UPDATE!

Well, after all the fun and games I've had with my desktop at home, today I finally got the bad news... the motherboard's fried. And guess what? Guess where the quiz-generating software is?? That's right... on the defunct desktop. But my loss is your gain... No more quizzes this week!

(I'll likely do a series of moderately easy [i.e., more general] ones on the final just to cover our latest readings.)

Last but not least, since I spent most of Monday in an unplanned doctor's visit I wasn't able to finish grading the Liberalism/Socialism essays. As a result, the essay which was going to be due Thursday we'll convert into the take-home portion of the final exam.

PAPER MOVED FROM 4/19 TO 4/24!

Last Installment of Syllabus

Thurs., April 12
Introduction to the Nineteenth Century

Thurs., April 19

Reading Assignment:

• Adams, pp. 522-527, 529-535, 548-554, 557, 561-565
• Weisner, Chap. 6 & Chap. 9
• Darwin & Dickens in Western World

Industrialization, Nationalism & Imperialism

Tues., April 24

Reading Assigment:

• Adams, pp. 536-537
• Weisner, Chap. 7
• Marx and Engels in Western World
• Essay due on questions posed in last paragraph of Weisner's "Problem" section, p. 180.
• FYI: "International" (lyrics) (more on Thursday?)
• FYI... Capitalism in Post-Communist China: Political Cartoon 1, Political Cartoon 2, Political Cartoon 3, Political Cartoon 4, Political Cartoon 5
• FYI: Problems with Privatization? See video four at Media That Matters.

Liberalism & Socialism

Thurs., April 26

Reading Assignment:

• Adams, pp. 454-456, 481-485, 500-506, 517-522
• Adams, pp. 565-583, 591-595
• Freud, Van Gogh and Wilde in Western World

Music, Art and Culture from the Baroque to the Fin de Siecle

Tues., May 1

Reading Assignment:

• Adams, pp. 585-590, 615-624
• Weisner, Chap. 11 & 12
• Orwell, in Western World

The 20th Century: The Challenge of Totalitarianism and Total War

Thurs., May 3

Reading Assignment:

• Adams, pp. 655-667 & Chap. 24
• Essay due on "fins de siecle"

The Cold War & Post Cold War World

Class Thursday?

No class on Thursday... Our reading plan thus goes into effect for Tuesday! Hence...

Feb. 8: NO CLASS!

Feb. 13: Have read Salutati, Pico della Mirandola, Leonardo, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Erasmus & Luther. Look for how humanistic themes seem to change in them over time! Quiz possible!!

Feb. 15: Read Luther's 95 Theses, Teresa of Avila, CD track 7. Quiz on Adams, Chapter 15.

FYI: Writing...

BTW, the papers do not have to be limited strictly to the stipulated page limit. If they go a bit over, that's okay!

Also, need some writing help? You can check out the SJC Writing Center!

Bookstore to send textbooks back!

If you haven't gotten all of your textbooks like you should have, there's no time like the present!

"Beginning October 16th, 2006 the bookstore will begin the process of returning textbooks to the vendors and publishers..."

This week's Extra-Credit TV viewing possibilities!

The History Channel will be showing the following documentaries that are related to what we're studying this semester... Post an analytical comment here regarding the program to receive extra-credit just for watching attentively TV! :-)

10/14/2006

08:00 PM

"The Exodus Decoded": The story of the Exodus invokes an epic tale--Pharaohs and Israelites, plaguesand miracles, splitting of the sea and drowning of anarmy, and Moses. It's at the heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. After much research--workingwith archaeologists, Egyptologists, geologists, and theologians--filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici concluded that the Exodus took place hundreds of years earlier than thought. With a new timetable, Jacobovicire examined artifacts and discovered that the traditional consensus on the date was reached without reference to Judaic texts that record the oral traditions. When Jacobovici consulted these texts,they revealed names of people and places unknown to researchers until recently when extensive excavations in the Nile Delta took place. Teaming up with special effects designers, he created a unique digital experience of the Exodus. Blending archaeological findings with eye-catching effects, Jacobovici creates a virtual museum to showcase his discoveries.

10:00 PM

"Caligula: Reign of Madness": Caligula ruled the Roman Empire fewer than four years, and was only 28 when assassinated by officers of his guard in 41AD. His reign was a legendary frenzy of lunacy, murder, and lust. Between executions, he staged spectacular orgies, made love to his sister, and declared himself a living god. Join us for a look at this devoted son, murderer, pervert, and loving father whose anguished life was far more bizarre than the myth that surrounds him.

10/15/2006

08:00 PM

"Egypt: Engineering an Empire": Twenty-five hundred years before the reign of Julius Caesar, the ancient Egyptians were deftly harnessing the power of engineering on an unprecedented scale. Egyptian temples, fortresses, pyramids and palaces forever redefined the limits of architectural possibility. They also served as a warning to all of Egypt's enemies-that the world's most advanced civilization could accomplish anything. This two-hour special uses cinematic recreations and cutting-edge CGI to profile the greatest engineering achievements of ancient Egypt, and the pharaohs and architects who were behind them. Includes Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Senusret's Nubian Superfortresses, Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple at Dier el-Bahari, Akhenaten's city at Amarna, and the temples of Ramesses the Great at Abu Simbel.

10:00 PM Strange Egypt. We all know the Egypt of the pyramids and King Tut's tomb. But there's much, much more. The daily life of ancient Egyptians was filledwith magic, mystery, and sex. We'll take a closer lookat the beliefs and habits of one of the world's oldest cultures. There was incest in the royal palace, divine cats, and an entire industry devoted to ushering the dead into the next world. Spells, potions, and incantations ruled every aspect of life. Yet even in these unusual customs, we'll find the human face ofthe ancient people of Egypt.

11:00 PM

"Modern Marvels. Mummy Tech": After thousands of years, Egyptian mummies are speaking from the grave. With the use of state-of-the-art computer tomography scanning, known as CT-scanning, we explore inside a 2,000-year-old mummified body of an Egyptian child. With today's technology, mummies are studied without being unwrapped. Researchers travel around inside the mummy's head and body with 3-D imagery. We meet Dr. Robert Brier, a renowned Egyptologist. Dr. Brier reveals secrets of Mummification--it took up to 70 days to preserve the dead. Aided by new technology, we investigate the death of one of the most famous mummies, King Tut. Was he murdered or did he die froman illness? We also uncover the case of the Mummy who lay in obscurity for over a hundred years, until modern science unlocked the secrets of his identity as an Egyptian pharaoh. And we join a team of conservationists as they build a nitrogen-filled glass display case to provide a safe sanctuary to prevent mummies from decay.

Update: Blog for Extra-Credit (plus "Troy")

Well, considering how persnickety this new blogger beta has been, let's go ahead and make blog participation not absolutely required (unless I explicitly say otherwise), and instead give extra-credit points for it. What do you say??

Remember also that I offered extra-credit for viewing the movie "Troy," and posting in a comment here one thing particularly historically-accurate about it, and one thing that's not... (Remember to mix it up, so if somebody also posts what you were going to say, be sure to come up with another one!)

Updated schedule!

We'll just do what was scheduled for today on Thursday! See you there!!!

IMPORTANT: SCHEDULE CHANGE!!

How would you all like a couple more days to work on the paper??

Turns out that I had to shift a couple of lessons around in order to get the auditorium to show you the IMAX film on Egypt... So that means that on TUESDAY, SEPT. 19th we'll be watching documentaries in the auditorium during our classtime, and instead having our discussion on the paper on THURSDAY, SEPT. 21st!! (The paper will also be due now on Thursday!)

If that's inconvenient in any way, go ahead and feel free to give me your paper on Tuesday the 19th, if you prefer! :-)

Have a great weekend!
Dr. Laughran

INSTRUCTIONS: "How do I comment on a blog?"

"How do I comment on a blog?"

Welcome to Dr. Laughran's Honors Western Civ!

This course will cover not only the major political developments in the West from the first evidence of civilizations through the Middle Ages, but will examine social and cultural aspects as well (in other words, how people lived everyday life in the past and how they perceived their world). Throughout we will also examine a lot of historical "material culture," that is, art and artifacts which help us understand better the past societies we are studying!

Emphasis will be placed on developing basic historical research skills, critical thinking essential for the interpretation of historical facts, and good communications skills in order to communicate an historical analysis in writing and in discussion (all skills appreciated by employers!)...

What do you get out of studying history?

Not just the ability to understand and explain the nature of past societies (and the forces which affected them and which can still affect us to this very day), but also the ability to:

· know the difference between "knowledge" and "data," and an understanding of how to extract knowledge from data (a very important skill in today's " Information Economy"!!!)

· manage vast amounts of different kinds of information from a wide-range of sources.

· use historical knowledge and skills to develop one's own insights and interpretations. (History helps us not only to recognize long-term trends but also to make greater sense out of the world we live in.)

· address and resolve problems. (This involves linking the knowledge you learn to the knowledge you already have in order to arrive at a new, greater understanding of the whole!)

· think creatively within and beyond one's studies. (History helps us to develop a critical imagination which allows us to connect not just with the past, but also allows us to be more open to new ideas and the differences of others…)

· work and learn with others. (This is "knowledge in action" instead of just possessing knowledge… It involves asking informed questions and communicating your understanding and ideas in discussion with others or in writing.)

· manage your own learning within and beyond your academic studies. (It's all about encouraging your own personal sense of curiosity and recognizing that life is really nothing more than one long learning process that we can embrace and
enjoy!)

(from The Practice of University History Teaching, eds. Alan Booth and Paul Hyland [Manchester, 2000]).

On that note, I myself do this job because I believe history is both challenging and a lot of fun, and this is the philosophy I try to communicate in class! Likewise, whether you are interested in understanding how our society came to be the way it is, or you want to learn about the world and the past beyond New England today, or you are just taking this class because you have to, you should find that if you try to have fun by honestly fulfilling your own curiosity about history, a handy and pleasant side effect is that often the grade you earn is much higher because curiosity and interest are the best recipe for motivating you to do good work!

At the same time, as an Honors course, this class will be more challenging than standard Western Civ. But it is my firm belief that it should also be even more rewarding as a result, and I will thus attempt to add unique learning opportunities whenever possible!

So... let's have fun and get started!!

Welcome, and see you in class!!