History Department

Robert H. Greene, Chair

For the student in search of a broad education rather than training for a particular occupation, the History Department offers an exciting program of instruction. It is designed to provide an understanding of the background and ramifications of present local, national, and world affairs. The program emphasizes understanding rather than the memorization of names and dates. Students are taught how to read critically, analyze thoughtfully, conduct research carefully, and write intelligently.

Toward this end, the department offers a wide variety of courses ranging in time, location, and subject. For those students interested in local history there are courses on Montana, the West and unique aspects of the frontier. Other classes stress the nature of early American society, the American Revolution, family and gender in America, the Civil War, and diplomacy in the Cold War. Still others emphasize European social, cultural, and intellectual history, European exploration, the French Revolution, Islamic civilization, Latin American history, Asian history, and Russian history. Topical courses concentrate upon documentary analysis, diplomacy, war and peace, terrorism, and environmental history.

The History Department helps to prepare men and women for many different kinds of occupations. Graduates are employed in federal, state or local government positions ranging from domestic to foreign service, from senators to research analysts. Many teach history in Montana or in other states while others pursue their educations at advanced graduate schools earning master or doctoral degrees. Several have been awarded Rhodes or Marshall Scholarships.

Lawyers, journalists and businessmen also are trained by the department; many combine history with political science, journalism, or business. History provides not only a basis for the pursuit of one's chosen profession but also furnishes knowledge and perspective for intelligent leadership of citizens in community affairs.

The department offers the Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and the Doctor of Philosophy degrees.

Undergraduate Degrees Available

Subject Type Option Track
History-Political Science Bachelor of Arts Teaching Social Studies
History Bachelor of Arts
History Bachelor of Arts History Education
History Minor
History Minor Teaching History

Faculty

Professor

  • Richard Drake, Professor of History
  • John Eglin, Professor of History
  • Linda S. Frey, Professor of History
  • Robert H. Greene, Associate Professor of History; Chair of the History Department
  • Anya Jabour, Professor of History; Co-Director, Women & Gender Studies
  • Mehrdad Kia, Professor of History; Director, Central and Southwest Asian Studies Center
  • Michael Mayer, Professor of History
  • Jody Pavilack, Associate Professor of History
  • Tobin Miller Shearer, Associate Professor of History; Director of African-American Studies
  • Kyle G. Volk, Associate Professor of History; Director of Undergraduate Studies
  • Jeff Wiltse, Associate Professor of History; Director of Graduate Studies

Adjunct

  • Gillian Glaes, Visiting Associate Professor of History
  • Bradley Naranch, Visiting Assistant Professor of History

Lecturer

  • George Price, Lecturer

Research Faculty

  • Ted Catton, Associate Research Professor
  • Diane Krahe, Faculty Affiliate
  • Steven I. Levine, Research Faculty Associate

Affiliates

  • Hayden Ausland, Professor
  • David Beck, Professor of Native American Studies
  • Richmond Clow, Professor
  • Wade Davies, Professor
  • Ardeshir Kia, Associate Director, Central and Southwest Asia Program

Emeritus

  • George Dennison, Past President of the University of Montana; Professor Emeritus of History
  • David Emmons, Professor Emeritus of History
  • William E. Farr, Professor Emeritus of History; Associate Director, Center for the Rocky Mountain West
  • Dan Flores, A.B. Hammond Professor Emeritus of Western History
  • Harry Fritz, Professor Emeritus of History
  • Paul Gordon Lauren, Regents Professor Emeritus of History
  • Ken Lockridge, Professor Emeritus of History
  • Frederick Skinner, Professor Emeritus of History

Course Descriptions

History

  • HIST 457 - Artistic Trad Cent & SW Asia

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered autumn and spring. Same as HSTR 459. Analysis of the study of human artistic creativity and scientific innovations of various cultures in Central and Southwest Asia since ancient times.
    Course Attributes:
    • Cross List

  • HIST 462 - Central Asia Seminar

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered spring. Advanced analysis of the historical and contemporary issues involving the human communities, cultures, and economies in Central and Southwest Asia.
    Course Attributes:
    • Cross List

  • HIST 464X - Hist Amer Indian Affrs to 1776

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered Autumn.  Same as HSTA 465X. A study of American Indian relations with Europeans and the United States from first contact to 1776.
    Course Attributes:
    • Indigenous and Global
    • Cross List

  • HIST 482 - Revolution & Reform in China

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered autumn. A history of the rise and fall of the Maoist regime and the complicated impact of the epochal post Mao reform movement.

History: American

  • HSTA 101H - American History I

    Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered autumn.  A comprehensive introductory history of Colonial, Revolutionary and 19th century America, to 1877. Lecture-discussion. Credit not allowed for both 101H and 103H.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • American and European

  • HSTA 102H - American History II

    Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered spring.  A comprehensive introductory history of the U.S. since 1877. Lecture-discussion. Credit not allowed for both 102H and 104H.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • American and European

  • HSTA 103H - Honors American History I

    Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered autumn.  Enrollment by consent of instructor. A comprehensive introductory history of Colonial, Revolutionary, and 19th century America, to 1877. Lecture-honors discussion. Credit not allowed for both 103H and 101H.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Honors Course
    • Writing Course-Lower-Division
    • Writing Course-Approved
    • American and European

  • HSTA 104H - Honors American History II

    Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered spring.  Enrollment by consent of instructor. A comprehensive introductory history of the U. S. since 1877.  Lecture-honors discussion. Credit not allowed for both 104H and 102H.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Honors Course
    • American and European

  • HSTA 191 - Special Topics

    Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate. (R-6) Offered intermittently.  Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.

  • HSTA 198 - Internship

    Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate. Offered intermittently.  Prereq., consent of department. Extended classroom experience which provides practical application of classroom learning during placements off campus. Prior approval must be obtained from the faculty supervisor and the Internship Services office.  A maximum of 6 credits of Internship (198, 298, 398, 498) may count toward graduation.

  • HSTA 255 - Montana History

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered autumn.  An introductory and interpretive history from Lewis and Clark to 2000.

  • HSTA 262 - Abolitionism

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Same as AAS 262. Offered spring.  Interdisciplinary, historical perspective on early 19th century movement to abolish slavery and racial discrimination in the United States.

  • HSTA 291 - Special Topics

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate. (R-12) (AM) Offered intermittently.  Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.

  • HSTA 311 - Early America

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered even-numbered years.  Emphasis changes from year to year. Can touch upon the political economy of Puritanism, through gender and family to the preconditions for the American Revolution.

  • HSTA 315 - Early American Republic

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered spring odd-numbered years. Democracy, nationalism and sectionalism, the War of 1812, the second party system, social order and disorder, the capitalist revolution.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Approved

  • HSTA 316 - American Civil War Era

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered autumn odd-numbered years.  Civil War and Reconstruction; the triumph of the industrialist and capitalist ethic.

  • HSTA 320 - Birth of Modern US

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered autumn odd-numbered years.  The history of the U.S. from 1877 to 1920 is largely the story of Americans responding to profound social, cultural and economic change.  In an effort to bring order to their changing world, Americans created new institutions, retooled their ideologies, and improved the nation's infrastructure.  The order they created is, in modified form, still with us today.  Students will explore the myriad changes that transformed the United States during this period and study the social, political, and cultural struggles that shaped the emergence of Modern America.

  • HSTA 321 - America in Crisis

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered autumn. This era in U.S. history was marked by a series of crises: the contested transition to modernity during the 1920s, the Great Depression, and World War II and its aftermath.  This course will explore how Americans responded to these crises, why they responded to them the way they did, and how their responses altered the society in which they lived.

  • HSTA 322 - U.S. History: WWII to Present

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered spring.  The Cold War and its consequences, the civil rights revolution, affluence and anxiety, counter-culture, political radicalism, feminism, the Nixon years, Watergate and after.

  • HSTA 323 - U.S. in the 1950s

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered alternate years, Examines the political, social, cultural, intellectual developments of America in the 1950s.  Particular emphasis is placed on cultural history. 

  • HSTA 324 - U.S. in the 1960s

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered alternate years, Examines the political, social, cultural, intellectual developments of America in the 1960s.  Topics include the Great Society, political radicalism, the counter culture, black radicalism, and Vietnam. 

  • HSTA 327 - Atlantic World Slavery

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered alternate years. This course will examine the development and demise of slavery in the early modern Atlantic world, from the late fifteenth to the late nineteenth centuries. Specifically, we will explore the ways the transatlantic slave trade forged economic and cultural connections between Europe, Africa, and the Americas, thereby causing immeasurable suffering while conditioning conceptions of race, reshaping politics and religion, and transforming the ecology of nearly a third of the globe.

  • HSTA 333 - American Military History

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (R-6) (AM) Offered intermittently. The French and Indian Wars to Vietnam and beyond; chronological and topical accounts.

  • HSTA 335 - Movie America

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered intermittently. This course examines major topics and themes in United States history from the early twentieth century to the present using movies as primary sources.

  • HSTA 342H - Afr Amer Hist to 1865

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered intermittently. Same as AAS 378. Survey of the African American experience from the African background to the end of the Civil War.  Focus on Black American quest for the American Dream, and how Blacks attempted to deal with the challenges of enslavement and racism.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTA 343H - Afr Amer Hist Since 1865

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered intermittently.  Same as AAS 343H.  Study of the African American experience since the Civil War.  Change and continuity in the African American experience, the fight against Jim Crow, the struggle for civil rights, and post-civil rights economic, political, social and cultural developments and challenges.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTA 347 - African American Religious Exp

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Spring, odd years. The African American religious experience encompasses Islam, Christianity, Santeria, voodoo, and many others. In this course, students will examine the history of religious expression within the African-American community from the colonial era through the twentieth century. Central to the course question, "How did religion shape the experience of the African-American community?" Students will also examine the ways in which religious practice influenced social, political, and cultural changes in American history.  Same as AAS 347.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division
    • Writing Course-Approved

  • HSTA 354X - Ind MT Since Reserv Era

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered autumn odd-numbered years.  Same as ANTH 324X and NAS 324X.  Examination of the history of Montana Indians since the establishment of the reservations, contemporary conditions, and issues among both reservation and non-reservation Indian communities in the state.  Special attention given to social and economic conditions, treaty rights, tribal sovereignty, and legal issues.
    Course Attributes:
    • Indigenous and Global

  • HSTA 361 - The American South

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered intermittently.  Social history of the American South with particular attention to race, class, and gender.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTA 370H - Wmn Amer Colonial to Civil War

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered autumn.  Interpretive overview of major themes and events in U.S. womens history to 1865. Same as WGS 370H.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTA 371H - Wmn Amer Civil War to Present

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Offered spring. Interpretive overview of major themes and events in U.S. women’s history from 1865 to the present. Same as WGS 371.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTA 372 - The American Revolution

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered alternate years. Delving into the history of the early modern Atlantic world, this course examines the transnational ramifications of the American Revolution. Specifically, it examines the Revolution’s economic and ideological origins, European involvement in the Revolutionary War, as well as the Revolution’s impact on African American slavery and the slave trade. We will also consider its implications for Haitian and Latin American independence. And finally, we will discuss the creation of the U.S. Constitution, America’s struggle for political sovereignty, and the Revolution’s impact on Native Americans, women and families, and conceptions of American identity during the Early National period.

  • HSTA 377 - Alcohol in American History

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered intermittently. This course explores the controversial history of alcohol in American history beginning in the colonial period and ending in the recent past. It blends varied historical approaches, including political, legal, business, social, and cultural history, to interrogate the manifold ways that alcohol has shaped the American nation and the everyday lives of its citizens.

  • HSTA 380 - AmericanConstitutional History

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered intermittently. An examination of major issues in the American constitutional past. Topics include the creation of the U.S. Constitution and the problem of ?original intent,? courts and judicial review, slavery and anti-slavery, the bill o frights, industrial capitalism and the welfare state, and majority rule and minority rights in American democracy

  • HSTA 382H - History of American Law

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered intermittently. Issues in the social history of law from the colonial period to the present.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTA 385 - Families & Children in America

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered intermittently.  Historical overview of families and children in the United States from the colonial era to the present.  Topics include changing patterns of family life, the evolution of attitudes toward children and youth, the relationship between the American family and the nation-state, and debates over "family values" from the nation's founding to the present.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Writing Course-Approved

  • HSTA 391 - Special Topics

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate. (R-12) Offered intermittently. Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.

  • HSTA 415 - The Black Radical Tradition

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (AM) Offered autumn, odd years. From slave revolts through to the Move rebellion in Philadelphia, this course examines how the African-American community has engaged in radical efforts to change the status quo in the name of seeking justice. Formally cross listed with AAS 415.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTA 417 - Prayer & Civil Rights

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered autumn, even years.  Same as AAS 417 and RELS 417.  This course explores the meaning of public prayer in the Civil Rights Movement.  Built around the question, "Does religion help or hinder the pursuit of social change?" this class combines historical and religious studies inquiry to trace changes in civil rights activists' efforts to make use of religion.  By focusing on a particular religious practice - in this case prayer - in a specific, but limited period of time, this course challenges students to consider how meaning is formed through historical action and study the social significance of religious practice.  This formed through historical action and study the social significance of religious practice.  This course complicates prevailing ideas about the normalcy of  African-American religious practitioners' prayer, invites students to examine their assumptions about the nature of prayer, and traces how religion spilled out of sanctuaries into the streets during the civil rights era.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTA 418 - Women and Slavery:Research Sem

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (AM) Same as WGS 418. Offered intermittently.  Prereq., upper-division standing.  Study of the connection between women's status and slavery in antebellum America, looking at slave women, slaveholding women, and antislavery women. Upper division writing course for the history major.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTA 419 - Southern Women: Research Sem

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (AM) Same as WGS 419. Offered intermittently.  Examination of the connections between race, class, and gender in the South.  Conflict and cooperation among black and white women in politics, reform, and work. Upper division writing course for the history major.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTA 422 - U.S. After WWII: Research Sem

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (AM) Offered alternate years. This course offers students an opportunity to do original research and produce an article-length research paper on a topic in post-war American history. It meets the department’s requirement of an upper-level research seminar as well as the upper-division writing expectation in the major.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTA 461 - Research in Montana History

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (AM) Offered intermittently. This course is a research and writing seminar in Montana history. Students will learn advanced research methodology in history and will be exposed to a variety of databases and source collections in Montana history that are available locally and online. Students will research and write a primary-source based paper on a topic in Montana history. This course fulfills the upper-division writing requirement for the history department and the university.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTA 469 - Atlantic America Research Sem

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (AM) Offered alternate years. This seminar is designed to teach advanced undergraduate and graduate students the fundamentals of original research in the fields of early American and Atlantic world history. Every student will pursue an original research project, based on primary materials, and focused chronologically within the period of early contact to the U.S. Civil War. You will read texts that will serve as models of historical writing and others that will help you develop your skills as a researcher, writer, and editor. We will hone our writing skills through drafting and discussion. Consent of instructor required.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTA 471 - Writing Women's Lives

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (AM) Offered intermittently. Consent of instructor required. Upper-division writing-intensive seminar in women’s history. Students will write an original research paper based on primary source materials.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTA 491 - Special topics

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R 12) Offered intermittently. Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one time offerings of current topics.

  • HSTA 494 - Seminar

    Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R 6) Offered intermittently. Prereq., consent of instr.

  • HSTA 501 - Readings in Early Am Hist

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Graduate readings course in U.S. history covering the period from pre-contact to 1877.

  • HSTA 502 - Readings in Modern Am Hist

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Graduate readings course in U.S. history covering the period from 1877 to the present.

  • HSTA 550 - Early America

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Intensive reading.

  • HSTA 551 - The Early American Republic

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Intensive reading.

  • HSTA 552 - Industrial America: 1863-1932

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Intensive reading.

  • HSTA 553 - Modern America

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Intensive reading.

  • HSTA 562 - Problems in AfAm History

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Same as AAS 562. This course explores the question, "How does one study African-American history?" through the lens of African-American religious practice.

  • HSTA 564 - US Environmental History

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Intensive reading.

  • HSTA 566 - The American West

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Intensive reading.

  • HSTA 567 - Research in History

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Intensive reading.

  • HSTA 570 - U.S. Women's History

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Intensive readings in U.S. women's history.

  • HSTA 594 - Seminar

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-12) Prereq., 27 credits in history. Directed research.

  • HSTA 595 - Special Topics

    Credits: 0 TO 9. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-9) Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.

  • HSTA 596 - Independent Study

    Credits: 0 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-12) Course material appropriate to the needs and objectives of the individual student.

  • HSTA 597 - Independent Study

    Credits: 1 TO 9. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-9) Directed individual research and study appropriate to the back ground and objectives of the student.

  • HSTA 598 - Internship

    Credits: 1 TO 8. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-8) Prereq., consent of department and Internship Services office. Practical application of classroom learning in off-campus placements.

  • HSTA 599 - Professional Paper

    Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-6) Preparation of a professional paper appropriate to the needs and objectives of the individual student.

  • HSTA 699 - Thesis/Dissertation

    Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-6) Preparation of a thesis or manuscript based on research for presentation and/or publication.

History: World

  • HSTR 101H - Western Civilization I

    Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered autumn.  A comprehensive, introductory history of western civilization from classical antiquity to 1648. Lecture-discussion. Credit not allowed for both 101H and 103H.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • American and European

  • HSTR 102H - Western Civilization II

    Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered spring.  A comprehensive, introductory history of western civilization from 1648 to the present. Lecture-discussion. Credit not allowed for both 102H and 104H.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • American and European

  • HSTR 103H - Honors Western Civilization I

    Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered autumn.  Limited enrollment by consent of instr. only. A comprehensive, introductory history of western civilization from classical antiquity to 1648. Lecture-honors discussion. Credit not allowed for both 103H and 101H.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Honors Course
    • Writing Course-Approved
    • American and European

  • HSTR 104H - Honors Western Civilization II

    Credits: 4. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered spring.  Limited enrollment by consent of instr. only. A comprehensive introductory history of western civilization from 1648 to the present. Lecture-honors discussion. Credit not allowed for both 104H and 102H.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Honors Course
    • Writing Course-Lower-Division
    • American and European

  • HSTR 146H - The Silk Road

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered autumn and spring. Same as AS and ANTH 106H.  Introduction to the study of the human communities, cultures, and economies in Central and Southwest Asia along the ancient four thousand mile-long Silk Road.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Indigenous and Global

  • HSTR 191 - Special Topics

    Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate. (R-6) Offered intermittently.  Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.

  • HSTR 198 - Cooperative Educ/Internship I,

    Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate. Offered intermittently.  Prereq., consent of department. Extended classroom experience which provides practical application of classroom learning during placements off campus. Prior approval must be obtained from the faculty supervisor and the Internship Services office.  A maximum of 6 credits of Internship (198, 298, 398, 498) may count toward graduation.
    Course Attributes:
    • Internships/Practicums
    • Internship graduation limit 6

  • HSTR 200 - Intro: Historical Methods

    Credits: 1. Level: Undergraduate. Offered autumn and spring.  Enrollment limited to history majors or by consent of the instructor.  This course introduces students to the practice of history and prepares them for upper-division courses in the field. It is required for recently declared history majors and minors. Students will learn to critically read secondary sources, research in primary sources, analyze documents, and write clear and convincing historical essays.  Students should take this course before taking upper-division history courses.

  • HSTR 230H - Colonial Latin America

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered autumn.  Latin America from the conquest to wars for independence.  Focus on social relations, imperial and local politics, hegemony, resistance, and change.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Indigenous and Global

  • HSTR 231H - Modern Latin America

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered spring. Latin American history from wars of independence to the present.  Focus on social relations, development models, politics, and popular movements.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Indigenous and Global

  • HSTR 240 - East Asian Civilizations

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered autumn.  Same as AS 201.  An interdisciplinary, pluralist, and exploratory introduction to civilizations of East Asia.  Primary focus on China, Japan, and Korea, the relations among them and their patterns of interaction with the outside world in pre-modern and modern periods.

  • HSTR 241H - Central Asian Cult & Civ

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered autumn. Same as ANTY 241H. Introduction to Central Asia's history, culture and ways of thinking. Focus on the political and social organization of Central Asia and cultural changes as expressed in art and interactions with China, India and the Middle East.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Indigenous and Global

  • HSTR 250 - The Irish

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered autumn odd-numbered years.  Ireland, the Irish people, and the Irish Diaspora, from first settlement to contemporary troubles.

  • HSTR 262H - Islamic Civil: Classical Age

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered autumn. A concise history of the Islamic world from the 6th century to the fall of the Abbasid Empire in the 13th century, focusing primarily on the teachings of Islam and the causes for the rapid expansion of the Islamic empire.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Non-Western Course

  • HSTR 264 - Islamic Civ: Modern Era

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered spring. History of the Islamic world and particularly the Persian, Arabic, and Turkish speaking lands between 1453 and 1952.

  • HSTR 272E - Terrorism:Viol Mod Wrld

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered autumn.  Prereq., lower-division course in Perspective 5 or consent of instr. The rise and spread of terrorism in the modern world, from the French Revolution to the present.
    Course Attributes:
    • Ethical & Human Values Course

  • HSTR 291 - Special Topics

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate. (R-12) Offered intermittently.  Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.

  • HSTR 300 - Writing For History

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. Students will learn the fundamentals of writing history through study of a topic that will change according to the expertise of the instructor of record. Through a multi-drafting writing process students will hone their research skills, learn how to craft interpretive theses, develop outlines, and gain experience in drafting and re-drafting their written work. Students will also learn how to compose strong prose, organize historical arguments, and manage the mechanics of proper citation.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division
    • Writing Course-Approved

  • HSTR 301H - Ancient Greek Social Hist

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered intermittently. Various aspects of personal, social, and political life of classical times in Greece. Primary readings in various ancient authors supplemented by some audio-visual or other informational presentations.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTR 302H - Ancient Greece

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered intermittently. Greek history from the earliest times through the Macedonian ascendancy, based on the writings of the Greek historians.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTR 304H - Ancient Rome

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered intermittently. Roman history from the time of the Kings through the early Empire. Based on the writings of the Roman historians.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTR 306 - Medieval World: Barbarian West

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered intermittently. The collapse of Roman authority, the establishment of the Germanic kingdoms, Christianity and the Roman church.

  • HSTR 312 - Age of Absolut 1648-1789

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered intermittently.  The political, economic, intellectual, and social development of Europe 1648-1789.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTR 315 - The Reformation

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered intermittently.  The Reformation and its impact on European society, politics, economic theory and religious thought from 1500 to 1600; the Counter-Reformation.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Writing Course-Approved

  • HSTR 317 - Renaissance & Reform

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered intermittently.  The political, economic, intellectual and social development of Europe from 1348 to 1648.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTR 320 - Europ Social & Intellect Hist

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered autumn. The influence of the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical Ages, and the Enlightenment on early modern history.

  • HSTR 323 - Europ Social & Intellect Hist:

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered autumn. Romanticism, Realism, and the Avant-Garde against the historical background of the Industrial Revolution and urbanization.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTR 325 - Europ Social & Intellect Hist:

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered spring. The triumph of the Avant-Garde and the decline of traditional culture: 1914-1945.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course

  • HSTR 326 - Contemporary Europe

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered autumn odd-numbered years.  European politics, culture, and society since 1945.

  • HSTR 334 - Latin Am: Reform & Revolution

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered intermittently.  Different ideologies and projects in Latin America aimed at gradual or radical transformation of political systems and/or socio-economic relations.  Case studies range from the Haitian Revolution to the Bolivarian vision of Hugo Chavez.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Approved

  • HSTR 335 - Lat Am Workers & Labor

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered intermittently. Study of the experiences and agency of diverse working people in Latin America. Influence of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and generation on working class identity and movements. Labor organizations and politics in historic context.

  • HSTR 343 - Modern Japan

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered spring.  Japanese culture, politics, and economics since 1800: the Tokugawa period, the Meiji Restoration, militarization and the Great Pacific War, the American occupation, Japan as a model of modernization.

  • HSTR 345H - Modern China

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered autumn. China since 180, emphasizing internal weaknesses of the Manchu dynasty, confrontation with the west, and the emergence of Nationalist and Communist regimes.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Non-Western Course

  • HSTR 348 - Britain 1485-1688

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered autumn. Social, political, religious, and intellectual history of the British peoples during the tumultuous period of reformation, exploration, constitutional crisis, and civil war.

  • HSTR 349 - Britain from Rev - Reform 1688

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered spring. The social, political, cultural, and intellectual consequences of British expansion, financial and industrial revolutions, and revolutionary movements.

  • HSTR 350 - Modern Britain

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered autumn odd-numbered years.  Social, political, intellectual and cultural history of the United Kingdom from an age of industry, empire, and political reform to one of economic decline and international retreat.

  • HSTR 352 - France Revol 1789-1848

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered autumn.  Political, economic, and social upheaval and development.

  • HSTR 353 - Modern France

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered intermittently. Political, economic and social development.

  • HSTR 354 - Italy: 1300-1800

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered autumn odd-numbered years.  The emergence of the Italian states with an emphasis on cultural achievements in the late Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassical periods.

  • HSTR 355 - Italy: 1800-Present

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered spring even-numbered years.  The emergence of a united Italy, the triumph of fascism and contemporary Italian society.

  • HSTR 357 - Russia to 1881

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered autumn.  Emphasis on the autocratic political tradition, Westernization, and territorial expansion.

  • HSTR 358 - Russia Since 1881

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered spring.  Emphasis on modernization and the revolutionary movement; the Bolshevik Revolution and Stalinist era; the decline of Soviet system.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Approved

  • HSTR 361 - Germ:Augsburg-Bismarck

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered intermittently.  Political, economic and social development of the states of the Holy Roman Empire from 1555-1866.

  • HSTR 363 - Eastern Europe

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered spring. Main currents in the history of Eastern Europe from earliest times to the present. Focus on the lands of Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, and the Balkan region.

  • HSTR 364 - Environmental History

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered intermittently. Prereq., lower-division course in Perspective 5 or consent of instr. A history of the human-nature interaction in the United States.

  • HSTR 367 - 19th Cent Amer West

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered intermittently. Euro-American movement and conflict in the nineteenth century trans-Mississippi west.

  • HSTR 368 - Iran Between Two Revolutions

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered autumn. The several intellectual traditions and philosophies some ephemeral and visionary, most eclectic and confused, and virtually all conflicting that are usually believed to underlie the varying concept of Iranian and Arab nationalism in the 20th century.

  • HSTR 369 - 20th Cent Amer West

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (AM) Offered spring.  The contemporary trans-Mississippi West.

  • HSTR 374 - War, Peace, & Society

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered intermittently. A thematic and interdisciplinary approach to warfare and peace, sociopolitical structures and military organization, power among states, technological change, the role of the individual in organized violence, and moral views of war and peace.

  • HSTR 377 - European Internal Relat

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (EU) Offered intermittently.  The nature, evolution, and functions of the European diplomatic system from the Ancient World to 1870.

  • HSTR 380 - Foreign Relations of the Great

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered intermittently.  Begins with a discussion of the classical system of diplomacy and then moves into the causes and results of the First World War, the rise of Hitler and the Second World War, America's emergence as a superpower, the Cold War, the influence of Asia, the implications of the 9/11 attack and terrorism, and the continuing search for peace and stability in a world of conflict.

  • HSTR 384 - Hist Internat Human Rights

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered intermittently.  A treatment of the powerful global influence of visions of human rights upon the historical and contemporary world in which movements such as abolitionism, women's rights, humanitarian law, racial equality, decolonization and democratization, and the impact of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

  • HSTR 386 - Nationalism Modern Middle East

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Offered spring. The socioeconomic, political, and cultural causes which resulted in the transformation of the Iranian society from a traditional Islamic entity to a modern secular state and the factors which led to the downfall of the secular state and the establishment of an Islamic republic.
    Course Attributes:
    • Historical & Cultural Course
    • Non-Western Course

  • HSTR 391 - Special Topics

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate. (R-12) Offered intermittently. Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.

  • HSTR 392 - Independent Study

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate. (R 12) Offered intermittently.

  • HSTR 394 - Seminar

    Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate. (R-6) Offered intermittently. A review and discussion of current research. Topics vary.

  • HSTR 396 - Independent Study

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate. (R-12) Offered intermittently. Course material appropriate to the needs and objectives of the individual student.

  • HSTR 398 - Internship

    Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate. Offered intermittently. Prereq., consent of department. Extended classroom experience which provides practical application of classroom learning during placements off campus. Prior approval must be obtained from the faculty supervisor and the Internship Services office.  A maximum of 6 credits of Internship (198, 298, 398, 498) may count toward graduation.
    Course Attributes:
    • Internships/Practicums
    • Internship graduation limit 6

  • HSTR 400 - Historical Research Seminar

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered autumn and spring.  Topics vary according to the instructor.  Enrollment for history majors and minors, graduate students in history, or by consent of the instructor.  Undergraduates enrolling in this course must have completed HSTR 200: Introduction to Historical Methods.  The goal of this course is for students to propose and execute a substantial research project. Upper division writing course for the history major.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTR 401 - The Great Historians

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (EU) Offered intermittently.  The history and philosophy of history.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division
    • Writing Course-Approved

  • HSTR 418 - Britain 1500 - 1800

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (EU) Offered spring alternate years. Prereq., consent of instr. HSTR 348 or 349 recommended. Students will discuss specific issues in the historiography of the early modern period in British history (c1500-1800) and produce research papers grounded in primary sources.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTR 435 - Lat Am Human Rgts & Memory

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (WRLD) Offered intermittently. The legacy of state violence and ongoing struggles for truth and justice in select Latin American case studies.  Different uses of memory and narration in bearing witness to social and political conflict and human rights violations. 

  • HSTR 437 - US-Latin America Relations

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (WRLD) Prereq., history majors or minors or consent of instr. Research and writing seminar on U.S.-Latin American relations from the late 18th century through the 20th century.  Upper division writing course for the history major.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTR 441 - Islam and the West

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (WRLD) Offered spring. Advanced analysis of the historical and contemporary issues involving the human communities, cultures, and economies in Central and Southwest Asia.

  • HSTR 442 - Cities/Landscps Central Asia

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (WRLD) Offered autumn. Same as ANTY 442. Analysis of the main centers of civilization and culture, rich sites and monuments of Central Asia and Southwest Asia since ancient times.

  • HSTR 448 - Tradition & Reform in China

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate. (WRLD) Taught annually.  Prereq., junior standing or consent of instructor.  A history of key reform movements from the mid-19th century (when China was rocked by rebellion and the entry of the West) to the Maoist period.

  • HSTR 455 - Public History

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (AM) Offered intermittently. Review of selected areas in which public historians work. Examination of how the public historian's role may differ from the academic historian. Focus on specific approaches, issues, and problems in a variety of areas of public history.

  • HSTR 457 - World of Anna Karenina

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (EU) Offered fall.  Tolstoy's classic novel as a point of entry into a multifaceted exploration of imperial Russian culture and society.  Topics include family life, social relations, modernization, politics, religion and spirituality, gender and sexuality.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTR 458 - Russian Revolution 1900-1930

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (EU) Offered spring. The causes, course, character, and consequences of the Bolshevik Revolution.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTR 459 - Artistic Trad Cent & SW Asia

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (WRLD) Offered autumn and spring. Analysis of the study of human artistic creativity and scientific innovations of various cultures in Central and Southwest Asia since ancient times.

  • HSTR 470 - Dynamics of Diplomacy

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (WRLD) Offered intermittently. An interdisciplinary, global, and thematic approach to major issues in foreign affairs brought about by world wars, diplomatic expansion, the collapse of cultural homogeneity, technological developments, and the rise of public opinion.
    Course Attributes:
    • Writing Course-Upper-Division

  • HSTR 472 - Problems of Peace and Security

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (WRLD) Offered intermittently.  Prereq., lower-division course in Perspective 5 or consent of instr. Contemporary and historical problems of civilian policy and military strategy, power and technology, intelligence operations in democratic societies, human rights and security issues, conscription, and ethics in statecraft.

  • HSTR 481 - Trad/Reform in China

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (WRLD) Taught annually. Prereq., junior standing or consent of instructor. A history of key reform movements from the mid-19th century (when China was rocked by rebellion and the entry of the West) to the Maoist period.

  • HSTR 491 - Special Topics

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R 12) Offered intermittently. Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one time offerings of current topics.

  • HSTR 492 - Independent Study

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R 12) Offered intermittently. Prereq., consent of instr.

  • HSTR 494 - Seminar

    Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-6) Offered intermittently.  Prereq., consent of instr. A review and discussion of current research. Topics vary.

  • HSTR 495 - Special Topics

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-12) Offered intermittently.  Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.

  • HSTR 496 - Independent Study

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-12) Offered intermittently.  Prereq., consent of instr. Course material appropriate to the needs and objectives of the individual student.

  • HSTR 500 - Tchg Discussion Sections

    Credits: 1. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-4) Supervised teaching and reading keyed to survey courses in American history and western civilization.

  • HSTR 511 - Early Modern Europe

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered alternate years. Intensive reading in 16th, 17th, and 18th century European history.

  • HSTR 512 - Absolut/Revol 1648-1789

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered intermittently. Intensive reading in 17th and 18th century European history.

  • HSTR 514 - Modern France

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered alternate years. Intensive reading, from the French Revolution to the present.

  • HSTR 516 - Modern Europe

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered alternate years. Intensive reading in 19th and 20th century European history.

  • HSTR 531 - International Relations

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered alternate years. Intensive reading in the history of international relations and diplomacy during the late 19th and 20th centuries.

  • HSTR 540 - Europ Cultural & Intellect

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Intensive reading.

  • HSTR 585 - Latin America

    Credits: 3. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. Offered alternate years. Intensive reading in Colonial and Modern Latin American history.

  • HSTR 594 - Seminar

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-12) Prereq., 27 credits in history. Directed research.

  • HSTR 595 - Special Topics

    Credits: 1 TO 9. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-9) Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.
    Course Attributes:
    • Internships/Practicums

  • HSTR 596 - Independent Study

    Credits: 1 TO 12. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-12) Course material appropriate to the needs and objectives of the individual student.
    Course Attributes:
    • Service Learning/Volunteer

  • HSTR 597 - Research in History

    Credits: 1 TO 9. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-9) Directed individual research and study appropriate to the back ground and objectives of the student.

  • HSTR 598 - Internship

    Credits: 1 TO 8. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-8) Prereq., consent of department and Internship Services office. Practical application of classroom learning in off-campus placements.
    Course Attributes:
    • Internships/Practicums

  • HSTR 599 - Professional Paper

    Credits: 1 TO 6. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-6) Preparation of a professional paper appropriate to the needs and objectives of the individual student.

  • HSTR 699 - Thesis/Dissertation

    Credits: 1 TO 9. Level: Undergraduate, Graduate. (R-6) Preparation of a thesis or manuscript based on research for presentation and/or publication.