Dear History Majors,
Here are the descriptions of the history courses being offered Maymester and Summer 2009.
Registration runs March 30-April 22, 2009. After April 22 you may contact Racquel.goff@vanderbilt.edu to register for summer courses.

EUS 260 MAYMESTER IN BERLIN:  HISTORIC METROPOLIS AND GATEWAY TO A NEW EUROPE
Taught by: Henning Grunwald
Credits: history elective and EUR area of concentration, 3 credit hours, INT AXLE credit.
Together we will explore the history, culture and present of Berlin. The focus of the first half of the course is historical, with special emphasis on the twisted path through the twentieth century, the traces, scars and triumphs of which are evident throughout Berlin. The second half will be devoted to contemporary Berlin: political life, both as capital of unified Germany and as metropolis in the heart of Europe (Prague, Warsaw, Budapest, Zurich are within an hour's flight time, Brussels, Paris, Rome, London, Barcelona and Madrid within two hours), its pioneering theater, dance and multi-media art, its efforts to re-invent itself as a capital of the knowledge- and technology-based ‘new economy’.

HIST 292 MAYMESTER IN D.C.: Civic Activism, Leadership, and Citizenship in Recent American History.
Taught by: Mark Dalhouse
Credits: history elective, U.S. area of concentration, 3 credit hours,  U.S. AXLE credit
This course is a collaborative effort between the Department of History, the Office of Active Citizenship and Service, and the Vanderbilt Office of Federal Relations to offer a credit-bearing seminar course that examines political leadership and citizen service within the context of recent American history and current events in American life. Meeting daily at the Vanderbilt Office of Federal Relations, History 292 offers students the opportunity to debate and discuss the current state of American life and politics using primary readings, contemporary news accounts, and discussions with policy makers, journalists and educators.

HIST 141: U.S. 1877-1945
Taught by: Robert McGreevey
First Summer Session 2009, MTWRF, 10:10-12:00 noon
Credits: history elective, U.S. area of concentration, 3 credit hours, U.S. AXLE credit.
This survey course will explore the economic, political, and social history of the period between Reconstruction and World War II, a formative period in the making of modern America. Drawing on a variety of sources, ranging from novels, political cartoons and court cases to social and political histories, this course examines topics such as: immigration and citizenship, the growth of American cities, the War of 1898 and U.S. expansion overseas, the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the impact of World War I and World War II on American life.

HIST 142: U.S. 1945-Present CANCELLED
Taught by: Robert McGreevey
Second Summer Session 2009, MTWRF, 10:10-12:00 noon
Credits: history elective, U.S. area of concentration, 3 credit hours, U.S. AXLE credit.
This survey course examines recent American history from the Cold War to the present. Exploring subjects such as the growth of American suburbs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, social movements of the 1960s, the Oil Crisis of the 1970s, the rise of Right-Wing movements, 9/11, and the Iraq War, this course probes the political, international, social, and cultural currents that have shaped contemporary America.

HIST 258 American Indian History to 1850
Taught by: Instructor Natalie Inman
First Summer Session 2009, MTWRF, 1:10-3:00 pm
Credits: history elective, U.S. area of concentration, 3 credit hours, U.S. AXLE credit.
This course will cover the history of the First Americans from pre-historical archeological accounts through first contact in North America to the responses of native peoples to American territorial expansion in the 1850s.  Primary documents, including American Indian speeches and native newspaper articles, records of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and letters from Cherokees to Congress regarding the Indian Removal Act, will provide the foundation of this course enabling students to read first hand the works written about and by American Indians into the mid nineteenth century. 
This course has not been taught since Fall 2007 and will not be taught during the 2009-10 academic year.  Be sure to sign up for this interesting and powerful look into how Native North America shaped the history of the United States.

HIST 265: The U.S. in the Era of the Civil War
Taught by: Instructor Bob Hutton
Second Summer Session, 2009, MTWRF 8:10-10:00 AM
Credits: history elective, U.S. area of concentration, 3 credit hours, U.S. AXLE credit.
This course will cover the American Civil War, its causes and its aftermath.  This course treats the Civil War not as a series of military statistics and battle formations but rather a tremendous political and social crisis with worldwide implications.  The course will discuss slavery, secession, the conditions of conflict between the Union and Confederacy and the postwar attempt to reconstruct the United States.
This course has not been taught since Fall 2007 and will not be taught during the 2009-10 academic year.

HIST 280: Modern Medicine: History of Biomedicine from 1700 to the Present
Taught by: Instructor: Dr. Lisa J. Pruitt
Second Summer Session 2009, MTWRF, 1:10-3:00 pm
Credits: history elective, U.S. area of concentration, 3 credit hours, Perspectives AXLE credit.
This introductory course explores the rise of scientific medicine in the Western hemisphere.  Based on active participation of students through readings, discussions and short response papers, this course will challenge participants to take knowledge and treatments of the past on their own terms instead of evaluating them by today’s standards. The assigned material will consist largely of primary sources, from elite medical texts to patient diaries.  Examined topics will include: the impact of disease on medical theory and practice, different types healers in Europe and the United States and how scientific physicians established themselves as the bearers of the “right” type of medicine. We will also examine medicine from patients point of view, the creation of scientific medicine, the impact of epidemic diseases such as bubonic plague, cholera, malaria, and AIDS on society, public health, eugenics, human experimentation, urban renewal and rebuilding, sanitation, the germ theory of disease, and debates over the biomedical model of disease.
*No prior background in the history of medicine is required.  

HIST 294: Spanish Caribbean
Taught by: Frank Robinson
First Summer Session 2009, MTWRF, 8:10-10:00 am
Credits: history elective, L.A. area of concentration, 3 credit hours, No AXLE credit.
Since 1492, the Caribbean region has alternated between the center and periphery of international affairs. During the sixteenth century the region was of greatest value to the Spanish empire, when the Spanish West Indies consisted of the present day nations of Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Trinidad. Some of these islands were ceded to other European powers as a result of war or diplomatic agreements in the 17th or 18th centuries. Others, such as the Dominican Republic, gained their independence in the 19th century, while Cuba and Puerto Rico were the most enduring part of Spain’s American empire, only being surrendered in 1898 at the end of the Spanish-American-Cuban War. After a brief consideration of the colonial period, this course will focus on the major historical events and themes of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic during the 19th and 20th centuries, looking especially at concepts of modernization, liberalism, economic dependency, relations with the United States, and revolution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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