Surveys the major political, socio-economic, and cultural changes in the Middle East from the rise of Islam to present times (A.D. 600-2002), with special emphasis on Islam's encounter with the West. Examines the rise and fall of Islamic empires; the place of Arabs, Persian and Turkic peoples, as well as minorities in Islamic society; scientific and technological achievements and their transmission to the West; and the impact of European expansion after 1800. Considers contemporary crises and upheavals facing the Middle East in light of the historical past. This course aims to provide students with a general overview of basic themes and issues in Middle Eastern history from the rise of Islam to the present, with an emphasis on the encounters and exchanges between the "Middle East" (Southwest Asia and North Africa) and the "West" (Europe and the United States).

"This course explores how our views of Jewish history have been formed and how this history can explain the survival of the Jews as an ethnic/religious group into the present day. Special attention is given to the partial and fragmentary nature of our information about the past, and the difficulties inherent in decoding statements about the past that were written with a religious agenda in mind. It also considers complex events in Jewish history -- from early history as portrayed in the Bible to recent history, including the Holocaust."

This course explores the history of the ideal of personal freedom with an eye towards contemporary debates over the pros and cons of the regulatory state. The first part of the course surveys the sociological and theological sources of the concepts of freedom and civil society, and introduces liberty's leading relatives or competitors: property, equality, community, and republicanism. The second part consists of a series of case studies in the rise of modern liberty and libertarianism: the abolition of slavery, the struggle for religious freedom, and the twentieth-century American civil liberties movement. In the last part of the course, we take up debates over the role of libertarianism vs. the regulatory state in a variety of contexts: counter-terrorism, health care, the financial markets, and the Internet.

This class is a global survey of the great transformation in history known as the "Industrial Revolution." Topics include origins of mechanized production, the factory system, steam propulsion, electrification, mass communications, mass production and automation. Emphasis on the transfer of technology and its many adaptations around the world. Countries treated include Great Britain, France, Germany, the US, Sweden, Russia, Japan, China, and India. Includes brief reflection papers and a final paper.

Hitherto it had gone by the original Indian name Manna-hatta, or as some still have it, 'The Manhattoes'; but this was now decried as savage and heathenish... At length, when the council was almost in despair, a burgher, remarkable for the size and squareness of his head, proposed that they should call it New-Amsterdam. The proposition took every body by surprise; it was so striking, so apposite, so ingenious. The name was adopted by acclamation, and New-Amsterdam the metropolis was thenceforth called. --Washington Irving, 1808 In less tongue-in-cheek style, this course examines the evolution of New York City from 1607 to the present. The readings focus on the city's social and physical histories, and the class discussions compare New York's development to patterns in other cities.

This course surveys the history of the Middle East, from the end of the 19th century to the present. It examines major political, social, intellectual and cultural issues and practices. It also focuses on important events, movements, and ideas that prevailed during the last century and affect its current realities.

Selective survey of Latin American history from the wars of independence at the start of the nineteenth century to the present. Issues studied include: independence and its aftermath, slavery and its abolition, Latin America in the global economy, relations between Latin America and the US, dictatorships and democracies in the twentieth century, and revolution in Mexico, Cuba, and Central America.

The origins and reasons for monarchy as an institution and social force in the Western world. Specific royal personages are studied with attention to how they attained or lost effectiveness as leaders; their goals for themselves and their people are stressed. These themes are explored through primary source readings. Architectural, artistic, and musical evidence are introduced in slide and tape sessions.

In this class we will come to understand the vast changes in Spanish life that have taken place since Franco's death in 1975. We will focus on the new freedom from censorship, the re-emergence of movements for regional autonomy, the new cinema, reforms in education and changes in daily life: Sex roles, work, and family that have occurred in the last decade. In so doing, we will examine myths that are often considered commonplaces when describing Spain and its people.

A concise approach to New Zealand History, this textbook covers the first inhabitants, the Maori, the discovery of New Zealand by the Europeans and some of the significant events that have led up to the way the country is in the present day.

This course covers the political, social and cultural history of Europe from 1815 to 1900, including the history of each major European nation.

This course teaches critical learning abilities that are skills and attitudes to be taught across the curriculum: communication, problem solving or critical thinking, responsibility, and global awareness or diversity/appreciation. To these, we add information/technology literacy, and lifelong learning. By the end of the course students will be able to: Identify the major political, economic, and social developments in Pacific Northwest history and especially in the state of Washington; Integrate the perspectives of different peoples to interpret Pacific Northwest history; Describe the Pacific Northwestęs role in the context of American and world history; Apply your knowledge of Pacific Northwest history to your life by conducting an oral history and by researching and writing about issues in the region today; and Define current environmental issues in the Pacific Northwest and analyze their historical context.

Examines the history of the United States as a "nation of immigrants" within a broader global context. Considers migration from the mid-19th century to the present through case studies of such places as New York's Lower East Side, South Texas, Florida, and San Francisco's Chinatown. Examines the role of memory, media, and popular culture in shaping ideas about migration. Includes optional field trip to New York City.

Aims to develop a teaching knowledge of the field through extensive reading and discussion of major works. The reading covers a broad range of topics -- political, economic, social, and cultural -- and represents a variety of historical methods. Students make frequent oral presentations and prepare a 20-page review essay.

This course uses readings and discussions to focus on a series of short-term events that shed light on American politics, culture, and social organization. It emphasizes finding ways to make sense of these complicated, highly traumatic events, and on using them to understand larger processes of change in American history. The class also gives students experience with primary documentation research through a term paper assignment.

This subject introduces the history of science from antiquity to the present. Students consider the impact of philosophy, art, magic, social structure, and folk knowledge on the development of what has come to be called "science" in the Western tradition, including those fields today designated as physics, biology, chemistry, medicine, astronomy and the mind sciences. Topics include concepts of matter, nature, motion, body, heavens, and mind as these have been shaped over the course of history. Students read original works by Aristotle, Vesalius, Newton, Lavoisier, Darwin, Freud, and Einstein, among others.

Subject considers how the visual and material world of "nature" has been reshaped by industrial practices, beliefs, structures, and activities. Readings in historical geography, aesthetics, American history, environmental and ecological history, architecture, city planning, and landscape studies. Several field trips planned to visit local industrial landscapes. Assignments involve weekly short, written responses to the readings, and discussion-leading. Final project is a photo-essay on the student's choice of industrial site (photographic experience not necessary).

A textbook written by Dr. Daniel Regalado (Professor of Government and History at Odessa College), along with some sources from OpenStax material, for GOVT 2306: Texas Government. Source was written in Fall 2017.

Aspects of the tragic as a mode of literature and a quality of lived experience pursued in readings that extend from the warfare of the ancient world to the experiences of modern life. Authors include Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Shakespeare, Balzac, Tolstoy, Ibsen, Conrad, Dinesen, Faulkner, and Camus. Includes viewing of at least two films. "Tragedy" is a name originally applied to a particular kind of dramatic art and subsequently to other literary forms; it has also been applied to particular events, often implying thereby a particular view of life. Throughout the history of Western literature it has sustained this double reference. Uniquely and insistently, the realm of the tragic encompasses both literature and life. Through careful, critical reading of literary texts, this subject will examine three aspects of the tragic experience: The scapegoat; The tragic hero; The ethical crisis. These aspects of the tragic will be pursued in readings that range in the reference of their materials from the warfare of the ancient world to the experience of the modern extermination camps.