Honors History 115 – Perspectives on the Western Experience – T/Thurs 1-2:15 pm
Kate Wintrol
Telephone: 895-5261
Office: John S. Wright Hall, A3271
Email: kate.wintrol@ccmail.nevada.edu
Office Hours: Friday from 12 to 3 p.m. and by appointment
Required Reading:
The Western Heritage Volume Two: Since 1648 by Donald Kagan
Supplementary handouts distributed in class and readings from CD-Rom
Requirements:
This class is designed to provide a broad understanding of the development of
Western Civilization from the Reformation to the end of World War II. The course will
include both lecture and discussion and will emphasize the political as well as the
cultural, social and intellectual innovations of the past 500 years. You are expected to
attend every class and carefully read the assignments.
There will be three exams, including the final, consisting of short answers and
identifications. There will also be three small quizzes on the supplemental reading
material and one short paper required. The final examination will have the same format
as the exams, with perhaps the addition of a longer essay question that demands
cumulative knowledge.
If you have documented disability that may require assistance, you will need to
contact the Disability resource Center. It is located in the Reynolds Student Services
Complex, room 137, telephone 895-0866 or TDD 895-0652.
Syllabus is subject to slight changes or revisions.
Grading:
Three exams 20%, Paper 20%, Quizzes 10% and attendance and participation 10%
Course Outline:
Week One: Introduction and Reformation.
Readings – CD-Rom 11.2: Luther’s 95 Theses and 11.3 Act of Supremacy: Church of
England
Week Two: Sept. 6 and 8: Counter-Reformation, Thirty Years War and England and
France
Readings - Chapter 13, CD-Rom 11.6 The Catholic Response
Week Three: Sept. 13 and 15: Popular Culture, Witchcraft Trials, Birth of Science
Readings - Chapter 14 and handouts
Week Four: Sept 20 and 22: New Cultural and Social Patterns, Overseas Expansion
Readings – Chapter 16 and The Great Cat Massacre
Week Five: Sept 27 and 29: Slave Trade, Early Enlightenment
Tues Sept. 29: Chapter 17 and handouts
First exam on Thurs, Sept 29
Week Six: Oct 4 and 6: Enlightenment, American Revolution
Readings - Chapter 18, CD-Rom 16.1 Tortured Execution vs. Prison Rules, 18.4 The
Encyclopedie and handouts
Week Seven: Oct. 11 and 13: French Revolution
Readings – Chapter 19, CD-Rom 19.1 and 19.2, Declaration of Rights of Man and
Declaration of Rights of Women, 19.4 Robespierre and Justification of Terror and
handouts
Week Eight: Oct. 18 and 20: Napoleon, Restoration of Europe. Romanticism
Readings – Chapter 20 and handouts
Week Nine: Oct. 25 and 29: Industrial Revolution, Irish Potato Famine, Nationalism and
Revolutions of 1848
Readings – Chapter 21 and 22, CD-Rom 22.2 Child Labor Inquiry
Week Ten: Nov. 1 and 3: Italian and German unification, Crimean War
Second exam on Tues, Nov.1
Thurs, Nov. 3 Readings – Chapter 23 and handouts
Week Eleven: Nov. 8 and 10: Imperialism, Birth of Modern Thought, Role of Women
and new forms of artistic expression.
Readings – Chapter 24 and 25, CD-Rom 25.2 Manifesto for the Society for German
Colonization and 25.4 the Black Man’s Burden
Week Twelve: Nov. 15 and 17: World War I and Russian Revolution
Readings – Chapter 26, CD-Rom 26.1 Rupert Brooke – The Soldier and handouts
Week Thirteen: Nov. 22: Europe between the wars
Readings – Chapter 27 and 28, CD-Rom 27.4 The Depression – Germany’s Unemployed
and 28.3 Adolf Hitler from Mein Kampf
No class on 11-24, Thanksgiving Break
Week Fourteen: Nov. 28 and Dec. 2: World War II
Readings – Chapter 29, CD-Rom 29.1 Hitler, the Obensalberg Speech and 29.5
Buchenwald Report
Paper due on 12-2
Week Fifteen: Dec. 5 and 9: Europe after the war
Review and Slides
Final Exam on Monday, December 13 at 1 p.m.