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Spring 2008 Course Descriptions:

Undergraduate Courses

Graduate Courses (500-level)

Graduate Courses (600-level)

The following is a complete listing of history courses offered by the University of Alabama for Spring 2008.

Undergraduate Courses

History 101:

Western Civilization to 1648 (3 hrs.)
A history of Western civilization from its origins in Greece and Rome through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Reformation, and the age of discovery and expansion during the emergence of modern Europe.

History 102:

Western Civilization since 1648 (3 hrs.)
Covers the development of the Western world from the Thirty Years' War to the post-World War II era: the age of absolutism, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, industrialization, and the wars of the 20th century.

History 105:

Honors Western Civilization to 1648 (3 hrs.)
Honors sections of HY 101. Prerequisite: Invitation of the department or membership in the University Honors Program.

History 106:

Honors Western Civilization since 1648 (3 hrs.)
Honors sections of HY 102. Prerequisite: Invitation of the department or membership in the University Honors Program.

History 110:

Comparative World Civilizations (3 hrs.)
Examines various civilizations in the world prior to A.D. 1500 and compares their governments, societies, economies, religions, science, learning, and technology. History majors may substitute HY 110 for HY 101 to satisfy part of the Western civilization requirement.

History 203:

American Civilization to 1865 (3 hrs.)
A survey of American history from its beginning to the end of the Civil War, giving special emphasis to the events, people, and ideas that have made America a distinctive civilization.

History 204:

American Civilization since 1865 (3 hrs.)
A survey of American history from the Civil War to the present, giving special emphasis to the events, people, and ideas that have made America a distinctive civilization.

History 205:

Honors American Civilization to 1865 (3 hrs.)
Honors sections of HY 203. Prerequisite: Invitation of the department or membership in the University Honors Program.

History 226:

History of Alabama since 1865 (3 hrs.)
Survey of Alabama's history and personalities since 1865: Reconstruction, agrarian revolt, Progressivism, the KKK, Dixiecrats, and the civil rights movement.

History 235:

History of the Christian Church to 1500 (3 hrs.)
Survey of the church from its origins in the Middle East through its victory over the Roman Empire and its ascendancy in the Middle Ages.

History 236:

History of the Christian Church since 1500 (3 hrs.)
This is the history of the Christian church since the Reformation movement of the early sixteenth century to the present. That movement exploded the unity of the Roman Catholic Church and set the Protestant churches into being. Although the Augustinian friar Martin Luther was at the center of this powder keg of discontent and disillusion with the Church, we will cover many other elements of the reform movement that ushered in the modern epoch of the Christian church. Some topics and individuals will include the Catholic Counter Reformation, John Calvin, the rise of various Protestant denominations (Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Quakers, etc.), the Great Awakenings, syncretic forms of Christianity in the Americas (adaptions of Spanish Catholicism to the customs of indigenous Americans), John Wesley, the secularizing nineteenth century and challenges to Christianity, the missionary movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the rise of Pentecostalism, Liberation Theology, and the "globalization" of Christianity today for example.

History 238:

Modern Latin America (3 hrs.)
Survey of political, economic, and social life in the 19th and 20th centuries, with emphasis on the larger countries (Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina).

History 300-001:

Evolution of Strategic Intelligence (3 hrs.)
This course will examine the historical uses of strategic intelligence by world leaders in shaping diplomatic and military policy, as well as the effect of intelligence on world events. Various uses of intelligence—collecting information, analysis, counterintelligence, and secret operations—will be explored with emphasis on the period from the American Revolution to the modern era. The objective of this course is to provide students with insights into the effect of the intelligence process on policymaking throughout the world. By examining case studies through history, the interaction between collectors and producers of intelligence and those who use the material will become clear. Espionage, counterintelligence, secret operations—to include covert actions—and the production and dissemination of intelligence publications will be viewed in a historical context to provide students with a new way of looking at well-known events.

History 300-003:

The Crusades (3 hrs.)
This course explores, from multiple perspectives, the medieval marriage of religion and violence known as the "Crusade." It offers not only an overview of the traditional, largely military narrative of "numbered" crusades. It also explores the broader view : the general context of "holy war" down to c. 1100; tensions between the ideal and reality of crusading; the social and cultural impact of the Crusades, for good and ill; the intersection of crusading history with women's' history and gender; the Muslim perception of the "Franj" as both invaders and neighbors; the long afterlife of the crusades down through the early modern period. There are no pre-requisites for the course, though completion of our introductory Western Civilization course (HY 101/105) would be helpful.

History 306:

History of Oriental Thought (3 hrs.)
Survey of seminal thinkers from the Orient, with a special effort to place their thought in social and cultural context.

History 315:

The Civil War (3 hrs.)
The military, political, diplomatic, social, and intellectual aspects of the Civil War years, and the impact of the war on subsequent American history.

History 320:

Twentieth-Century Black History (3 hrs.)
The interrelationship of blacks and the industrial-urban environment of the United States.

History 362:

Russia and the Soviet Union sc. 1894 [same as RUS 352] (3 hrs.)
Crisis in Russian society and the coming of the Revolution; the emergence of Stalinism; and political developments since World War II, including the disintegration of the Soviet system.

History 384:

Ancient Egypt and the Near East [same as CL 384] (3 hrs.)

History 385:

The History of Greece [same as CL 385] (3 hrs.)

History 386:

History of Rome [same as CL 386] (3 hrs.)

History 393:

British Empire and Commonwealth (3 hrs.)
Rise and fall of the British Empire: its creators, bureaucracy, wars, ideas, and the forces that transformed it.

History 397:

History Colloquium (Freyer) (3 hrs.)
This colloquium explores the initial decades of the American constitutional republic through a study of primary documents concerning the British Imperial system, revolutionary republicanism, the success and failures of the Confederation, the making of the Constitution, the breakup of Federalists and the rise of the loyal opposition, its triumph in Jeffersonian republican constitutionalism and territorial expansion, and the Jacksonian Democatic reaction, 1775-1837. The purpose of these readings will be to familiarize the students with historical research methods, in order to write a fifteen page paper using primary sources.

History 400-002:

American Religious History (3 hrs.)
This course offers an introduction to American religious history from the first encounters between Native Americans and Europeans through the mid-nineteenth century. It places religious beliefs, practices, and arguments at the center of our study of history in order to cast light on how religion has shaped—and been shaped by—American life. How has religion affected American thought, values, politics, and culture? In turn, how have religious ideas, values, and practices been affected by the American political, intellectual, and cultural environment? To answer these questions, we will explore a diverse array of important religious traditions, including Catholicism, Judaism, Quakerism, Mormonism, white and African-American forms of Protestantism, and varieties of Evangelicalism, among others. Rather than focusing exclusively on the religions themselves, we will consider the connections between religious values and crucial questions in American history, such as the debate over slavery, the changing roles of women, the American Revolution, debates over immigration, changing views of science, and movements for social reform. This course will involve significant writing and reading assignments, and discussion will play an important role in the class.

History 400-005:

War and Diplomacy in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe (3 hrs.)
This course will deal with two distinct yet closely inter-related aspects of interstate relations in late medieval and early modern Europe. First, we will examine the history of European warfare from the 1300s through the 1700s, paying attention not only to the histories of individual conflicts, but also to developments in strategy, tactics, logistics, and military technology. Special attention will be given to the debate over the early modern 'military revolution,' and to the relationship between military change and state formation. At the same time, we will trace the transformation of European diplomatic practice within this period, including the rise of permanent embassies and a professional diplomatic corps. What did late medieval and early modern diplomats do? How were they trained? What characteristics would an ideal diplomat possess? What opportunities would he have to affect the course of events? The course format will be both lecture and discussion (with an emphasis on discussion,) and course readings will include both primary and secondary sources.

History 400-006:

New Left/New Right (3 hrs.)
This course examines the history of politics in the U.S. from the 1960s to the 1990s. Topics to be explored include anticommunism, the civil rights and black power movements, the New Left, the Vietnam War and antiwar movement, the feminist movement, Watergate, and the rise of Christian Right. We will focus our study on the impact of these movements on American electoral politics, as well as their impact on the fate of political ideologies such as liberalism and conservatism.

History 400-007:

World of Locke & Newton (3 hrs.)
John Locke (1632-1706) and Isaac Newton (1642-1727) are known for their contributions to modern philosophy, government, psychology, physics, economics and religion. Starting with a blank slate and building their theories on empirical observations of the world, Newton and Locke laid the scientific foundations for modern thought. Historians of Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment mark them as key figures in the shift from the mechanical and idealistic Cartesian world-view to the quantitative yet practical Newtonian universe. Newton declared in his Principia (1687), "law is proved by a theory agreeing exactly with experience." Newton's new world was informed by a philosophical spirit of systematic investigation of nature. It used mathematical proofs and rules of reasoning, but it was not a rational system for its own sake. How might science be applied to society, politics, and religion?

We want to understand the social and political context of this Lockean and Newtonian "world we have lost" (Peter Laslett, 1965). Was it marked by growing political stability (J.H. Plumb, 1967), or chronic disorder of an "age of deceit" (J. R. Jones, 1978)? Augustan England saw the rise of the professional classes (Geoffrey Holmes, 1982), "England's apprenticeship" (Charles Wilson, 1965) on its "rise to greatness" (Stephen Baxter, 1983) as the cradle of science, Enlightenment, and industry, a key player in the "creation of the modern world" (Roy Porter, 2000).

Certainly their outlook was different from ours. Locke and Newton tried to discover human and divine truths. Locke, trained in medicine, took part in radical plots and fled; he lived in exile in Holland from 1683 until the Glorious Revolution. In the 1690s Locke published his Essay and Treatises of Government. He also entered the theological fray with The Reasonableness of Christianity, a pre-emptive answer to atheists and freethinkers. Locke wanted a religion that was more rational, yet still Christian. Newton, a Fellow of Trinity College, refused to take an oath to the Trinity. Newton contemplated religious matters deeply and wrote religious books, but did not publish them during his lifetime. He insisted on observing proper limits in scientific inquiry: "We are not to introduce the speculations of natural philosophy into matters of religion." Newton was on good terms with Locke, the Cambridge Platonists, and an international republic of scholars. Their experiences and ideas form our course, designed for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students in related fields.

History 404:

Modern China since 1600 (3 hrs.)
Survey of Chinese history in the Ch'ing Dynasty and the 20th century, with emphasis on 19th- and 20th-century events.

History 409:

American Revolution/New Nation, 1763-1815 (3 hrs.)
The development of revolutionary sentiment in the North American colonies, the resulting revolution, and the subsequent efforts to establish the new nation.

History 413:

Mexican War through Civil War (3 hrs.)
Examines how Americans thought about and used armed force from 1845 to 1865.

History 474:

Relations of U.S. and Latin America (3 hrs.)
Chronological survey of diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations, with emphasis on the 20th century.

History 491:

England under the Stuarts (3 hrs.)
How Englishmen of the 17th century worked out the great questions of their day: Was liberty compatible with strong government? Could English elites share power without destroying it? What did God want for England?

Graduate Courses (500-level)

History 500-002:

History 500-005:

History 500-006:

History 500-007:

History 504:

Modern China since 1600 (3 hrs.)
Survey of Chinese history in the Ch'ing Dynasty and the 20th century, with emphasis on 19th- and 20th-century events.

History 509:

History 513:

Mexican War through Civil War (3 hrs.)
Examines how Americans made war in the middle of the 19th century and how waging war affected the evolution of politics and society.

History 562:

Russia and the Soviet Union sc. 1894 (3 hrs.)
Crisis in Russian society and the coming of the Revolution; the emergence of Stalinism; and political developments since World War II, including the disintegration of the Soviet system.

History 574:

Relations of U.S. and Latin America (3 hrs.)
Chronological survey of diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations, with emphasis on the 20th century.

History 591:

History 599:

Thesis Research (1-6 hrs.)

Graduate Courses (600-level)

History 602:

Literature of American History since 1865 (4 hrs.)

History 603:

Literature of European History (4 hrs.)
An introduction to major trends in historical theory and methodology from the Enlightenment to the present, with a focus on the historiography of modern Europe. Theorists and historians to be examined include Hegel, Marx, Ranke, Nietzsche, Weber, E.P. Thompson, LaCapra, and Foucault; individual discussions will be devoted to such topics as the Annales School, Women's History and Gender History, the New Cultural History, historiography and postcolonial criticism, and the history and memory of the Holocaust.

History 608:

Proseminar in Southern History (4 hrs.)

History 651:

Seminar in U.S. History to 1877 (4 hrs.)

History 657:

Seminar in U.S. History since 1877 (4 hrs.)

History 670:

Seminar in Latin American History: The Iberian Atlantic World (4 hrs.)
This approach to Latin American history will place it in the broad stream of the Atlantic World paradigm. While the seminar will largely focus on Latin America, the threads of its history will be woven into the context of the Atlantic world. This will give participants knowledge of some of the basics of Latin American historiography, but placed in the Atlantic world for context and thematic integrity. The Atlantic world paradigm may be new, but its concept and execution has been around for some time. However, Atlantic world historians have stretched their vision beyond national, continental, and hemispheric boundaries and seen the movement of ideas, peoples, and commodities across the Atlantic world as something larger than Spain, or England, or Mexico, or North America, or Africa. The principal components were originally the study of the slave trade, then elements of economic history, and now the sweep is across a broad spectrum of topics, from common frontier experiences to shared political philosophies, or not as the case may be.

History 697:

Directed Readings (1 to 4 hrs.)
Prerequisite: Written permission of the director of graduate studies.

History 698:

Directed Research Not Related to Dissertation (1 to 4 hrs.)
Written permission of the director of graduate studies is required for admission.

History 699:

Dissertation Research (1 to 12 hrs.)
Not to be counted for required credit for advanced degrees.