Department of History
New York University
Spring, 2011
Historical Studies: Theories and Practices
Professor Edward Berenson
15 Washington Mews
Edward.berenson@nyu.edu
88792
This course is designed for students intending to major in history, or at least
thinking seriously about the idea. It is a prerequisite for all History Department
undergraduate seminars (which are required of majors) in history. In that sense, it
is an introduction to the study of history at the college level. Topics in the lecture
part will include historical interpretation and debate; professional ethics and
methods; historiography (changing ways of writing and interpreting history); and
examples of the current direction of historical scholarship.
The lecture course is divided into three parts, one devoted to general issues in
history and two to specific case studies: the French Revolution and European
Imperialism.
The Workshops will focus on the same kinds of questions and problems as the
lecture, but Workshops will each be devoted to a particular topic and designed to
prepare students to do historical research and make historical interpretations of
their own.
Students taking the course will attend the lectures, which meet once a week
(Tuesday 11-12:15), and enroll in ONE of the following six Workshops.

Frontiers and Borderlands in Early American History, Karen Auman

Nationalism and Decolonization in Africa, Liz Fink

Middle Ages: Revolution, Renaissance, and Reformation, Michael Peixoto

European States and Minorities, Joshua Teplitsky

American Intellectual History, 1877 to the Present, David Weinfeld

America in the Age of the Civil War, 1815-1913: Economy, Slavery, Culture, and
Ideas, Peter Joseph Wirzbicki
Part I. Doing History; Debating History
Week 1. (Jan 25). Introduction to the course
Week 2 (Feb. 1) History: Interpretation and Imagination.
*Reading: Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre
Film: The Return of Martin Guerre
Interview with N.Z. Davis
Week 3 (Feb. 8). NZ Davis and her Critics: Historians Debate Martin Guerre
Reading: Robert Finlay, “The Refashioning of Martin Guerre,” American
Historical Review, Vol 93, No. 3 (June, 1988): 553-571
Natalie Z. Davis, “One the Lame,” The American Historical Review Vol. 93, No.
3 (Jun., 1988): 572-603.
Week 4. (Feb. 15). What Historians Do
*Reading: John Lewis Gaddis, The Landscape of History: How Historians
Map the Past (2002), 1-70, 91-109
Week 5 (Feb. 22) What Not to Do.
Reading: David H. Fischer, Historians’ Fallacies, chs I, VI, IX
Margaret MacMillan, Dangerous Games.The Uses and Abuses of History, Ch. 5, 8
Ron Robin, Scandals and Scoundrels, ch. 2
Week 6 (March 1). Historians’ Debate: The Origins of World War I
Reading: Fritz Fischer, “1914: Germany Opts for War”
Gerhard Ritter, “Anti-Fischer: A New War-Guilt Thesis?”
Imanuel Geiss, “The Fischer “Controversy” and German War Guilt”
Selected Primary Source Documents from WWI reader
Week 7 (March 8) Mid-Term exam
Week 8 (March 15) Spring break
Part II: Case Study #1. The French Revolution
Week 9 (March 22. Origins of the French Revolution
*Reading: Georges Lefebvre, The Coming of the French Revolution, 1-110
Sièyes, “What is the Third Estate,” “Declaration of the Rights of Man and
Citizen,” “Tennis Court Oath.”
Week 10 (March 29). The French Revolution: The Classic Debate
Reading: Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
Tom Paine, The Rights of Man, selections
Week 11 (Aprin 5). Debating the Terror: Circumstances or Ideology?
Reading: Albert Soboul, A Short History of the French Revolution, ch. 2
Francois Furet, “Terror”
R.R. Palmer, Twelve Who Ruled
Maxmilien Robespierre, “The Terror”
Week 12 (April 12) Was the Revolution Good for Women?
Reading: Joan Scott, Only Paradoxes to Offer, ch. 2
Joan Landes, Women and the Public Sphere in the Age of Democratic
Revolution
Lynn Hunt, The French Revolution
Olympe de Gouges, “Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizen”
Part III: Case Study # 2. The “New Imperialism,” 1870-1914
Week 13 (April 19). Why Empire?
Reading: Anthony Webster, The Debate on the Rise of the British Empire
Primary sources: Seeley, Ruskin, Ferry, Prevost-Paradol, Chamberlain
Week 14. (April 26). Empire and the Origins of World War I
Reading: Arno Mayer, The Persistence of the Old Regime
Hobson, Lenin, Fritz Fischer, AJP Taylor, Schumpeter
Week 15 (May 3). Was Empire Popular?
Bernard Porter, The Absent-Minded Imperialists
Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher, Africa and the Victorians
John M. MacKenzie, Imperialism and Popular Culture
Tony Chafer and Amanda Sackur, Promoting the Colonial Idea: Propaganda
and Visions of Empire in France