The 'Renaissance' in Western and World History - European Civilization from the Renaissance to the Present

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Abstract: An introduction to European history from around 1500 to the present. The central question that the course addresses is how and why Europe-- a small, relatively poor, and politically fragmented place-- became the motor of globalization and a world civilization in its won right. Put differently how did "western" become an adjective that, for better and often for worse, stands in place of "modern." Our approach will be broadly cultural, i.e. it approaches politics, economics, social life, religion and other arenas as interconnected arenas in which men and women give their world meaning. Chief topics: the Renaissance, the epochal expansion of Europe into the new world, the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, the formation of overseas empires and the coming of capitalism, the Scientific Revolution, the French Revolution, liberalism and the industrial revolution, socialism and the rise of labor, modern colonialism, the world wars, communism and capitalism, decolonization, and the Cold War and the European Union. There will be mini lectures on trains, witches, and campus architecture among other topics.