Spring 1999 HISTORY 101 Prof. Michael Bess
MW 10:10-11:00 Office: 123 Benson
Teaching Fellows: Office Hours:
Mr. Joshua Roberts MWF 1-2
Mr. Thomas Doumaux tel. 322-3340
michael.d.bess@
vanderbilt.edu
History of Western Civilization
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is a survey of European history from c. 1700 to the present. Its aim is to introduce students to a broad variety of themes in the evolution of Western society -- from the political and intellectual currents of the Enlightenment to the travails of industrialization, from the apogee of Europe's power in the late 19th century to the rise of a global civilization in the late 20th century. The underlying spirit of the course will be interdisciplinary -- focusing on cultural and artistic currents, political and socioeconomic phenomena, as well as military and colonial developments.
READINGS:
* Edward Burns, et. al., Western Civilizations, 13th ed., vol. 2
* John L. Beatty and Oliver A. Johnson, eds., Heritage of Western Civilization, volume 2, eighth edition
* Voltaire, L'Ingénu
* Charles Dickens, Hard Times
* Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Battalion 101
* Class Pack (Available from Campus Copy in Rand Hall)
* Central Library Reserve List
All of these books are available at the University Bookstore, and have been placed on 2-hour reserve at the Central Library.
READING ASSIGNMENTS
Each week's assigned readings should be finished before the Monday lecture for that week. In my lectures, I will assume knowledge of the basic facts and ideas set forth in the weekly readings.
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
Students will write three short essays (4 to 5 pages each, typed double-spaced) on subjects to be assigned. Papers will be due at the beginning of my lecture, on the dates listed below. Late papers will be penalized at the rate of 5% per day.
1. Voltaire: Wednesday, Feb. 3
2. Dickens/Marx: Wednesday, March 3
3. Browning: Wednesday, April 14
Please note: If you are handing in your paper a few minutes late, please DO NOT rush into class, panting, after the lecture has begun. Your paper will still be accepted as "on time" if you wait outside the classroom until the lecture is over.
DISCUSSION SECTIONS
The weekly section meetings offer students an opportunity to discuss with each other and with the teaching fellows some of the major issues raised in the lectures and readings. Discussions will focus on each week's reading assignment, taking as their point of departure the primary-source documents contained in the Beatty/Johnson volume or the readings on reserve in the Library. Needless to say, students will be expected to have completed each week's reading before the discussion section meets.
Since these section meetings are considered an essential part of the course, grades will be given for participation in discussions. Attendance at these meetings is required, and five unexcused absences will result in failure of the course.
Each discussion section will begin with a five-minute quiz on the assigned readings for that week. This quiz will be worth 30% of that day's discussion grade; the remaining 70% of that day's grade will be determined by your class participation. If you miss a discussion section, you may not make up the quiz at a later date. At the end of the semester, your two lowest discussion grades will be canceled; your total discussion grade will be the average of the remaining discussion grades. Your total discussion grade will be worth 25% of your final grade in the course.
EXAMINATIONS, GRADING, and HONOR CODE
A ten-minute map quiz will be held in your discussion section for Week 2 of the course. I will hold a one-hour midterm in class on Wednesday, Feb. 17. The final examination will cover the entire course; I will not hold an alternate final exam.
Semester grades will be determined according to the following percentages:
* map quiz, 4%
* section participation (discussion grade), 25%
* midterm, 11%
* final, 20%
* paper #1, 11%
* paper #2, 14%
* paper #3, 15%
All assignments and examinations for this course will be governed by Vanderbilt's honor code. Please read carefully the description of the honor code in the student handbook and the section on plagiarism in the class pack for this course. If you have any questions about this very important matter, please come and discuss them with me.
GRADE-ENHANCEMENT OPTION
Students in this class are allowed the opportunity to try to improve the grade they got on one of their three papers, by submitting two reviews of films selected from a list compiled by Prof. Bess.
The maximum amount which these two reviews can improve your grade will be 10 points. For example, a student who gets an 80 (B-) on one of his or her papers can submit two film reviews, and potentially increase his or her credit for that paper to a 90 (A-). The reviews must be typed, double-spaced, and must be no less than two pages long each; they are graded according to the same criteria as your regular papers. Two reviews must be submitted (one is not enough).
The deadline for handing in these reviews will be the beginning of class on Wednesday, April 21. Details of this option, along with a list of acceptable films, are set forth in your class pack.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week 1
* Wed., Jan. 13 -- Introduction and Overview
Read text (Burns), chs. 16-17; start reading L'Ingénu
* Section -- Discuss Beatty, sections on Bacon, Descartes, Galilei
Week 2
* Mon., Jan. 18 -- Eighteenth-century society: the European Heritage
Read text, ch. 18; continue L'Ingénu; study for map quiz
* Wed. -- The Age of Reason
* Section -- Map Quiz; Discuss Beatty, sections on Hobbes, Newton, Condorcet, Rousseau
Week 3
* Mon., Jan. 25 -- The Enlightenment in Art and Philosophy
Read text, ch. 19; finish L'Ingénu
* Wed. -- The French Revolution
* Section -- Discuss L'Ingénu; Beatty, sections on Locke, Smith, Two Revolutionary Declarations
Week 4
* Mon., Feb. 1 -- From the Revolution to the Napoleonic Empire
Read text, ch. 22; start reading Dickens
* Wed. -- The Restoration and the Risorgimento
*********Voltaire essay due, at beginning of lecture, Wed., February 3
* Section -- Discuss Beatty, sections on Burke, Mazzini
Week 5
* Mon., Feb. 8 -- The Industrial Revolution
Read text, chs. 20-21, pp. 776-783; continue Dickens
* Wed. -- Romanticism
* Section -- Discuss Beatty, section on Romanticism, Malthus, The Sadler Report
Week 6
* Mon., Feb. 15 -- The Revolutions of 1848
Finish Dickens
* Wed., Feb. 17 -- Midterm
* Section -- Discuss Dickens
Week 7
* Mon., Feb. 22 -- Struggles of the Dispossessed: Workers, Women, Blacks
Read text, ch. 23
* Wed. -- Nation-building
* Section -- Discuss Beatty, sections on Marx/Engels, Mill
Week 8
* Mon., March 1 -- Freud-Nietzsche-Darwin-Einstein
Read text, chs. 24-25; start reading Browning
* Wed. -- Modernism in the Arts
*********Dickens/Marx essay due, at beginning of lecture, Wed., March 3
* Section -- Discuss Beatty, sections on Darwin, Nietzsche, Freud
Week 9 SPRING BREAK (March 6-14)
Week 10
* Mon., March 15 -- Empire-building
Read text, ch. 26-27; continue Browning
* Wed. -- World War I: An Analysis
* Section -- Discuss Reserve List excerpts by Orwell, Lessing, plus Beatty sections on Fanon, Beveridge
Week 11
* Mon., March 22 -- World War I: The Experience of Total War
Continue Browning
* Wed. -- The Russian Revolution and Stalinism
* Section -- Discuss Beatty, sections on Bernstein, Lenin, Russell, Alma-Ata
Week 12
* Mon., March 29 -- The Rise of Fascism
Read text, ch. 28; finish Browning
* Wed. -- The Depression and the 1930s
* Section -- Discuss Beatty, sections on Sumner, Childs, Dewey, Hitler
Week 13
* Mon., April 5 -- World War II
Read text, ch. 29
* Wed. -- The Holocaust (Film: Night and Fog)
* Section -- Discuss Night and Fog; Beatty, sections on United Nations, League of Nations
Week 14
* Mon., Apr. 12 -- The Cold War
Read text, chs. 30-31
* Wed. -- Decolonization
********Browning essay due, at beginning of lecture, Wednesday, April 14
* Section -- Discuss Browning
Week 15
* Mon., Apr. 19 -- Ecological Politics: A Revolution Against the Industrial Revolution?
Read text, ch. 32
* Wed. -- The Revolutions of 1989
********Last day to hand in film reviews for grade-enhancement option: Wed., April 21
* Section -- Discuss Beatty, sections on De Beauvoir, Whitehead, Atomic Age
Week 16
* Mon., Apr. 26 -- Overview: Long-term Visions for Western Civilization
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Final Examination: Saturday, May 1, 9-11 a.m. (in normal lecture room)
(No Alternate Final)
