11 - 20 of 433 results for: HISTORY

Massive demonstrations swept through Eastern Europe in 1989-1991, ushering in the surprisingly peaceful collapse of communism. This course focuses on resistance and rebellion in the Soviet Bloc, including the Hungarian Uprising (1956), the Solidarity movement in Poland (1980-81), worker strikes, literature and art of dissent, and environmental activism. Students will work with eyewitness accounts, memoirs, archival documents, and visual materials, in order to better understand how resistance evolved under Soviet communism and whether peaceful protests precipitated its collapse.

San Francisco and London are two of the world's best-loved and most-visited cities. They have certain things in common: both are ports, situated on the edge of continents; both are major commercial and cultural centres; and both have been shaped by immigration. Their differences are more obvious than their similarities, however, and these differences are to a large extent explained by their very different histories. London was founded by the Romans and was, for a period in its recent history, the capital of an Empire on which the sun famously never set; San Francisco did not emerge as a city until well into the 19th century and even now has something of the character of a "city state" rather than a national or state capital. Though often considered one of the most European of American cities, San Francisco is in fact laid out on the typically American grid plan; the planning of London is, by contrast, chaotic, reflecting its long evolution and the lack of any effective central planning control. nThe course will explain the ways in which these two fascinating cities have evolved, especially over the past 200 years. We will focus on the development of what is sometimes called the "urban landscape"--streets, public buildings, housing, open spaces, transport systems--and investigate who made the decisions that shaped the two cities as we experience them today. We will look not only at the impact of major events--the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, the bombing of London during World War II--but also at the small decisions made by property owners and developers which helped determine the character of urban neighborhoods. We will use maps and primary documents as well as published histories, and there will be at least two field trips to explore buildings and neighborhoods in San Francisco. Students will write two papers, each of 4-5-pages, on aspects of the history of each city. An interest in history and/urban studies is an obvious asset.

Preference to sophomores. England from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century through the reading of seven novels ranging from Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews, to Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust. Focus is on the novels themselves and the historical context of the novels to acquire a knowledge of British history over two hundred years.

(Same as HISTORY 133A. History majors and others taking 5 units, register for 133A.) English society and state from the Wars of the Roses to the death of Elizabeth. Political, social, and cultural upheavals of the Tudor period and the changes wrought by the Reformation. The establishment of the Tudor monarchy; destruction of the Catholic church; rise of Puritanism; and 16th-century social and economic changes.

(Same as HISTORY 134A. History majors and others taking 5 units, register for 134A.) After the Reformation, in the midst of state building and scientific discovery, Europeans conducted a series of deadly witch hunts, violating their own laws and procedures in the process. What was it about early modernity that fueled witch hunting? Witch trials and early modern demonology as well as historians' interpretations of events to seek answers to this question.

Preference to freshmen. Gender, identity, and solidarity as represented in nine autobiographies: Isherwood, Ackerley, Duberman, Monette, Louganis, Barbin, Cammermeyer, Gingrich, and Lorde. To what degree do these writers view sexual orientation as a defining feature of their selves? Is there a difference between the way men and women view identity? What politics follow from these writers' experiences?

(Same as HISTORY 138A. Majors and others taking 5 units, enroll in 138A.) Germany's history from Bismarck's wars of unification through the end of the Cold War. The radicalizing relationship between international conflict, social upheaval, and state transformation with a focus on the clashes of the Second Empire, the road to WW I, interwar instability, the rise of Nazism, WW II, the Holocaust, the division of communist E. and capitalist W. Germany, and the fall of the Iron Curtain.

(Same as HISTORY 140. History majors and others taking 5 units, register for 140.) The earliest developments in science, the prehistoric roots of technology, the scientific revolution, and global voyaging. Theories of human origins and the oldest known tools and symbols. Achievements of the Mayans, Aztecs, and native N. Americans. Science and medicine in ancient Greece, Egypt, China, Africa, and India. Science in medieval and Renaissance Europe and the Islamic world including changing cosmologies and natural histories. Theories of scientific growth and decay; how science engages other factors such as material culture and religions.

Explores how gender and historical context have shaped the experience and treatment of mental illness in U.S. history. Why have women been the witches and hysterics of the past, and why have there historically been more women than men among the mentally ill? Topics include the relationship between historical ideas of femininity and insanity, the ways that notions of gender influence the definition and treatment of mental disorder, and the understanding of the historically embedded nature of medical ideas, diagnoses, and treatments.