonatan Glazer-Eytan
    • Isadora M. Mota
    • Iryna Vushko
    • Xin Wen
    • Natasha G. Wheatley
    • Trenton W. Wilson
    • Peter Wirzbicki
    • Corinna Zeltsman
  • Associated Faculty

    • Wallace D. Best, Religion
    • Michael A. Cook, Near Eastern Studies
    • M. Sükrü Hanioglu, Near Eastern Studies
    • Bernard A. Haykel, Near Eastern Studies
    • Nigel Smith, English
  • Lecturer

    • Joseph M. Fronczak
    • Sheragim Jenabzadeh
    • Igor Khristoforov
    • Bryan LaPointe
    • Aaron J. Stamper

For a full list of faculty members and fellows please visit the department or program website.

Courses

HIS 201 - A History of the World Fall CDHA

An introduction to the history of the modern world, this course traces the global processes that connected regions with each other from the time of Genghis Khan to the present. The major themes of the course include the environmental impact of human development, the role of wars and empires in shaping world power, and the transformations of global trade, finance, and migration. S. Jenabzadeh

HIS 207 - History of East Asia to 1800 (also EAS 207/MED 207) Fall HA

General introduction to major themes in the cultural, intellectual, and institutional history of China and Japan, with some attention to Korea and Southeast Asia. Two lectures, one preceptorial. T. Conlan, X. Wen

HIS 208 - East Asia since 1800 (also EAS 208) Spring HA

An introduction to the history of modern East Asia, examining the inter-related histories of Korea, Japan, and China since 1800 and their relationships with the wider world. Major topics include: trade, cultural exchanges, reform and revolution, war, colonialism, Cold War geopolitics, socialism. Two lectures, one preceptorial. F. Marcon

HIS 209 - The Origins of Japanese Culture and Civilization: A History of Japan until 1600 (also EAS 218/MED 209) Spring HA

HIS 210 - The World of Late Antiquity (also CLA 202/HLS 210/MED 210) Spring HA

This course will focus on the history of the later Roman Empire, a period which historians often refer to as "Late Antiquity." We will begin our class in pagan Rome at the start of the third century and end it in Baghdad in the ninth century: in between these two points, the Mediterranean world experienced a series of cultural and political revolutions whose reverberations can still be felt today. We will witness civil wars, barbarian invasions, the triumph of Christianity over paganism, the fall of the Western Empire, the rise of Islam, the Greco-Arabic translation movement and much more. J. Tannous

HIS 211 - Europe from Antiquity to 1700 Fall HA

The course deals with four main topics: the Greek city-state, the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity, the formation of medieval European society, and the Renaissance and Reformation. Emphasis will be laid on those social, political, intellectual, and religious developments that contributed most directly to forming modern European civilization. Two lectures, one preceptorial. A. Grafton

HIS 212 - Europe in the World: From 1776 to the Present Day (also EPS 212) Spring HA

The emergence of modern societies from the Europe of the Old Regimes. Emphasis on problems and themes, including the French and Industrial Revolutions, nationalism, science and its discontents, popular culture, the mass movements of revolution and war. Intended as an introduction to Europe for students with little background in history. Two lectures, one preceptorial. H. James

HIS 216 - Archaic and Classical Greece (also CLA 216) Spring HA

HIS 217 - The Greek World in the Hellenistic Age (also CLA 217/HLS 217) Not offered this year HA

HIS 218 - The Roman Republic (also CLA 218) Not offered this year HA

HIS 219 - The Roman Empire, 31 B.C. to A.D. 337 (also CLA 219) Fall HA

HIS 220 - Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the Middle Ages (also JDS 220/MED 220/NES 220) Not offered this year HA

HIS 222 - Hellenism: The First 3000 Years (also CLA 223/HLS 222) Fall CDLA

HIS 223 - Introduction to the Middle East (also NES 201) HA

HIS 226 - Topics in African American Culture & Life (also AAS 326/AMS 388) CDHA

HIS 227 - The Worlds of the Middle Ages (also HLS 227/HUM 227/MED 227) Not offered this year LA

HIS 231 - Ancient Greek and Roman Medicine: Bodies, Physicians, and Patients (also CLA 231/GHP 331/HLS 231) Not offered this year EMHA

HIS 241 - Faith and Power in the Indian Ocean Arena Spring HA

This course offers a chronological and topical overview of one of the world's most diverse and contested spaces. Sketching the deep linkages between East Africa, the Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, short focused readings and in-depth precepts will highlight such issues as the spread of Buddhism and Islam, the rise of colonialism, the importance of nationalist and third-worldist movements, the struggles for exclusive ethno-religious enclaves and the consequences for diasporic communities with ever-tightening links to the Americas, Europe and Australasia. M. Laffan

HIS 245 - The Islamic World from its Emergence to the Beginnings of Westernization (also MED 245/NES 350) Not offered this year HA

HIS 267 - History of Palestine/Israel (also NES 267) Spring HA

An introduction to the history of the Middle East from the late eighteenth century through the turn of the twenty-first, with an emphasis on the Arab East, Iran, Israel, and Turkey. M. Weiss

HIS 268 - Introduction to African American History Since Emancipation (also AAS 268) Fall CDHA

HIS 270 - Asian American History (also AMS 370/ASA 370) Fall CDHA

This course introduces students to the multiple and varied experiences of people of Asian heritage in the United States from the 19th century to the present day. It focuses on three major questions: (1) What brought Asians to the United States? (2) How did Asian Americans come to be viewed as a race? (3) How does Asian American experience transform our understanding of U.S. history? Using newspapers, novels, government reports, and films, this course will cover major topics in Asian American history, including Chinese Exclusion, Japanese internment, transnational adoption, and the model minority stereotype. B. Lew-Williams

HIS 278 - Digital, Spatial, Visual, and Oral Histories Spring HA

The course focuses on unconventional historical sources and approaches including oral, spatial, computational, and digital history. Conventional written sources typically reflect the biases of a small elite. Oral history can be used to recapture the history of individuals, groups, and phenomena that written sources have erased. Spatial history (through the use of Geographic Information Systems or GIS), digital history, and computational history greatly enrich the study of the past by adding new types of data and by offering platforms to integrate a great variety of sources in new multi-dimensional, multi-media, and interactive formats. E. Kreike

HIS 280 - Approaches to American History Spring HA

An intensive introduction to concepts, methods, and issues in American history, especially recommended for prospective concentrators. The problems investigated in the course (the Revolution, class and cultural relations, literature and society, and others) will vary. Emphasis will be on the framing of historical questions and immersion in the actual sources of history. One lecture, two classes. B. Lew-Williams, P. Wirzbicki

HIS 281 - Approaches to European History (also ECS 304) Not offered this year HA

An intensive introduction to the methods and practice of history, designed to prepare students for future independent work through the close reading of sources on three different topics in European history. This year these will be: 1) the Galileo affair; 2) the trial and execution of Louis XVI; and 3) the trials of Nazi leaders at Nuremberg. The class combines lecture with discussion, to introduce students to the basic vocabulary of European historiography and to develop their skills in the interpretation and analysis of documents, the framing of historical questions, and the construction of effective arguments. Y. Mintzker

HIS 282 - A Documents-based Approach to Asian History (also EAS 282) Not offered this year HA

An intensive, documents-based introduction to methods and issues in Asian history, focusing on topics that embed Asia in the wider context of world history. Especially recommended for prospective concentrators. The problems investigated (Marco Polo in Asia, Jesuits in China, Russo-Japanese War, Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, etc.) will vary. Emphasis will be on interpreting primary sources, framing historical questions, and constructing historical explanations. Two 90-minute classes. Staff

HIS 289 - Everyday Writing in Medieval Egypt, 600-1500 (also JDS 389/MED 389/NES 389) CDHA

HIS 290 - The Scientific Worldview of Antiquity and the Middle Ages Not offered this year HA

The emergence and development of natural philosophy in ancient Greece, with consideration of its Egyptian and Babylonian background and its subsequent articulation and modification in the medieval worlds of Islam and Western Europe. Emphasis is placed on the interplay of science and culture. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff

HIS 291 - The Scientific Revolution and European Order, 1500-1750 Not offered this year HA

Beliefs about the nature of the universe, the Earth, and even the human body changed drastically during the early modern period. This course examines this transformation of natural knowledge as a process of both social and intellectual reorganization. Explores how Europeans developed a new mechanistic science for astronomy, physics, and medicine with a dynamic culture of new institutions and technologies. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff

HIS 292 - Science in the Modern World Not offered this year HA

The evolution of science since Newton. Emphasis is placed on the major developments of scientific theory and practice since the chemical revolution of the late 18th century. Topics considered will also include: the development of science as a discipline; the connections between science and mathematics, philosophy, and technology; and the emergence of science as an integral part of modern societies. Two lectures, one preceptorial. M. Gordin

HIS 293 - Science in a Global Context: 15th to 20th Century Not offered this year HA

Science and technology have literally changed the world. This course examines how, with an emphasis on understanding the place of scientific knowledge in the history of European exploration and expanding global power. How did the sciences go out into the world? How did certain disciplines and practices take shape in global interactions since 1400? How does knowledge become universal? What instruments, institutions, and activities made this possible? Two 90-minute classes. D. Burnett

HIS 295 - Making America: Technology and History in the United States Spring HA

This course will introduce students to technology in U.S. history, from the Colonial Era through the Twentieth Century. Throughout, we will consider how people designed, made, and used technologies in order to accomplish work, to organize society, and to make sense of their world. Warfare and agriculture; transportation and communication networks; plantations and factories; media, money, and information systems; engineers and other kinds of technologists: all will be explored, examined, and analyzed in order to understand the role of technology in making the nation. E. Thompson

HIS 303 - Colonial Latin America to 1810 (also LAS 305) Not offered this year HA

The principal themes of Iberian imperialism and colonial society from preconquest to the eve of independence. The main issues to be covered will be: Amerindian civilization, the conquest of the Americas, social and cultural change, and evolving economic relations. Two lectures, one preceptorial. V. Candiani

HIS 304 - Modern Latin America since 1810 (also LAO 303/LAS 304) Not offered this year HA

A survey of Latin America from the wars of independence to recent struggles for democracy. The focus will be on state formation in the 19th century, relations with the world economy, and changing patterns of social and political life in the 20th century. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff

HIS 306 - Becoming Latino in the U.S. (also LAO 306/LAS 326) Not offered this year CDHA

The course follows the major themes and issues surrounding the history of Mexican Americans in the United States. It seeks to explain the historical origins of the continuing debates over land ownership, assimilation expectations, discrimination, immigration regulation, and labor disputes. The course focuses primarily on the US citizens created after the Mexican American War and Mexican immigrants to the US. It looks transnationally at Mexico's history to explain US shifts in public opinion and domestic policies. While the course examines the impact of Mexican Americans in many regions of the country, it will focus on those in the Southwest. R. Lozano

HIS 310 - Religion and the American Revolution (also REL 357) Not offered this year HA

HIS 314 - Precolonial Africa (also AFS 313) Not offered this year HA

A survey course that begins with an overview of the continent at the end of the third century A.D. and ends with the death of Moshoeshoe in the 19th century. Focuses on several great themes of African history: long-distance trade, state formation, migration, religious conversion to either Islam or Christianity, forms of domestic slavery, and the impact of the slave trade. Two 90-minute classes. E. Kreike

HIS 315 - Colonial and Postcolonial Africa (also AFS 316) Spring HA

The impact of European colonial rule on the traditional societies of Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the dominant themes will be the emergence of the intelligentsia in colonial areas as proponents of nationalism. Two lectures, one preceptorial. J. Dlamini

HIS 316 - South African History, 1497 to the Present Not offered this year HA

Beginning with a brief precolonial regional overview, the course examines European occupation following 1652; explores slavery, the frontier, intergroup relations, the growth of nationalism, the Boer War and unification, African resistance movements, the structure of politics, constitutional developments, and debates over race and class; and ends with the 1980s constitutional crisis. Two lectures, one preceptorial. E. Kreike

HIS 317 - The Making of Modern India and Pakistan (also SAS 317) Fall HA

An exploration of three major themes in the history of India's emergence as a nation-state: colonial socio-economic and cultural transformations, the growth of modern collective identities and conflicts, and nationalism. Topics covered include: trade, empire, and capitalism; class, gender, and religion; Gandhi, national independence, and partition; and postcolonial state and society. Two lectures, one preceptorial. G. Prakash

HIS 318 - Topics in 18th-Century Literature (also AMS 348/ENG 338) Not offered this year LA

HIS 321 - Early Modern Japan (also EAS 321) Not offered this year HA

HIS 322 - 20th-Century Japan (also EAS 324) Fall HA

An analysis of change and continuity in modern Japanese society, with emphasis on industrialization, social discontent, parliamentary democracy, war, defeat, the "economic miracle," and Japanese preoccupation with national identity in a Western-dominated world. Divided between the prewar and postwar periods. Two lectures, one preceptorial. S. Garon

HIS 324 - Early Modern China (also EAS 354) Not offered this year HA

China between the 1570s and the 1860s, from its early involvement in the new world economy to the crises of the Opium War era. Emphasis on the history and culture of the Qing empire, its success and challenges, with attention to family and society, religion, art, and literature. Two lectures, one preceptorial. H. Bian

HIS 325 - China, 1850 to the Present (also EAS 355) Not offered this year HA

China's transformations and continuities from the civil wars of the mid-19th century to the economic reforms of the 1980s. Topics include the opium crisis, the impact of natural disasters, the fall of the imperial dynasty, China's struggle with Western and Japanese imperialism, and experiments in government and society on mainland China and Taiwan since 1949. Two lectures, one preceptorial. J. Chen

HIS 326 - Topics in Ancient History (also CLA 326/HLS 373/HUM 324) Spring HA

HIS 327 - Topics in Ancient History (also CLA 327) Not offered this year HA

HIS 328 - Classical Historians and Their Philosophies of History (also CLA 324/HLS 322) Spring HA

HIS 334 - A Global History of Monsters (also EAS 376/HUM 335) Fall CDHA

HIS 337 - The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1800 (also HLS 337/NES 437) Fall HA

HIS 342 - Southeast Asia's Global History (also EAS 342/NES 343) Spring HA

Provides an introduction to Southeast Asia and its prominent place in global history NES 343 through a series of encounters in time, from Marco Polo in Sumatra to the latest events in such buzzing cities as Bangkok, Jakarta, and Hanoi. For the early modern period we will read various primary sources before turning to consider a series of diverse colonial impacts across the region (European, American, and Asian), and then the mechanisms underpinning the formation of some of the most vibrant, and sometimes turbulent, countries on the world stage. Two 90-minute classes. M. Laffan

HIS 343 - The Formation of the Christian West (also CLA 343/HLS 343/MED 343) Fall HA

A study of the emergence of a distinctive Western European civilization out of Christian, Greco-Roman, and Germanic institutions and ideas from the decline of the Roman Empire to about A.D. 1050. Two lectures, one preceptorial. H. Reimitz

HIS 344 - The Civilization of the High Middle Ages (also CLA 344/MED 344) Spring HA

An analysis of typical institutions, social and economic structures, and forms of thought and expression from about 1050 to about 1350. Emphasis is placed on the elements of medieval civilization that have influenced the subsequent history of European peoples. Two lectures, one preceptorial. W. Jordan

HIS 345 - The Crusades (also HLS 345/MED 345) Fall HA

The Crusades were a central phenomenon of the Middle Ages. This course examines the origins and development of the Crusades and the Crusader States in the Islamic East. It explores dramatic events, such as the great Siege of Jerusalem, and introduces vivid personalities, including Richard the Lionheart and Saladin. We will consider aspects of institutional, economic, social and cultural history and compare medieval Christian (Western and Byzantine), Muslim and Jewish perceptions of the crusading movement. Finally, we will critically examine the resonance the movement continues to have in current political and ideological debates T. Shawcross

HIS 349 - The Arab-Israeli Conflict (also JDS 338/NES 338) Fall EMHA

HIS 351 - France, 1815 to the Present Not offered this year HA

The political and social history of France from Napoleon to the Fifth Republic. The impact of revolution, industrialization, and war on French society in the 19th and 20th centuries. Particular attention will be paid to movements of popular revolt and the efforts of elites--rural, bourgeois, and technocratic--to maintain control in the face of social ferment. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff

HIS 353 - God, Satan, Goddesses, and Monsters: How Their Stories Play in Art, Culture, and Politics (also CLA 352/ENG 442/REL 350) Not offered this year CDEC

HIS 358 - History of the Balkans (also HLS 358) Not offered this year HA

Examines the rise of nationalism in the Balkans, beginning with an examination of Balkan society under the Ottomans and continuing up through the establishment of nation-states in the 19th and 20th centuries. Case studies will include Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Albania. Themes covered: social organization, prenational politics, imperialism, cultural and economic elites, the Ottoman heritage. One lecture, two preceptorials. M. Greene

HIS 359 - Modern Jewish History: 1750-Present (also JDS 359) Spring HA

This course surveys the breadth of Jewish experience from the era of the Enlightenment to the contemporary period. Tracing the development of Jewish cultures and communities in Europe and the United States against the background of general history, the course focuses on themes such as the transformation of Jewish identity, the creation of modern Jewish politics, the impact of anti-Semitism, and the founding of the State of Israel. Two 90-minute classes. Y. Dweck

HIS 360 - The Russian Empire: State, People, Nations (also RES 360) Fall HA

Eighteenth-century enlightened absolutism: reforms of Peter and Catherine the Great, shaping of national identity and a modern state. Nineteenth-century tensions between reform from above and revolution from below, with a focus on the political role of social groups and special attention to the origins of revolutionary conflict in 1905 and 1917. Two 90-minute classes. E. Pravilova

HIS 361 - The United States Since 1974 Spring HA

The history of contemporary America, with particular attention to political, social and technological changes. Topics will include the rise of a new conservative movement and the reconstitution of liberalism, the end of the divisive Cold War era and the rise of an interconneted global economy, revolutionary technological innovation coupled with growing economic inequality, a massive influx of immigrants coupled with a revival of isolationism and nativism, a revolution in homosexual rights and gender equality coupled with the rise of a new ethos of "family values." J. Zelizer

HIS 362 - The Soviet Empire (also RES 362) Not offered this year HA

An examination of the transformation of the Russian Empire into the Soviet Empire. Topics include: the unfolding of single-party revolutionary politics, the development of Stalin's personal despotism, the violent attempt to create a noncapitalist society, the monumental war with Nazi Germany, and the nature of everyday life. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff

HIS 365 - Europe in the 20th Century Not offered this year HA

The history of Western and Central Europe since World War I viewed from the perspective of Europe's rapidly changing role in world history. Europe's political, social, and economic adjustment to the Russian Revolution, to the emergence of America and Russia as superpowers, and to the loss of overseas imperial possessions. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff

HIS 366 - Germany since 1806 Not offered this year HA

Sets German history after the Napoleonic invasion in a context of international politics, and shows how the development of a peculiarly German idea of the nation was a response to pressures exerted by European political changes and by the European state system. Examination of how, after national unification in 1871, German domestic policy in turn affected the whole world: in German foreign policy before the First World War, in the aftermath of 1918, and during the Nazi dictatorship. Treatment of the separate courses of the two Germanies since 1945 and of their position in world politics. Two lectures, one preceptorial. H. James

HIS 367 - English Constitutional History Fall HA

A study of the development of the English Constitution to 1600, with special emphasis on the institutions and ideas that form the background for American constitutional history. Two lectures, one preceptorial. W. Jordan

HIS 370 - Britain from the American Revolution to World War II Not offered this year HA

Thematic survey of the social, cultural, and political transformations in the lives of women and men in Britain from the Industrial Revolution to the present. Topics include Britain's rise and fall as the first "modern" society and imperial power; national identities and civil society, gender, and class; democracy and imperialism; Irish nationalism and contemporary culture. Two lectures, one preceptorial. L. Colley

HIS 371 - The Colonization of North America Fall HA

An overview of European colonization in North America, covering New France, New Spain, New England, the Middle Colonies, the Chesapeake area, South Carolina, and the sugar islands. Special emphasis upon social structures, labor systems, race, gender, religion, political cultures, and the problem of imperial control from Jamestown through the Great Awakening of the 1740s. Particular attention will be paid to the various and changing encounters of Africans, Native American, and Europeans, and to the importance of slavery in the colonization process. Two lectures, one preceptorial. W. Warren

HIS 372 - Revolutionary America Spring HA

A survey of the causes, course, and consequences of the American Revolution, from the Seven Years War to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Topics include colonial protest and the crisis of the British empire; the politics of war and independence, including the significance of slavery; the relationships between war, society, and ideology; the roles of Loyalists and Native Americans; and patriot experiments in republican government. Particular attention will be paid to how gender, race, region, status, Indigeneity, and class shaped experiences of the revolutionary era. Two lectures, one preceptorial. M. Blaakman

HIS 373 - Slavery and Democracy in the New Nation Fall HA

A survey of society, culture, and politics in the United States from the ratification of the Constitution to the Compromise of 1850. Topics include the rise of cotton slavery, Northern capitalism and class formation, the politics of cultural change, Jeffersonianism, Jacksonian democracy, and the political economy of sectionalism. Two lectures, one preceptorial. S. Wilentz

HIS 374 - History of the American West (also AMS 360) Not offered this year HA

The history of the place we now know as the U. S. West, from European contact to the mid-twentieth century. Primary focus on the struggles over access to land, resources, and power in old and new Wests, with particular attention given to the role of visual and popular culture in shaping the national imagination of the region. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff

HIS 376 - The American Civil War and Reconstruction Spring HA

Surveys the causes, issues, and consequences of the nation's bloodiest conflict. Topics include slavery and antislavery, Manifest Destiny, the growing sectional conflict, the clash of arms, the transforming impact of the Civil War, the transition from slave to free labor in the South, and postslavery race relations. Two lectures, one preceptorial. M. Karp

HIS 377 - Gilded Age and Progressive-Era United States, 1877-1920 Not offered this year HA

The rise of the modern corporate state in America. Primary focus on the development of big business in the years following the Civil War, accompanying social processes such as immigration and urbanization, and the political responses to these phenomena, particularly populism and progressivism. Other topics include labor, blacks and racism, women in progressive America, and the intellectual response to modernity. Concludes with the United States' entry into World War I. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff

HIS 380 - U.S. Foreign Relations Not offered this year HA

The relations between the United States and other nations from 1776 to the present, treating political, economic, and military aspects of U.S. foreign affairs, with special attention to the art of diplomacy. Two lectures, one precept. J. Fronczak

HIS 383 - The United States, 1920-1974 Not offered this year HA

The history of modern America, with particular focus on domestic political and social changes. Topics include the Roaring 20s; the Great Depression and the New Deal; the homefront of World War II and the Cold War; the civil rights movement and the Great Society; the Vietnam War; the sexual revolutions; the Silent Majority, the Nixon administration, and Watergate. Two lectures, one preceptorial. K. Kruse

HIS 384 - Gender and Sexuality in Modern America (also AMS 424/GSS 384) Spring CDHA

An examination of changing patterns of manhood and womanhood, with an emphasis on women's experience. Topics include housekeeping, child rearing, birth control, sexuality, work, feminism, and the role of gender in religious and political movements and economic development. Two lectures, one preceptorial. M. Canaday

HIS 386 - African American History to 1863 (also AAS 366) Not offered this year HA

HIS 388 - Unrest and Renewal in Urban America (also AAS 388/AMS 380/URB 388) Fall CDHA

From colonial settlement to the present, this course weaves a comprehensive history of American cities. Over centuries, cities have symbolized democratic ideals of "melting pots" and innovation, as well as crises of disorder, decline, crime, and poverty. Urban life has concentrated extremes like rich and poor; racial and ethnic divides; philanthropy and greed; skyscrapers and parks; violence and hope; downtown and suburb. The course examines how cities in U.S. history have brokered revolution, transformation and renewal, focusing on class, race, gender, immigration, capitalism, and the built environment. Two lectures, one preceptorial. A. Isenberg

HIS 389 - American Cultural History Fall HA

This course will serve as an intensive historical survey on the rise of mass popular culture and entertainment from roughly 1800 to 1980 and will investigate the ways multiethnic American popular culture (photography, rock 'n' roll, jazz, sports, film, radio, and other forms of multimedia and expressive culture) was influenced by and shaped the American political landscape, race relations, labor, gender, sexuality, technology, and urbanization. Two lectures, one preceptorial. R. Barnes

HIS 393 - Race, Drugs, and Drug Policy in America (also AAS 393/AMS 423/SPI 389) Spring HA

From "Chinese opium" to Oxycontin, and from cocaine and "crack" to BiDil, drug controversies reflect enduring debates about the role of medicine, the law, the policing of ethnic identity, and racial difference. This course explores the history of controversial substances (prescription medicines, over-the-counter products, black market substances, psychoactive drugs), and how, from cigarettes to alcohol and opium, they become vehicles for heated debates over immigration, identity, cultural and biological difference, criminal character, the line between legality and illegality, and the boundaries of the normal and the pathological. K. Wailoo

HIS 396 - History of Biology Spring HA

An examination of the emergence of biology as a scientific discipline since 1750, focusing on the cultural context and social impact of changes in biological knowledge. Particular attention will be paid to changing conceptions of life and how interactions with the physical sciences have shaped the life sciences. We will also interrogate how ideas of biological difference intersected with the normative ordering of humans, particularly along axes of race and gender. Two lectures, one preceptorial. A. Creager

HIS 400 - Junior Seminars Fall/Spring HA

The junior seminars serve to introduce departmental majors, in the fall of their junior year, to the tools, methods, and interpretations employed in historical research and writing. Students may choose from a range of topics; assignments to specific seminars are made on the basis of these choices at the beginning of the fall term. Seminar topics tend to be cross-national and comparative. All juniors must be enrolled in one of the seminars. One three-hour seminar. Staff

HIS 404 - The Rise of the Republican Party Not offered this year HA

For the first seventy-five years of U.S. history, anti-slavery parties were confined to the radical fringe of national politics. Yet just six years after it was founded in 1854, the Republican Party became the only third party organization in U.S. history to capture the Presidency.The triumph of this new, avowedly anti-slavery was unprecedented: "the revolution of 1860," some called it. But who exactly were these Republicans? How did they rise so far, so fast, and against such mighty obstacles? And what sort of world did they want to build? Using both primary and secondary sources, this seminar will explore these and other vital questions. M. Karp

HIS 405 - Native American History Not offered this year HA

This course covers the history of Native Americans until 1838 (the end of forced Removal). It has two central goals: to emphasize the variety of Native American societies and cultures that existed (and exist) in North America, and to highlight the centrality of Native American history to North American history as a whole. Readings will include: the accounts of the travels of Cabeza de Vaca and of John Smith, the Jesuit Relations, the Life of Black Hawk, the journals of Lewis and Clark, several captivity narratives, and Cherokee documents written during Removal. W. Warren

HIS 408 - Selected Topics in 20th-Century Latin America (also LAS 408) Not offered this year HA

Research and reading on topics related to economic development and political change with attention to specific national contexts, such as authoritarian state and society in Argentina and Brazil; revolution and social change in Mexico, Cuba, and Chile; problems in Latin American foreign relations. One three-hour seminar. Staff

HIS 417 - Gandhi: The Making of the Mahatma Not offered this year HA

This seminar examines Gandhi's political life extending from his campaign for the rights of Indians in South Africa to his role in the struggle for Indian independence from British rule. Focus on those historical processes that turned M. K. Gandhi into a major 20th-century figure--the Mahatma. Issues relating to imperialism and nationalism form the context in which the seminar looks at Gandhi's life and seeks to understand Gandhian ideology and its different--often conflicting--historical appropriations. One three-hour seminar. G. Prakash

HIS 419 - Topics in the History of Modern Syria (also COM 438/NES 419) Not offered this year HA

This seminar situates cultural production in Ba`thist Syria (1970-present)--in terms of its conditions of creation, circulation and reception--within a broader framework, namely, the history of modern Syria. Through an exploration of historical debates in the scholarly literature on politics, aesthetics and culture, students will both contextualize and comment upon ongoing discussions surrounding contemporary Syria. The course engages with a wide range of media, from literature and drama to television and film. All readings are in English, although those with interests/abilities in French or Arabic will be encouraged to exercise them. M. Weiss

HIS 428 - Empire and Catastrophe (also HLS 428/MED 428) Not offered this year HA

Catastrophe reveals the fragility of human society. This course examines a series of phenomena--plague, famine, war, revolution, economic depression etc.--in order to reach an understanding of humanity's imaginings of but also resilience to collective crises. We shall look in particular at how political forces such as empire have historically both generated and resisted global disasters. Material dealing with the especially fraught centuries at the transition between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period will be set alongside examples drawn from antiquity as well as our own contemporary era. T. Shawcross

HIS 432 - Environment and War (also ENV 432) Fall HA

Studies of war and society rarely address environmental factors and agency. The relationship between war and environment is often either reduced to a simple environmental determinism or it is depicted as a war against nature and ecosystems, playing down societal dynamics. The seminar explores the different approaches to the war-environment-society nexus and highlights how and why the three spheres should be studied in conjunction. The objective is to assess how and why environmental and societal factors and forces caused and shaped the conflicts and how in turn mass violence shaped societies and how they used and perceived their environments. E. Kreike

HIS 433 - Imperialism and Reform in the Middle East and the Balkans (also HLS 434/NES 433) Fall HA

HIS 444 - Intellectual History of China to the Fifth Century (also EAS 415) Fall EM

HIS 448 - History: An Introduction to the Discipline Fall HA

An introduction to the discipline of history aimed at, but not limited to, history majors. Through case studies, students will learn how historians of the last few generations have framed problems, found and interpreted evidence, and built arguments. Participants will both study the major recent movements in the discipline of history and reflect on and improve their own historical techniques. The course will culminate with an examination of history and memory in the early 21st century. Prerequisites: successful completion of the department's junior requirements or comparable work in another department. One three-hour seminar. A. Grafton

HIS 459 - The History of Incarceration in the U.S. (also AMS 459/GSS 459) Not offered this year HA

The prison is a growth industry in the U.S.; it is also a central institution in U.S. political and social life, shaping our experience of race, class, gender, sexuality, citizenship, and political possibility. This course explores the history of incarceration over the course of more than two centuries. It tracks the emergence of the penitentiary in the early national period and investigates mass incarceration of the late 20th century. Topics include the relationship between the penitentiary and slavery; the prisoners' rights movement; Japanese internment; immigration detention; and the privatization and globalization of prisons. Staff

HIS 460 - Topics in American Legal History Not offered this year HA

An in-depth exploration of a topic in American legal history. In some years the course will investigate an event, such as a famous or infamous trial or case. In other years the course will explore historical dimensions of a particular legal concept, such as "rights," "coercion," "dependency," the "family," or "property." One three-hour seminar. Staff

HIS 467 - Financial History (also SPI 466) Not offered this year HA

HIS 477 - The Civil Rights Movement (also AAS 477) Not offered this year HA

HIS 494 - Broken Brains, Shattered Minds Not offered this year HA

An exploration of the complex relationship between the making of brain science and the human experiences of brain damaged people. Topics include iconic cases of brain damage like the railway worker Phineas Gage who survived an iron rod perforating his brain, the emergence and historical function of neurological case histories, the study of brain-damaged soldiers in WWI, the "neurological novels" of Alexander Luria, and the popular writings of Oliver Sacks. K. Guenther