Course Description
English history from the Restoration to the present. Emphasis will be on political and cultural change as well as economic and imperial development.
Athena Title
ENGLAND SINCE 1660
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The course introduces undergraduate students to some of the main themes in modern English history ranging from 1660 to the present. The principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
The course will follow this rough-and ready progression over the fifteen weeks of the semester: Week One--Restoration of 1660 Week Two--Collapse of Restoration Settlement and Glorious Revolution Week Three--Revolution Settlement Week Four--Growth of Political Stability 1690-1760 Week Five--Imperial Wars and Economic Change Week Six--George III and Crisis of the American War Week Seven--Challenge of the French Revolution and Napoleon Week Eight--Origins of the Industrial Revolution and Growth of an Industrial Economy Week Nine--Social and Political Change in the early Nineteenth Centur Week Ten--The Hungry Forties--Chartism and Famine in Ireland Week Eleven--Victorianism and its Critics Week Twelve--Gladstone, Disraeli, and Parnell: England, Ireland, and Empire Week Thirteen--Britain in the Early Twentieth Century Week Fourteen--War and its Aftermath Week Fourteen--Depression, War, and Welfare State
Syllabus