University of North Florida History Dept | Freshman Core Page | Halsall Homepage

Dr. Paul Halsall/ University of North Florida: Fall 2004
EUH 6935 AD 084 European History and Historians I

Office: Building 8, Room 2215.
Office Hours: Mon 3:00-5pm, Wed 12-1pm, + appointment
Class Hours: Wed. 3-5.45pm Bldg 2/2064.
Office Tel: (904) 620 1856
Email: phalsall@unf.edu
Web: http://www.unf.edu/~phalsall/GTA1/
Discussion List: Via Blackboard and  group cc:

The Course

What is "Western Civilization," why do we teach about it, and how do we do so? By the end of this two-course sequence, class participants should be substantially prepared to teach in undergraduate history programs. The course echoes the structure of the undergraduate "Core" classes, but provides a much deeper background in the subject areas covered and the ways historians have dealt with them.

Books and Reading

Note that while this course is reading-intensive, it was designed with an understanding of a typical graduate workload. There are two main goals in this reading:

• To establish a basic background of "core information" for your teaching of Western Civilization.
• To key you into current debates and discussions about the areas of the past covered in "Western Civ.", so that your teaching is a "college level" presentation of history as a "discursive investigation of the past" rather than as a "series of defined events."

Although all these books will all be read and discussed during the semester, they are not here to be read and understood in a way typical for a graduate course. Consideration will be given for grading and paper schedules in other courses.

You will save substantially by purchasing the books online, especially if you use the "Used" option at Amazon.com. In order to reduce costs, for some sections no book is required, but class participants are strongly recommended to read (and perhaps acquire) the items marked with an asterisk under "Suggested Reading." All required books will be available on reserve when possible.

Dennis Sherman and Joyce Salisbury. The West in the World, Volume I: To 1715. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001. [Copy provided]

This is a new up to date textbook. It comes with a lot of study aids - maps, timelines, and illustrations - although these will be useless unless you use them. There is also a web site that lets you explore further online.  The West in the World is much shorter than the texts we have previously used so that students will have more time to do the other assigned readings. This is NOT the textbook for this graduate course, but the text assigned to freshman students in the core program that this course echoes. To access the website  go to http://www.mhhe.com/sherman/

In Bookstore for Purchase (also on reserve)

Jared Diamond. Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. ISBN: 0393317552 {This should be read before the semester begins.}

Cyril Aldred. The Egyptians (Ancient Peoples and Places). 3rd Rev ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 1998. ISBN: 0500280363

William G. Dever. What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archaeology Can Tell Us about the Reality of Ancient Israel. Grand Rapids MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2001. ISBN: 0802847943.

Charles Freeman. The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World. New York: . Penguin USA, 2001. ISBN: 014029323X)

Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin, Yann Le Bohec. A History of Rome. Translated by Antonia Nevill. 2nd Rev. ed. Oxford: Blackwell,  2000.  ISBN: 0631218599

Rodney Stark. The Rise of Christianity : How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries. New York: HarperCollins, 1997 ISBN: 0060677015

Judith Herrin. The Formation of Christendom. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987. ISBN: 0691008310 

Frances Gies & Joseph Gies. Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Innovation in the Middle Ages. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. ISBN 0060925817

Robert Bartlett. The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950-1350. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. ISBN: 0691037809

David Herlihy. The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0674076133

Peter Burke. The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy. 2d ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0691006784

A.W. Crosby. Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. ISBN: 0521456908

Steven Ozment. Protestants: The Birth of a Revolution. New York: Doubleday, 1991. ISBN: 0385471017

Mark Kishlansky. A Monarchy Transformed : Britain 1603-1714. New York: Penguin USA, 1997. ISBN: 014014827

James B. Collins. The State in Early Modern France (New Approaches to European History). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN: 0521387248

James R. Jacob. The Scientific Revolution : Aspirations and Achievements, 1500-1700. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1998. ISBN: 1573925462

On Reserve

Daniel C. Snell. Life in the Ancient Near East: 3100-332 B.C.E. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.  ISBN: 0300076665

John Curtis. Ancient Persia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990. ISBN: 067403415

Averil Cameron. The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity AD 395-600. (Routledge History of the Ancient World). New York: Routledge, 1993. ISBN: 0415014212

Bernard Lewis. The Arabs in History. Paperback New 6th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN: 0192852582

J.H. Parry. The Age of Reconnaissance: Discovery Exploration and Settlement, 1450-1650. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982. ISBN: 0520042352

Pierre Goubert. The French Peasantry in the 17th Century. Translated by Ian Patterson. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. ISBN: 0521312698

Audio-Visual (AV) Materials

Teachers typically acquire their own AV materials. For this course I will make available to participants a fairly large array of slides, films, and CDs for you to review.

Class Structure and Grading

Class meetings will be entirely based on group discussion of assigned readings and how the themes that arise might be taught effectively. Regular attendance is required. Grading will be based on the following schedule:

Requirements  

Class Discussion -- 30% (due every class)

3 Teaching-Oriented Subject Reports -- 15% each (due the class the subject is assigned)

[These are to be given both orally during class meeting and to me and other class participants in written form. The report should explain the main theses of the assigned book, assess its reception among historians, and explicitly address how to teach the subject to freshmen students. The reports will be graded in "sets" after I have one from each participant.]

AudioVisual Assessment 20% (due last class meeting)

[A paper which considers the use of AV material in class. The paper should address in a comparative perspective the use of specific films, music recordings, or slide sets in class. The approach can be either prospective or rely on your assessment of material used during the Fall classes. In the latter case, some surveying of undergraduate students' feedback will be appropriate.]

Grading of  Class Discussion

It is sometimes hard to understand how "class participation" is graded. The following "rubric" is meant to give you an idea.

• A (excellent) - A class participant who has read the material for each class, identified major themes both historically and for future pedagogy. Someone who takes responsibility for "keeping the class going" and for helping other class participants prepare to become teachers. Someone  who often goes beyond assigned readings to look things up, or relates class topics to current events
• B (good) - A class participant who comes to class regularly; asks questions about the material and tries to provide answers to questions asked by others but does not really ever try to take the lead. Someone who shows that s/he has mastered the material in half to three quarters of the classes.
• C (satisfactory) - A class participant who comes to class regularly, but only occasionally gets involved in class discussion. 
• D (unsatisfactory) - someone who misses many classes; who refuses to engages with the reading or class discussion; who never or almost never participates in discussion.
• F (fail) - I don't know the sound of your voice.
• Plus and Minus grades will reflect exactly where you fall in the overall scheme.

Web Page and Blackboard

A web page for all Freshman Core classes has been established at:

http://www.unf.edu/classes/freshmancore/

A Blackboard Forum has been established at

http://blackboard.unf.edu

This is for discussion of any themes that come up during the Wednesday classes, or during the teaching of lecture classes in EUH 1000: Core I. There is no specific grade for Blackboard in this course.

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Class Calendar

2004	GTA Class	Core 1 Lecture	Core I Reading
8/25	Introduction: Themes in Western Civilization Jared Diamond	Introduction: Themes  Origins of Civilization in NE	Sherman 2-17 The Enuma Elish – Mesopotamian Creation myth The Epic of Gilgamesh
9/1	Ancient Egypt Cyril Aldred	Ancient Egypt	Sherman 17-27 The Precepts of Ptah-Hotep Akhnaten. Hymn to Aten
9/8	The Ancient Near East/ Ancient Israel William Devers [Daniel Snell]	The First Age of Empires Israel	Sherman 27-37, 99-101 Campaign of Sennacherib 701 BCE Exodus 20 Ruth 1 (compare  Deut 23:1-6, Neh 13:1-3) Isaiah 45
9/15	Persia/ Classical Greece Charles Freeman chaps 1-11 [John Curtis]	Early Greece The Greek Polis	Sherman 42-50 Homer. Iliad Books I and XXII Sherman 42-60, 62-65, 69-70 Aristotle. The Polis Pericles. Funeral Oration Sophocles. Antigone
9/22	Hellenistic Greece Charles Freeman chaps 12-21	Greek Culture The Hellenistic World	Sherman 50-53, 61-62, 65-69, 70-77, 80-99, 101-107 Aristotle. The Poetics Alexander. Speech to Soldiers Epicurus. Principle Doctrines Cleanthes. Prayer to Zeus
9/29	Rome Marcel Le Glay	The Roman Republic The Roman Empire	Sherman 111-159 Slave Revolt Accounts [Also of interest: Slavery in Roman Republic] Quintus Cicero. The Roman Candidate Strabo. The Grandeur of Rome Juvenal. Satire III: On the City of Rome
10/6	Early Christianity/ Late Antiquity Rodney Stark Judith Herrin chaps 1-2	Early Christianity Late Antiquity	Sherman 159-179 Matthew 5-7 Hebrews 5 Diocletian and Constantine. Efforts to Stabilize the Economy The Passion of Perpetua
10/13	Byzantium/ Islam Judith Herrin chaps 3, 5, 8 [Bernard Lewis]	Byzantium Islamic World	Sherman 182-183, 196-212 Liudprand of Cremona. Embassy to Constantinople Qu'ran: Surahs 1 and 47 Ibn Fadlan, Risala
10/20	Early Latin Christendom/ Medieval Society Judith Herrin chaps 4, 6, 7, 9-11  Frances Gies and Joseph Gies	The Formation of Latin Christendom The Order of Medieval Society	Sherman 184-196, 219-258 Gregory of Tours. The Conversion of Clovis Guibert de Nogent. The Revolt in Laon   Einhard. Life of Charlemagne
10/27	Medieval States/ Medieval Society Robert Bartlett	Medieval States: Empire & Kingdom Crusades, Cultures & Conflicts	Sherman 232-234, 269-283 Frederick II: Statute in Favor of the Princes Three Summonses to the Parliament 1295 The Medieval Jewish Kingdom of the Khazars 740-1259 Urban II. Speech at Clermont 1095 Chaucer. General Prologue and Wife of Bath
11/3	Medieval Thought/ The Late Medieval Crisis David Herlihy	Medieval Thought The Late Medieval Crisis	Sherman 258-68, 288-306 Adelard of Bath. The Impact of Muslim Science Jean de Venette. The Plague in Paris Judith Bennett. Cecilia Penifader
11/10	Renaissance/ European Expansion Peter Burke A. W. Crosby [J.H. Parry]	The Renaissance European Expansion	Sherman 316-349, 307-311, 392-421 Petrarch. Letter to Posterity Machiavelli. The Prince John of Monte Corvino. Report from China 1305 Christopher Columbus. Letter to King and Queen of Spain
11/17	The Protestant Reformation/ The Catholic Reformation Steven Ozment	The Protestant Reformation The Catholic Reformation	Sherman 307-311, 354-387 Luther. Christian Freedom Natalie Zemon Davis: The Return of Martin Guerre [book] Council of Trent. Decree on Justification   Council of Trent. Decree on Saints and Images
11/24	Everyday Life in Early Modern Europe/ Absolutism James B. Collins (may reschedule this class)	Life in Early Modern Europe Absolutism	Sherman 427-445 Rabelais. Gargantua and Pantagruel: The Use of a Goose Domat. On Divine Right
12/1	Constitutionalism/ The Scientific Revolution Mark Kishlanksy James Jacob	Constitutionalism The Scientific Revolution	Sherman 445-462, 467-482 Locke. Second Treatise on Government Galileo. Letter to Grand Duchess of Tuscany

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HIS 6935 AD 082 Class Outline

In the outline that follows, the following headings are used.

Themes for teaching:

Common themes brought up by this subject in a typical undergraduate course.

Comments:

Common problems in teaching this subject period.

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Ideas, events, of the period which can be stressed in review and which have "modern" implications.

Fundamental Primary Texts:

The primary sources typically assigned to students in Western Civ classes -- usually in excerpted form. This is not meant to be a complete list of fundamental primary texts!

Basic Reading:

One good basic synthetic work on the subject. Must be read by class participants, and should be acquired when possible.

Suggested Extra Reading:

Fundamental secondary texts or recent reevaluations of the subject period. These are not to be acquired/bought, but merely provide a very basic bibliography.

Teaching Strategies:

Focus of discussion of pedagogical methods.

Some of the headings have been left intentionally blank after the first few weeks: part of your job during the semester will be to decide how to fill them in.

Introduction: Themes in Western Civilization

Themes for Teaching: What is Western Civ.?

Comments: Teachers need to be clear as to why Western Civ is taught, what ideologies are implicit in the concept, and what values are involved.

Basic Reading:

Jared Diamond. Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1999. ISBN: 0393317552
{Really though provoking account of the "long wave" of human history. Try to read this before the semester begins.}

Suggested Extra Reading:

Rondo Cameron. A Concise Economic History of the World: From Paleolithic Times to the Present. 3d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-19-510782-9.

A. Margaret Ehrenberg. Women in Prehistory. Oklahoma, 1989. ISBN 0806122374. [Out of Print]

Norman J. G. Pounds. Hearth & Home: a History of Material Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. ISBN: 0253208394
{Useful explanation of everyday technologies from the ancient world until the 19th century.}

J. M. Kelly. A Short History of Western Legal Theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. ISBN: 0198762437

Michael F. Boyle. "'Hisperanto': Western Civilization in the Global Curriculum." In AHA Perspectives, May 1998
http://www.theaha.org/Perspectives/issues/1998/9805/9805TEC.CFM

Teaching Strategies: The first class.

Ancient Egypt

Themes for Teaching: Length of culture, national identity. "African" or "Western" history.

Comments: Avoid interminable lists of dates, but try to convey length of Egyptian history.

Foreshadowing/Later Implications: Concern with life after death, social harmony, "mythic thinking" vs. science.

Fundamental Primary Texts: Instruction of Ptah-Hotep; Hymn to the Sun.

Basic Reading:

Cyril Aldred. The Egyptians (Ancient Peoples and Places). 3rd Rev ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 1998. ISBN: 0500280363

Suggested Extra Reading:

Donald B. Redford. Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992T. ISBN: 0691000867

Byron E. Shafer, John D. Baines, and David Silverman. Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991 ISBN 0-8014-9786-8

Gay Robins. Women in Ancient Egypt. Paperback ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993. ISBN: 0674954688

Charles Freeman. Egypt, Greece and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, c1996, ISBN: 0198721943
{Useful for all the ancient civilizations mentioned.}

Themes for teaching: Using e-discussion lists and Blackboard.

The Ancient Near East

Themes for Teaching: Origins of settled human societies, domestication. Emergence of cities, reading, concept of kingship, religion.

Comments: Avoid the "unhappy Mesopotamia/happy Egypt" cliche. To talk in this way about cultures which lasted thousands of years is simply absurd.

Foreshadowing/Later Implications: Modern use of base 12/60/360 derives from Mesopotamia

Fundamental Primary Texts: Epic of Gilgamesh; Code of Hammurabi

Basic Reading: none

Suggested Extra Reading:

*Daniel C. Snell. Life in the Ancient Near East: 3100-332 B.C.E. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0300076665

William E. Dunstan. The Ancient Near East. New York: HBJ College & School Div, 1998. ISBN: 0030352991
{A textbook, and hence expensive, but perhaps better than anything else as an overview for a Western Civ teacher.}

Kurht, Amelie, The Ancient Near East. New York: Routledge, 1996. ISBN: 0415167620 {Highly recommended resource for teachers, but very expensive.}

Georges Roux. Ancient Iraq. 3d ed. New York: Penguin, 1993. ISBN: 014012523X

Cyrus H. Gordon, Gary A. Rendsburg. The Bible and the Ancient Near East. 4th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1998. ISBN: 0393316890

Teaching Strategies: Discussing documents and ancient literary texts with students.

Ancient Israel

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications: Ethical Monotheism. Separation of God from the world.

Fundamental Primary Texts: Hebrew Scriptures [Genesis, Exodus, Job, Isaiah]

Basic Reading:

William G. Dever. What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archaeology Can Tell Us about the Reality of Ancient Israel. Grand Rapids MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2001. ISBN: 0802847943.
{The author is a secular humanist, but attacks both the old fashioned "Bright" school, and modern "Biblical nihilists."}

Suggested Extra Reading:

John Bright. A History of Israel. 4th ed. Westminster Press, 2000. ISBN: 0664220681
{This was for a long time the "standard account." In its current edition, the introduction represents an attack on the basic position of the book. }

Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman. The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts. New York: The Free Press, 2001. ISBN 0684869128.
{This is an acceptable substitute for Dever.}

James L. Kugel. The Bible As It Was. Reprint ed. Cambridge MA: Belknap Press, 1999. ISBN: 0674069412.
{Kugel's book below represents a revisionist position that denies much connection between Biblical texts and otherwise documented history.}

Thomas L. Thompson. The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel. New York: Basic, 2000, c. 1999. ISBN: 0465006493

Peter Schafer. Judeophobia: Attitudes Toward the Jews in the Ancient World. Reprint edition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998. ISBN: 0674487788

Michael David Coogan, ed. The Oxford History of the Biblical World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN: 0195087070
{In some respects this would be the best book to own on the subject, and if you do it will substitute for Devers. At over $60 per copy, however, I could not assign it.}

Teaching Strategies: Preparing students for paper-writing.

Persia

Themes for Teaching: First imperial control of entire Near East. Contact with Greece.

Comments: Persia was a major power in the Near East from 550 BC to 640 CE, and yet is marginalized in Western history. That will continue, but is worth pointing out to students.

Foreshadowing/Later Implications: Imperial systems vs. ethnic entities. Relatively tolerant methods of Persians adopted by later Empires -- e.g. allowing religious diversity. Still impacts personal marriage law in a country such as Israel.

Fundamental Primary Texts: Zoroastrian Texts.

Basic Reading: none

Suggested Extra Reading:

*John Curtis. Ancient Persia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990. ISBN: 067403415
{Essentially a "British Museum" book and very short.}(UNF DS261 .C87 1990)

Josef Wiesehofer. Ancient Persia: From 550 BC to 650 AD. I B Tauris & Co, 1998. ISBN: 1850439990

J.M. Cook. The Persian Empire. New York: Schoken, 1983.
{Unfortunately out of print, as probably the most useful text  for a Western Civ teacher.}

Albert T. Olmstead. History of the Persian Empire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959. ISBN: 0226627772
{Somewhat outdated.}

Teaching Strategies: Small group work.

Classical Greece

Themes for Teaching: The "classical" period of western history. Origins of Western philosophical approaches; political terminology; artistic ideals.

Comments: There is no need to overstress attacks on Greek culture: it was genuinely and intensely innovative in a quite new way.

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Homer; Sophocles, Antigone; Aristophanes, Lysistrata; Plato.

Basic Reading:

Charles Freeman. The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World. New York: Viking,  1999. (pb. Penguin USA, 2001. ISBN: 014029323X). Chaps 1-11

Suggested Extra Reading:

Nancy Demand. A History of Ancient Greece. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996. ISBN: 0070162077
{Standard textbook, and quite pricey. If you have it already, it can be used instead of Freeman.}

Simon Hornblower. The Greek World, 479-323 BC. New York: Routledge, 1992. ISBN: 0415065577.
{Standard coverage of the political history of the "classical period." Unfortunately very tedious to read.)

Bruit Zaidman and Pauline Schmitt Pantel. Religion in the Ancient Greek City. Translated by Paul Cartledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN: 0521423570.

Frank M. Snowden . Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970. ISBN: 0674076265.

Mary R. Lefkowitz, Guy MacLean Rogers, eds. Black Athena Revisited. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996. ISBN: 0807845558
{For some years this was the "big debate" about the culture of ancient Greece.}

Sarah B. Pomeroy. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. Reprint ed. New York: Schocken Books, 1995. ISBN: 080521030X
{Covers Greece, the Hellenistic world, and Rome.}

Lawrence A. Tritle. "Teaching the Vietnam War with the Greeks." In AHA Perspectives, November 1998
http://www.theaha.org/Perspectives/issues/1998/9811/9811TEC.CFM

Teaching Strategies: Leading class review.

Hellenistic World

Themes for Teaching: A complex cosmopolitan world more like our own than the fairly small world of classical Greece. The scientific and technological hits of Greco-Roman culture took place in this milieu -- Archimedes, Galen.

Comments: Do not get bogged down in accounts of the successor kingdoms; it is the cultural developments which count.

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Plutarch, Life of Alexander.

Basic Reading:

Charles Freeman. The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World. New York: Viking,  1999. (pb. Penguin USA, 2001. ISBN: 014029323X). Chaps 12-21

Suggested Extra Reading:

*F.W. Wallbank. The Hellenistic World. Rev. ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993. ISBN: 0674387260

Peter Green. Alexander of Macedon 356-323 B. C. : A Historical Biography. Berkeley University of California Press, 1992, c.1974; ISBN: 0520071662

Peter Green. Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age (Hellenistic Culture and Society, No 1) Berkeley: University of California Press, 19??. ISBN: 0520083490.

{Also consider Michael Grant. From Alexander to Cleopatra: The Hellenistic World. New York: Macmillan/Collier, 1992. ISBN 00203227870. Currently Out of Print.}

Christian Habicht. Athens from Alexander to Antony. Translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider. Reprint edition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0674051122

Teaching Strategies: Grading strategies.

Ancient Rome

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Plutarch, Lives; Cicero's Letters. Augustus, Res gestae; Suetonius, Lives.

Basic Reading:

Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin, Yann Le Bohec. A History of Rome. Translated by Antonia Nevill. 2nd Rev. ed. Oxford: Blackwell,  2000.  ISBN: 0631218599
{This is a standard textbook, and the only on the list. Grant can be substituted if you like.}

Suggested Extra Reading:

John Boardman , Jasper Griffin, Oswyn Murray, eds. The Oxford History of the Roman World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN: 0192852485
{A collection of useful essays rather than a basic textbook.}

Fritz M. Heichelheim, Cedric A. Yeo, Allen Mason Ward. A History of the Roman People. 3d. ed. Engelwood Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998. ISBN: 0138965986

Michael Grant. History of Rome. Englewoods Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall, 1978. ISBN: 002345610
{Now sold at the truly outrageous price of over $80, fallaciously justified by the claim of "textbook binding" in this Prentice Hall reissue of a Macmillan trade edition. Still this is a useful narrative, was written before Grant began churning out books for the book club market, and can often be bought much more cheaply second hand.}

Teaching Strategies: Sticks and carrots: using or not using quizzes/short answer tests.

Early Christianity

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: New Testament; Passion of Perpetua; Augustine, Confessions.

Basic Reading:

Rodney Stark. The Rise of Christianity : How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries. New York: HarperCollins, 1997 ISBN: 0060677015
{This is a controversial "sociological account," rather than a historian's approach, and is suggested as an exception to the syntheses given for most periods as a basis on which to discuss a variety of approaches to the past.}

Suggested Extra Reading:

John Dominic Crossan. The Birth of Christianity : Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After the Execution of Jesus. San Franciso: Harper San Francisco, 1998 ISBN: 0060616601.

Henry Chadwick. The Early Church (Penguin History of the Church, 1). Rev. ed. New York: Penguin, 1993. ISBN: 0140231994
{A somewhat old survey, but useful for those who need the facts.}

Ramsay MacMullen. Christianizing the Roman Empire (A.D. 100-400). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984. ISBN: 0300036426

W. H. C. Frend. Rise of Christianity. Pb ed. Fortress Press. 1986; ISBN: 0800619315
{Rather long and magesterial treatment.}

Robin Lane Fox. The Unauthorized Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible. Reprint ed. New York: Vintage Books, 1993. ISBN: 0679744061

John Meyendorff. Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions : The Church, 450-680 AD. Paperback ed. Crestwood NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1988. ISBN: 0881410551
{Tries to deal with the subject from the majority viewpoint -- i.e. that of Eastern Orthodox Christianity.}

Hershel Shanks (Editor).Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism: A Parallel History of Their Origins and Early Development. Biblical Archaeology Society, 1992. ISBN: 1880317036.

Ross Shepard Kraemer. Her Share of the Blessings : Women's Religions Among Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greco-Roman World. Paperback Reprint ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN: 0195086708
{An excellent survey of the place of women in Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian religions.}

Teaching Strategies: Addressing student use of the Internet.

Patricia Seed. "Teaching with the Web: Two Approaches." In AHA Perspectives, February 1998.
http://www.theaha.org/Perspectives/issues/1998/9802/9802TEC2.CFM

Late Antiquity

Themes for Teaching: The collapse of an ancient civilization focused on the Mediterranean, and the emergence of three "successor cultures" -- the Eastern Roman Empire (i.e. Byzantium), Islam, and Latin Christendom.

Comments: Avoid overstressing "fall of Roman Empire." Get across that all three successor cultures are heirs of ancient civilizations, and that what we call "Western Civilization" derives from "Latin Christendom."

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Augustine, Confessions.

Basic Reading: 

Judith Herrin. The Formation of Christendom. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987. ISBN: 0691008310  Chaps 1-2.

Suggested Extra Reading:

Peter Brown. The World of Late Antiquity AD 150-750. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1989,c.1971. ISBN: 0393958035
{This was the book which launched the continuing vogue for Late Ancient studies. Cameron's books reflect the results of the research, but Brown's initial foray remains an exciting introduction. Not least, the use of pictures is astonishing.}

Averil Cameron. The Later Roman Empire: AD 284-430. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993. ISBN: 0674511948

*Averil Cameron. The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity AD 395-600 (Routledge History of the Ancient World). New York: Routledge, 1993. ISBN: 0415014212

Kate Cooper. The Virgin and the Bride: Idealized Womanhood in Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0674939506 [Amazon.com $16.95]

Teaching Strategies: Detecting and dealing with plagiarism.

Byzantium

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Justianian, Corpus Iuris Civilis; Procopius, Secret History; Anna Comnena, The Alexiad.

Basic Reading: 

Judith Herrin. The Formation of Christendom. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987. ISBN: 0691008310  Chaps 3, 5, 8.

Suggested Extra Reading:

{The is currently no good survey of Byzantine history. Ostrogorsky's 40 year old History of the Byzantine State is now simply old; Lord Norwich's books are extremely old fashioned; and Treadgold's recent summa for Stanford goes nowhere very new. This introduction from Dumbarton Oaks, however, is useful for those who know little on the subject.}

Robert Browning. The Byzantine Empire. Rev.ed. Washington: CUA Press, 1992. ISBN: 0813207541

Angeliki E. Laiou and  Henry Maguire, eds. Byzantium : A World Civilization. Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 1994. ISBN: 0884022153

John Meyendorff. Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes. 2d ed. New York: Fordham University Press, 1987. ISBN: 0823209679

Teaching Strategies: Discussing religious history and history of religions.

Islamic World

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: The Qu'ran; Pact of Umar; Tales from 1001 Nights.

Basic Reading:

Toby Lester : What is the Koran The Atlantic, January 1999 [At The Atlantic]
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99jan/koran.htm
{Discussion of efforts to apply methods of textual criticism to the text of the Qur'an. This approach is rejected by most Orthodox Muslims. }

Suggested Extra Reading:

*Bernard Lewis. The Arabs in History. Paperback New 6th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN: 0192852582
{Really dreadful binding by OUP -- try to get the old Hutchinson edition.)

Albert H. Hourani. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambrideg: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1991. Repr. Fine Communications, c.1997. ISBN: 15673121
{An acceptable substitute for Lewis.}

Ibn Warraq, ed. The Quest for the Historical Muhammad. New York: Prometheus Books, 2000. ISBN: 1573927872

Leila Ahmed. Women and Gender in Islam : Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. Paperback Reissue ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. ISBN: 0300055838

Teaching Strategies: Connecting ancient and medieval subjects with current news events.

Early Latin Christendom

Themes for Teaching: The survival of classical (Roman, Greek, Jewish) ideas in Catholicism, and the contact with ideas and institutions of the new "Barbarian" aristocracies. The disappearance of the ancient network of cities

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Letters of Sidonius; Gregory of Tours; Einhard, Life of Charlemagne.

Comments:

Basic Reading:

Judith Herrin. The Formation of Christendom. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987. ISBN: 0691008310. Chaps 4, 6, 7, 9-11 

Suggested Extra Reading:

J. M. Wallace-Hadrill. The Barbarian West 400-1000. Rev. ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996. ISBN: 063120292

Peter Brown. The Rise of Western Christendom : Triumph and Diversity AD 200-1000..Reprint ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997. ISBN: 1577180925

Teaching Strategies: Using Multimedia in the classroom

Charles T. Evans and Robert Brown. "Teaching the History Survey Course using Multimedia Techniques." In AHA Perspectives, February 1998.
http://www.theaha.org/Perspectives/issues/1998/9802/9802TEC.CFM

Kathryn Helgesen Fuller. "Lessons from the Screen: Film and Video in the Classrooom." In AHA Perspectives, April 1999.
http://www.theaha.org/perspectives/issues/1999/9904/9904FIL3.CFM

Robert Toplin. "The Historian and Film: Challenges Ahead." In AHA Perspectives, April 1996. http://www.theaha.org/perspectives/issues/1996/9604/9604FIL.CFM

Mark Carnes. "Beyond Words: Reviewing Motion Pictures." In AHA Perspectives, May 1996.
http://www.theaha.org/perspectives/issues/1996/9605/9605FIL.CFM

Medieval Society

Themes for Teaching: The Christian evaluation of work, and the rise of a commercial urban society.

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Capitulary De Villis; Guibert de Nogent, Account of Communal Violence; Guild Regulations.

Comments: Avoid "feudalism" since professionals in the area now find the term useless.

Basic Reading:

Frances Gies  & Joseph Gies. Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Innovation in the Middle Ages. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. ISBN 0060925817

Suggested Extra Reading:

Robert Sabatino Lopez. The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages: 950-1350. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1975, c.1971. ISBN: 0521290465

Janet L. Abu-Lughod. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. Reprint edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN: 0195067746

Teaching Strategies:

Medieval States

Themes for Teaching: The failure of the "imperial" idea -- the reconstruction of the Roman Empire, and the emergence in the of the fundamentals of nation-states. The creation of both Roman Law and English Common Law.

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Laws of William I; Magna Carta; Joinville, Life of St. Louis; Golden Bull.

Comments:

Basic Reading:

Robert Bartlett. The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950-1350. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. ISBN: 0691037809

William Urban. "Rethinking the Crusades." in AHA Perspectives, October 1998
http://www.theaha.org/perspectives/issues/1998/9810/9810TEC.CFM

Suggested Extra Reading:

Joseph R. Strayer. On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State. Princeton: Princeton University Press, c.1973 ISBN: 0691007691
{Short but classic argument that the modern "rational" state originated in medieval "Feudal" kingdoms.}

Susan Reynolds. Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted. Paperback Reprint ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN: 0198206488.
{One of the most important works of medieval history in recent years. Reynolds demolishes the claim that "feudalism" existed or that the idea provides any basis for understanding medieval society.}

Teaching Strategies:

Medieval Thought

Themes for Teaching: The rise of the universities and critical thought.

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications: Notion of teaching through disputation. Origins of Universities.

Fundamental Primary Texts: Abelard, History of My Calamities; Aquinas, Argument for Existence of God.

Basic Reading: none

Suggested Extra Reading:

Marcia L. Colish. Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400-1400. (Intellectual History of the West). New Haven:Yale University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0300078528

M.T. Clanchy. From Memory to Written Record : England 1066-1307. 2d ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993. ISBN: 0631168575

Teaching Strategies:

The Late Medieval Crisis

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications: Demographic transition in Europe.

Fundamental Primary Texts: Boccaccio, The Decameron.

Basic Reading:

David Herlihy. The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0674076133

Suggested Extra Reading:

George Huppert. After the Black Death : A Social History of Early Modern Europe. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998. ISBN: 0253211808

Robert S. Gottfried. The Black Death : Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe. New York: Free Press, 1985. ISBN: 0029123704
{Useful enough, but this book was destroyed in a famous review that demonstrated wholesale copying from previous books, e.g. Philip Ziegler's The Black Death.}

Millard Meiss. Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death in the Mid-Fourteenth Century. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1978, c. 1951.
{Out of print, but a famous thesis -- see Van Os, Henk, "The Black Death and Sienese Painting: A Problem of Interpretation." Art History 4 (1981), 237-49.}

Michael W. Flinn. "Plague in Europe and the Mediterranean Countries." Journal of European Economic History 8 (1979): 131-48.

Teaching Strategies:

Renaissance

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Plutarch, Letter to Posterity; Castiglione, The Courtier; Machiavelli, The Prince.

Basic Reading:

Peter Burke. The Italian Renaissance : Culture and Society in Italy. 2d ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0691006784

Suggested Extra Reading:

Paoletti, John T. Art in Renaissance Italy. New York. Harry N. Abrams, 1997.
{A book to acquire if you can, but at a list price of $75, I could not assign this. })

Michael Rocke. Forbidden Friendships : Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence. New York: Oxford University Press,.1996. ISBN: 0195122925

Teaching Strategies:

European Expansion

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Marco Polo, Travels; Columbus, Letter to King and Queen of Spain.

Basic Reading:

A.W. Crosby. Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. ISBN: 0521456908

Suggested Extra Reading:

*J.H. Parry. The Age of Reconnaissance: Discovery Exploration and Settlement, 1450-1650. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982. ISBN: 0520042352
{Still seems to be the best overview.}

A.W. Crosby. Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences. Paperback New edition. Greenwood, 1972. ISBN: 0837172284
{An early version of Cosby's thesis. You may substitute if you already own this.}

Patricia Seed. Ceremonies of Possession in Europe's Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN: 0521497574

Robert Silverberg. The Longest Voyage: Circumnavigators in the Age of Discovery. Athens OH. Ohio University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0821411926

Teaching Strategies: Evaluating textbooks.

The Protestant Reformation

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Luther, Freedom of Christian Man; Luther, Address to the Nobility; Calvin, Institutes.

Basic Reading:

Steven Ozment. Protestants: The Birth of a Revolution. New York: Doubleday, 1991. ISBN: 0385471017

Suggested Extra Reading:

Euan Cameron. The European Reformation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN: 0198730934

Heiko A. Oberman. Luther: Man Between God and the Devil. Translated by Eileen Walliser-Schwarzbart. PB reissue ed. New York: Image Books, 1992. ISBN: 0385422784
{Oberman's account respects Luther, but is much less hagiographical than older Anglophone accounts, for instance Here I Stand by Bainton.}

Steven Ozment. The Age of Reform 1250-1550 : An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986. ISBN: 0300027605

Eamon Duffy. The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, C.1400-C.1580. New Haven: Yale University Press, c.1994. ISBN: 0300060769
{A major challenge to the "decadent church" theory of the Reformation so prominent in Anglo-American historiography.}

John Bossy. Christianity in the West, 1400-1700. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. ISBN: 0192891626

Owen Chadwick. The Reformation (Penguin History of the Church, 3). Paperback Reprint edition. New York: Viking Penguin, 1990. ISBN: 0140137572.
{An older account.}

Carter Lindberg. The European Reformations. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996. ISBN: 1557865752.

Merry E. Wiesner. Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press, c.1994. ISBN: 0521386136

Teaching Strategies:

The Catholic Reformation

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications: Confession and the knowledge of self.

Fundamental Primary Texts: Decrees of Council of Trent; John of the Cross.

Basic Reading: none

Suggested Extra Reading:

*Michael A. Mullett. The Catholic Reformation. New York: Routledge, 1999. ISBN: 0415189152

David M. Luebke, ed. The Counter-Reformation: The Essential Readings. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. ISBN: 0631211047

Henry Kamen. The Spanish Inquisition : A Historical Revision. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. ISBN: 0300078803

Carlo Ginzburg. The Cheese and the Worms : The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller. Translated by John Tedeschi and Anne Tedeschi. Paperback Reprint edition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. ISBN: 0801843871

Martin D. W. Jones. The Counter Reformation : Religion and Society in Early Modern Europe. Paperback ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN: 0521439930

Teaching Strategies:

Everyday Life in Early Modern Europe (i.e. a prelude to the changes caused by industrialization)

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts:

Basic Reading:

John Hajnal. "European Marriage Patterns in Perspective." In Population in History. Edited by D.V. Glass & D.E.C. Eversley. 101-43. London: Edward Arnold, 1965.

Suggested Extra Reading:

*Pierre Goubert. The French Peasantry in the 17th Century. Translated by Ian Patterson. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. ISBN: 0521312698

Peter Burke. Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe. Rev. ed. Scolar Press, 1994 (c.1978). ISBN: 859281028

Michael W. Flinn. The European Demographic System, 1500-1820. Brighton, 1981.

Teaching Strategies:

Absolutism (or "the creation of the modern state apparatus")

Themes for Teaching: The creation of the apparatus of a modern state -- central bureaucracy, standing armies, government propaganda.

Comments: It is a mistake to convey a dichotomy between absolutism and constitutionalism: what is significant in the 17th and 18th centuries is the emergence of modern means and theories of state power.

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Richelieu, Political Testament; Jean Domat; Louis IX, Letter to Son.

Basic Reading:

James B. Collins. The State in Early Modern France (New Approaches to European History). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN: 0521387248

Suggested Extra Reading:

Geoffrey Parker, Lesley M. Smith, eds. The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century. 2d ed. New York: Routledge, 1997. ISBN: 041512882X 

Jason Goodwin. Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire. Owl Books, 2000. ISBN: 0805063420
{A readable reminder that the Ottoman Empire was, for a long time, the most important state in the lands covered by Western Civilization. Unfortunately marred by major factual errors.}

Teaching Strategies:

Constitutionalism (or "the evolution of modern western constitutional ideas")

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: James I, Trew Law of Free Monarchies; John Locke, Second Treatise; Declaration of Dutch Republic.

Basic Reading:

Mark Kishlansky. A Monarchy Transformed : Britain 1603-1714. New York: Penguin USA, 1997. ISBN: 014014827

Suggested Extra Reading:

Christopher Hill. The World Turned Upside Down : Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. New York: Viking Press, c.1972. ISBN: 0140137327

Christopher Hill. Century of Revolution, 1603-1714. 2d ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1985. ISBN: 0393300161

Teaching Strategies:

The Scientific Revolution

Themes for Teaching:

Comments:

Foreshadowing/Later Implications:

Fundamental Primary Texts: Copernicus, On The Revolutions; Galileo, Letter to Duchess of Tuscany. Newton, Principles.

Basic Reading:

James R. Jacob. The Scientific Revolution : Aspirations and Achievements, 1500-1700. Atlantic Highlands, NJ :Humanities Press, 1998. ISBN: 1573925462

Suggested Extra Reading:

J. L. Heilbron. The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals As Solar Observatories. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0674854330

Herbert Butterfield. The Origins of Modern Science. New York: Free Press, 1997. ISBN: 0684836378
{Somewhat old now, but still a good overview.}

I. Bernard Cohen. The Birth of a New Physics. Rev ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1991. ISBN: 0393300455
{An account of the Scientific Revolution that concentrates on physics from Copernicus to Newton via Galileo.}

David C. Lindberg. The Beginnings of Western Science : The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. ISBN: 0226482316
{A synthesis of the modern researches into ancient and medieval science in the West.}

Thomas S. Kuhn. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 3d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. ISBN: 0226458083
{Although attacked by some modern scientists -- who think they are finding the "truth" -- Kuhn's book is probably the most influential in the historiography of science, and is responsible for the popularity of the term "paradigm shift."}

Steven Shapin. The Scientific Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. ISBN: 0226750213
{A revisionist view of the origins of the modern scientific worldview. Shapin is a sociologist who rejects the idea that there was a "revolution" in early modern science, and argues that scientific knowledge was advanced through social practices for social purposes.}

Steven Shapin. A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in Seventeenth-Century England. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. ISBN: 0226750191
{From Amazon: In A Social History of Truth, Shapin engages these universal questions through an elegant recreation of a crucial period in the history of early modern science: the social world of gentlemen-philosophers in seventeenth-century England. He argues that problems of credibility in science were practically solved through the codes and conventions of genteel conduct: trust, civility, honor, and integrity. These codes formed, and arguably still form, an important basis for securing reliable knowledge about the natural world. Shapin's broad claim is that trust is imperative for constituting every kind of knowledge. Knowledge-making is always a collective enterprise: people have to know whom to trust in order to know something about the natural world.}

Lisa Jardine. Ingenious Pursuits : Building the Scientific Revolution. New York: Doubleday, 1999. ISBN: 0385493258.

Teaching Strategies: end of semester

Useful Websites

H-Net: Teaching Western Civilization.
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~wciv/