Description:

This course will provide students with an overview of the principal themes, trends, and methodologies involved in the study of Modern European History. The readings will introduce students to both classic and some of the most current research in the field, ranging from more "traditional" topics such as the French and Russian revolutions, the industrial revolution and World War One to very recent explorations of cultural and gender history.

Format:

The class will center around discussions held at our fourteen weekly meetings. The object of the course is to acquaint students with the themes and issues which dominate the study of European history, and a discussion format is best suited to that purpose. The aim of the course is NOT to provide an exhaustive survey of events in the European past. For those students who feel they need more background in the basic narrative of European history since 1789, I can recommend the relevant volumes of The Norton History of Modern Europe as concise, readable, and affordable. Complete citations are provided at the end of the reading list.

Assignments:

1. Presentation - Each student will be responsible for leading class discussion for one week. Presenters are required to do enough extra reading (from the supplemental list for the week or from other sources) to be able to introduce the class to the context in which the work we are reading can be situated. The presenter will lead the class in a discussion of the major issues presented by the primary reading for the week. Do not merely summarize the arguments of the works you read, but present the major issues for the purposes of discussion. Presenters will meet with me on the Wednesday before each class to discuss questions, concerns, and progress.

Depending on the number of students enrolled, more than one student may be assigned to a particular week, in which case we will discuss the changed parameters of the assignment. If you would like some "extra credit" you can volunteer to lead discussions on more than one week, if there is any space available.
2. Précis - You are responsible for writing a précis for the primary reading each week. You will receive a separate sheet describing the précis format in more detail, but basically, a précis is a concise form of book review. You have no large writing assignment for this class, so you can really devote yourself to crafting concise and insightful précis. You must turn in précis for 12 of the 14 class meetings. You may not turn in précis for weeks when you are absent.
3. Published Reviews - You must submit a photocopy (or printed copy, in the case of on-line publications) of one scholarly review of the principle reading each week. This review will be due at the end of each class period, so that you may refer to it as required during class. Your name and the source of the review must be clearly indicated. I will return the reviews to you the following week, so there is no need to make an extra copy for yourself. In conjunction with the précis, the use of these reviews allows for much more effective discussion because they helps us to situate each of the readings within the existing historiography. You must submit reviews for 12 of the 14 class meetings. You may not turn in published reviews for weeks when you are absent.

The focus of this course will be on class discussions; the grading reflects that priority. It is imperative that you participate regularly in class discussions and that your contributions reflect both careful thought and engagement with the specific readings in question. Quality and regularity count for more than sheer volume.

40% - Participation in class discussions
25% - Presentation (outlined in "Assignments")
25% - Précis (12 required, see attached sheet)
10% - Published Reviews (12 required, outlined in "Assignments")

Note on attendance:

It should be clear from the discussion of the assignments and grading that attendance at every class meeting is mandatory. Since you must turn in 12 précis and reviews and you cannot turn them in for weeks when you are absent, missing more than two classes will adversely affect those portions (35%) of your grade. Missing any class will clearly affect your participation grade, since you can't contribute if you aren't there.

Reading List:

Below you will find the reading list for the course. Each week is devoted to the study of a major theme in Modern European History. For each week, there is one principle reading (highlighted in bold) which the entire class is required to read. Beneath that primary reading is a short list of suggested or alternative readings for those students with a deeper interest in a given subject. Articles are indicated in italic type. Since many of the primary readings are "classics," some of you may already have encountered them. In this case, skim your notes on that book and tackle some of the secondary reading to expand your knowledge and improve our class discussions. All of the primary readings are available for purchase at the TUCC Bookstore in the basement of 1616 Walnut St. I strongly recommend purchasing these books, as competition for copies in local libraries and on reserve is likely to be stiff because of the typically large enrollments in this course. I recognize that financial constraints may limit the number of books you can purchase, but I will hold every student to the same standard for class participation and writing assignments. It is much easier to contribute and to write effective papers if you have reliable access to the readings.
 
 

French Revolution  1/28	François Furet, Interpreting the French Revolution, Cambridge, 1981. Lynn Hunt, Politics, Class, and Culture in the French Revolution, UC Berkeley, 1986. Lynn Hunt, Review of Furet, History and Theory, 20 (1981), pp.313-323.
Industrial Revolution  2/4	David Landes, The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe, Cambridge, 1969. Alexander Gershenkron, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective, title essay, p. 5-30. Joel Mokyr, ed. The Economics of the Industrial Revolution, Chs. 1,2,4,5,8,9 Eric J. Evans, The Forging of the Modern State : Early Industrial Britain, 1783-1870, Addison-Wesley Pub Co, 1996.
Class  2/11	William Hamilton Sewell , Work and Revolution in France: The Language of Labor from the Old Regime to 1848, Cambridge Univ Press, 1980.  Max Weber, "Class, Status, and Party" in Gerth and Mills, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, Oxford, 1958, p 180-196 Gareth Steadman Jones, Languages of Class, Cambridge Univ Press, 1984, "Introduction" and "Rethinking Chartism."  Eric Hobsbawm, Worlds of Labor: Further Studies in the History of Labour, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984. "Notes on Class Consciousness," p. 15-32. EP Thompson, "Eighteenth Century English Society: Class Struggle without Class?," Social History 3 (1978), p. 133-165. Louis Chevalier, Laboring Classes and Dangerous Classes in Paris During the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, Howard Fertig, 1973. (new edition forthcoming) Edward P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, Random House; 1966  Vernon L. Lidtke , The Alternative Culture : Socialist Labor in Imperial Germany, Oxford Univ Press 1985
Liberalism and Conservatism 2/18	James Sheehan, German Liberalism in the 19th Century, Univ. of Chicago, 1978. (checking availability) Roger Soltau, French Political Thought in the 19th Century, 1959, Chs. 3, 4 pt. 3, 9 parts 1&2, 10 John Vincent, The Formation of the Liberal Party, Constable, 1966. Larry E. Jones (Editor), In Search of a Liberal Germany : Studies in the History of German Liberalism from 1789 to the Present, Berg, 1991. Note: The Sheehan book may be unavailable, and the other good works are long out of print or cost $80.  Keep checking the bookstore for the Sheehan work, otherwise, we'll have to share the copies of all of the above books on reserve at the library.   David Cannadine, Aspects of Aristocracy : Grandeur and Decline in Modern Britain, Penguin, 1998. Theodore Zeldin, Oxford History of Modern France, Oxford, 1994, Chs on Bonapartism and Solidarism. Hans-Ulrich Wehler, The German Empire, Berg, 1985, Ch 3&4 Paul Smith, Disraelian Conservatism and Social Reform, St. Martin's Press, 1996, pp. 1-128, 190-265 Jerome Blum, End of Old Order in Europe, 1978. Bonnie Smith, Ladies of the Leisure Class: The Bourgeoise of Northern France in the Nineteenth Century, Princeton, 1981. David Cannadine, Decline and Fall of British Aristocracy, 1990. Leonore Davidoff, Catherine Hall, Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class, 1780-1850, U Chicago, 1991.
Imperialism  2/25	Frederick Cooper and Ann L. Stoler (eds.), Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World, University of California, 1997. David Landes, Bankers and Pashas: International Finance and Economic Imperialism in Egypt, Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1979. Edward Said, Orientalism, Vintage Books, 1979. Hans-Ulrich Wehler, "Bismarck’s Imperialism," in J. Sheehan, Imperial Germany or Past and Present, 1970 John M. MacKenzie (ed.) Imperialism and Popular Culture, Manchester Univ Press, 1988. John M. MacKenzie , Propaganda and Empire : The Manipulation of British Public Opinion1880-1960 St Martins Pr; 1984  Anne McClintock , Imperial Leather : Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest Routledge; 1995  Daniel Headrick, Tools of Empire: Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century, Oxford, 1981. Daniel Headrick, Tentacles of Progress: Technology Transfer in the Age of Imperialism, 1850-1940, Oxford, 1988.
Gender  3/4	Joan Wallach Scott, Gender and the Politics of History, Columbia University Press, 1989. Michel Foucault, "Preface to the History of Sexuality," and "We Other Victorians," in Paul Rabinow (ed.), The Foucault Reader, Random House, 1984, p. 333-339, 292-300. Denise Riley, "Am I That Name?": Feminism and the Category of "Women" in History, U Minnesota Press, 1988.
Nationalism  3/18	Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, Verso Books, 1991. Eric Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1870: Programme, Myth, Reality, Cambridge, 1993 (2nd ed.). Eugen Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870-1914, Stanford, 1976. Terence Ranger and Eric J. Hobsbawm (eds), The Invention of Tradition Cambridge Univ Pr, 1992. Eric J. Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism Since 1780 : Programme, Myth, Reality Cambridge Univ. Pr, 1993
Fin-de-Siècle Thought  3/25	Stephen Kern, The Culture of Time and Space, 1880-1918, Harvard, 1986. Carl Schorske, Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture, Random House, 1981.
World War One  4/1	Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory, Oxford, 1989 Robert Wohl, The Generation of 1914, Harvard, 1981.
Russian Revolution  4/8	Edward Acton, Rethinking Russian Revolution, Arnold, 1990. Suny, R. G., "Revision and Retreat in the Historiography of 1917: Social History and Its Critics." Russian Review 53(2): 1994, 165-182.
Fascism  4/15	Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, Univ of Wisconsin Pr; 1995  Ernst Nolte Three Faces of Fascism : Action Francaise Italian Fascism, National Socialism, Holt, 1966. Eugen Weber, Action Francaise : Royalism and Reaction in Twentieth-Century France, Stanford, 1973. Ian Kershaw, The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation, Edward Arnold, 1995 (3rd ed.), Chapter 2, "The Essence of Nazism".  Gilbert Allardyce, "What Fascism Is Not: Thoughts on the Deflation of a Concept." American Historical Review, v. 84, (2) 1979, pp. 367. R. Eatwell, Fascism: A History. New York, Penguin, 1997. R. Griffin, (Ed.) Fascism. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995. Walter Laqueur, Fascism: Past, Present, Future. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996.
German Reconstruction  4/22	Robert G. Moeller (Editor), West Germany Under Construction : Politics, Society, and Culture in the Adenauer Era (Social History, Popular Culture and Politics in Germany) Univ of Michigan Pr , 1997. Anthony Glees, Reinventing Germany: German Political Development since 1945. Oxford, Berg, 1996. K. Larres and P. Panayi, Eds. The Federal Republic of Germany since 1949: Politics, Society and Economy before and after Unification. London, Longman, 1996. Peter Pulzer, German Politics, 1945-1995. Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press, 1995.
US Influence on Europe  4/29	Richard F. Kuisel, Seducing the French : The Dilemma of Americanization, Univ California Press, 1997. Reinhold Wagnleitner, Coca-Colonization and the Cold War: The Cultural Mission of the United States in Austria After the Second World War, UNC, 1994. Michael Ermarth (Designer), America and the Shaping of German Society, 1945-1955 Berg Pub Ltd; 1994
TEXTBOOKS	Felix Gilbert and Charles Breunig, The Age of Revolution and Reaction, 1789-1850, Norton, 2nd ed. 1980. Norman Rich, The Age of Nationalism and Reform, 1850-1890, Norton, 2nd ed. 1980. Felix Gilbert with David Clay Large, The End of the European Era, 1890 to the Present, Norton, 4th ed. 1991.