Spring 2026 Courses
HST 290 satisfies Information Literacy, Writing Intensive, and Explorations Beyond the Classroom University Studies Requirements:
HST 290 – The Long First World War (Coggeshall)
Recent scholarship on the First World War has emphasized its place within a longer continuum of crises, as well as its global dimensions. This course will give students a background in, and allow them to examine, the causes and precursors of the war, the war itself, and the continuation, aftermath, and
international political changes following the official conclusion of the war in 1918. Moving beyond the cramped trenches of the Western Front and the wide spaces of movement and occupation on the Eastern Front, this course covers the global conflict stretching back to the late 19th century and forward
to the interwar period, incorporating cultural, intellectual, political, and social dimensions of the long war and its aftermath alongside the war's military history.
Classes of interest
HST 107 – Warfare in World History (McFarland)
Warfare has been a global technological, social, political, and cultural transformational force throughout human history. HST 107 seeks to help students understand this force by surveying war from the ancient
world until today. Warfare will be used as a lens to encourage critical thinking, enhance global awareness, and develop a foundational knowledge of warfare in history. The course will examine how societies have waged war, how they have responded to war, and how war has influenced those societies. Its central theme will be the societal origins of and impact of warfare, both for the victors and the defeated. Additional topics will include the origins of war, the morality of war, and the revolutionary impact of war. Satisfies University Studies: Approaches and Perspectives/Historical and Philosophical Approaches, Approaches and Perspectives/Living in a Global Society.
HST 114 – The Jews: From the Inquisition to Isreal (Tanny)
This course traces the remarkable journey of the Jewish people from the shadow of the Spanish
Inquisition until today. We’ll explore how Jewish communities across Europe, the Middle East, and the
Americas navigated upheaval and change: emancipation and religious reform, mass migrations, the dark
tide of anti-Semitism, the devastation of the Holocaust, and the rebirth of a nation with the founding of
modern Israel.
HST 119 – History of Medicine (Johnson)
Survey of the history of medicine that covers the major intellectual, social, and cultural contexts foundational for our modern understanding of health and health care.
HST 260 - African-American History (TBD)
Survey of the major themes and events in the history of African-Americans from the colonial period to the present.
HST 270 – Introduction to the History of Global Trade (Spaulding)
This course explores significant examples of long-distance intercultural trade relationships from the Bronze Age up through our current era, for example commodity chains that pushed West African gold into Europe, Chinese silk to Mexico, and U.S. soybeans to China. Long distance trade provides the most visible evidence for the oft-discussed process of globalization, which began in the Bronze Age and accelerated in fits and starts up through our current era. Students will explore some important patterns of global trade and the see the wide variety of practices, norms, and rules that governed trade in the past and present.
HST 270 – The Beautiful Game: Soccer and World History (Timbs)
Why does the world’s most popular sport matter in global history? This course uses soccer as a lens to explore significant themes such as empire, nationalism, migration, race, gender, politics, and globalization, from the earliest origins of the game to the present. We will examine how soccer has evolved through centuries, starting from its ancient roots, including variations played in different cultures, and how it later became formalized in industrial England before expanding globally through colonial networks, influencing regions such as Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Throughout the course, we will investigate how soccer has both reflected and shaped struggles over identity and power within different societies. We will discuss how the sport serves as a platform for addressing social issues such as gender equity and racial discrimination, as well as its role in political movements and national pride. Students will engage in analyzing various primary sources, media, and case studies. This analysis will illustrate how soccer, often viewed merely as a recreational activity, has grown into a significant cultural phenomenon that mirrors the complexities of world history and the interconnectedness of global events.
HST 271 – Shaken & Scorched: History of Natural Disasters (Paradis)
This course traces the history of punishment from labor on the public works to the development of long-term incarceration as punishment in American history from the Revolutionary War to 1900, shortly after Plessy v. Fergusson (1896) legalized segregation in the South.
It examines the influence of European theories of punishment on the development of American imprisonment, analyzes how military discipline shaped civilian punishment and the penitentiary program in the nineteenth century, and explores how emancipation inspired convict leasing during and after Reconstruction.
HST 313 - England since 1815 (Sherman)
This course focuses on England's history from 1815 to the present, years when Britain and her Empire played a pivotal role in the history of the West and indeed of the world. Not only did the empire expand and then contract, leaving a legacy that is still with us today, but British society itself was convulsed by a whole series of rapid changes. Particular attention will be paid to the evolution of parliamentary democracy, economic developments (including the Industrial Revolution), the emergence of class politics and social reform, the Irish question, the legacy of union with Scotland, the making of the welfare state, and Britain’s evolving place in European and global affairs
HST 326 - Modern Russia Since 1881 (Coggeshall)
This course provides a simultaneously broad and targeted overview of modern Russian and Soviet history since the second half of the 19th century. Starting in 1881, the year of Tsar Alexander II’s assassination in St. Petersburg and of the Russian colonial massacre at Geok Tepe, topics covered by the course include the social structure of the late Russian Empire, Russian imperial expansion, national politics, government reforms, the political culture of early 20th century Russia, Russian Marxism, the Revolution of 1905, the First World War, the Russian Revolution, the Russian Civil War, the Soviet Union, Soviet national republics, Stalinism, the Second World War, the Thaw, the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the post-Soviet 1990s. Special attention is devoted throughout the course to political and social movements, art and literature, and the history of everyday life, including units on the Silver Age, modern Russian religious thought, the Russian avant-garde, and late-Soviet culture. Students will learn about central themes and questions in modern Russian and Soviet history, while engaging with the vibrant diversity of Russian and Soviet culture and political thought.
HST 363 - History of Modern China (Chen)
Survey of the history of China from 1800 to the present with themes including the collapse of the imperial dynasty and China’s response to Western challenges in the nineteenth century, the Nationalist and Communist revolutions in the twentieth century, and China’s rise to a global superpower in the twenty-first century.
HST 395 - America’s National Parks (Hart)
This course explores national parks in the United States through the lenses of social, cultural, and environmental history. It examines the controversial origins of national parks in the nineteenth century and the complicated evolution of the National Park Service in the twentieth century. In doing so, this class covers a wide range of historical and contemporary topics, including ecology, tourism, recreation, historic preservation, wildlife reintroduction, and climate change. Though the course encompasses all national parks, special attention will be devoted to Yellowstone and the Great Smoky Mountain National Parks as the flagship parks of the West and East and to Cape Hatteras National Seashore as an example of the challenges facing the Park Service in coastal North Carolina.
HST 398 - Europe in the Age of War and Dictators (Seidman)
An exploration of the social, political, and economic history of Europe from the origins of the First World War to the end of the Second World War. The course begins with World War I and shows how communism and fascism, two new work ideologies, developed from the consequences of this conflict. The Great
Depression of the 1930s brought about massive economic disruption in key European nations and helped to provoke the rise of Nazism and the antifascist Popular Fronts. Subsequent economic, political, diplomatic, and social forces led to World War II, the Holocaust, and Allied victory.
HST 400s satisfy Capstone Course and Writing Intensive requirements:
HST 418 – The Resurrection of Slavery in Europe, 1914-1945 (Seidman)
This research seminar will examine work, forced labor, and slavery during the Armenian genocide, Italian Fascism, Soviet Communism, German Nazism, Spanish Civil War, Vichy France, World War II, and the Holocaust.
HST 442 – Slavery and Capitalism (Sherman)
Slavery is inextricably linked to the development of capitalism in the United States. It helped finance the Industrial Revolution, connecting planters, merchants, shipbuilders, and factory owners in a complex web of economic power. Banking, finance, and insurance were entangled as well. In 1944 Eric Williams published Capitalism and Slavery—a soon-to-be classic that sparked debate among scholars for decades to come. Williams’ work highlighted the intersection between American slavery and capitalism in the nineteenth century, a connection that has since been explored further. More recently, the “New History of Capitalism” has emphasized the intersection between the two. This course will examine how the United States economy in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries owed much of its development to the international and interstate trade in enslaved Africans. From the valuation of human bodies to the role of gender in slaveholding, this course will also take a social approach to the study of economic history. As a research seminar, the course will focus on skill-building and students will complete a research project based on a topic related to the course theme.
HST 480 – Holocaust Memory and Commemoration (Tanny)
The Holocaust stands as the defining calamity of the twentieth century—a tragedy that reshaped our understanding of evil, memory, and responsibility. In its aftermath, survivors wrote memoirs and gave testimony, museums and memorials were built across the globe, and an entire field of Holocaust studies
emerged. Generations have been urged: never forget. But what does it mean to remember? How do nations, communities, and individuals choose to commemorate? Today, as the last survivors pass away, Holocaust memory is not fading—it is expanding, evolving, and sparking new debates. From monuments and movies to school curricula, comedy, and social media, the Holocaust remains what one scholar calls “an ethical touchstone,” a measure against which we judge other atrocities and the moral responsibilities of our own time. This course explores the practices, politics, and controversies of
Holocaust memory—how it has been preserved, interpreted, and mobilized—and asks what it means to carry this legacy into the future.
HST 495 – A History of True Crime in the Atlantic World (Mollenauer)
What does a fascination with crime reveal about society? While an interest in "true crime" might seem to be a modern phenomenon, stories of gruesome murders, supernatural killers, and criminal masterminds have long obsessed readers. This course will examine the history of “true crime” between 1500 and the start of the modern era. In addition to analyzing individual cases, we will consider the construction of crime and criminality, methods developed to solve crime, and how conceptions of criminality have changed over time.
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