100-Level History Courses

HHS 119    The Ancient World   (3-0-3)
This course surveys world history of the ancient era.

HHS 120    Origins of Western Culture   (3-0-3)
This course examines the foundations of Western Culture.

HSS 121    Cities and Civilization I   (3-0-3)
An examination of the origins, nature and progress of urban society. Selected readings focus on recurrent and persistent urban problems: overcrowding, traffic congestion, political corruption, faulty sanitation systems, etc. A student may also engage in field analysis projects that relate either to hometown areas or to the North Jersey region.

HSS 122    Cities and Civilization II   (3-0-3)
A continuation of HSS 121. Major emphasis is on current economic, environmental and social problems.

HHS 123    History of European Society and Culture to 1500   (3-0-3)
This course and HHS 124 investigate the social, economic, intellectual, political and cultural trends in Europe from the Middle Ages to the present, in lectures and discussion.

HHS 124    History of European Society and Culture Since 1500   (3-0-3)
A continuation of HHS 123.

HHS 125    United States Social and Economic History to 1900   (3-0-3)
This course and HHS 126 examine the main trends in the socioeconomic, political and diplomatic history of the U.S. from the Pre-Revolutionary period to the present.

HHS 126    United States Social and Economic History Since 1900   (3-0-3)
A continuation of HHS 125.

HHS 129    Topics in the History of Science and Technology   (3-0-3)
A topical introduction to the humanistic study of science and technology.

HHS 130    History of Science and Technology   (3-0-3)
A historical survey of science and technology. Principal topics include science and technology in prehistory, Egyptian and Babylonian science and culture, Greek science, Medieval technology and science, the Scientific Revolution, the making of the modern physical science, Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution.

HHS 135    Survey of the Islamic World   (3-0-3)
This course provides a survey of the origin and development of the modern Islamic World. Beginning in sixth-century Arabia, the course follows the theological and political development of the Muslim community. It explores the reasons for the great appeal Islam has had and the reasons for its spread throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Asia as well as other regions of the world.

300,400-Level History Courses

HHS 301    Introduction to Historical Methods   (3-0-3)
This is an intensive writing and research seminar designed to introduce students to the world of historical research and the historian's craft. History majors are required to take this course during the spring semester of their junior year.

HHS 312    Technology and Society in America   (3-0-3)
This course surveys the origins and significance of technological developments in American history form the first settlements to the present. It emphasizes the social, cultural, political and economic significance of technology in American history.

HHS 319    The Roman Republic   (3-0-3)
A study of early Roman civilization from the founding of the city of Rome in 753 B.C. to the collapse of the Republic under Julius Caesar. Readings in ancient sources and modern texts.

HHS 322    American Cultural History   (3-0-3)
Drawing on theory and practice from such diverse disciplines as history, media studies, literary criticism, psychology, and sociology, Cultural Studies investigates the production, distribution, and consumption of cultural artifacts. Issues concerning race, class, gender, and sexual orientation are explored with attention to the analysis of social phenomenon.

HHS 323    Women and Gender in American History   (3-0-3)
This course focuses on the history of the United States from the perspective of women's experiences and the role gender plays in shaping and defining American history from the colonial era to the present. It examines women's social, political, and economic lives; their roles in society; their familial roles, their struggle to achieve civil rights; changes in their legal status; and the rise of feminism.

HHS 325    African-American Studies   (3-0-3)
An exploration of the African-American experience in the United States from the time of the Atlantic Slave Trade to the present. Topics include social and political dynamics shaping African-American history with particular attention focused on Reconstruction, the Great Migration and the Civil Rights Movement. Numerous African-American leaders and their concepts for an African-American identity are also emphasized, including the W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington debates as well as speeches from Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.

HHS 338    The Russian Revolution and the Soviet Regime   (3-0-3)
The course begins with the contradictions inherent in semi-feudal Russia during the age of imperialism which culminated in the collapse of the Tsarist autocracy during World War I. There is a close analysis of the revolutionary year 1917 to determine the reasons for the failure of the liberal Kerensky regime on the one hand, and the rise of the Soviets and Bolsheviks on the other. Marxist-Leninist ideology is studied and compared to economic, social and political programs during the revolution and during its consolidation in the period of the civil war and in the Stalinist era. The course also covers more recent Russian history.

HHS 340    History of the Middle East to 1800   (3-0-3)
This course is a general survey of the Middle East beginning in pre-Islamic Arabia in the year 600 and ending with the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt in 1798. The course examines the early formation of the Muslim community and follows its growth under the Umayyid and Abbasid empires. It also explores the influence of the Persians and the Turks in the region examining the Ottoman and Safavid empires, the Mongol invasion, and ultimately the influence of Western European powers leading to Napoleons conquest of Egypt in 1798.

HHS 341    History of the Middle East since 1800   (3-0-3)
This course is a survey of the development of the modern Middle East from the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt in 1798 to the present. The course examines the early efforts for political reform and the beginnings of nationalism with particular emphasis on the period following World War I and the development of modern Middle Eastern nation states.

HHS 355    U.S. Foreign Relations   (3-0-3)
Selected topics in American diplomatic history are studied including nationalism, imperialism, economic diplomacy, missionary diplomacy, isolationism, world war, cold war and detente. Readings include diplomatic correspondence, documents, interpretive articles and monographs.

HHS 356    The Golden Age of Athens

HHS 365    History of Modern Germany   (3-0-3)
German history from its origins, but concentrating on the period from 1870 to the present. German industrialization, the dominant role of Prussia in unification, World War I, the Weimar and Nazi periods, World War II and the post-war era including current developments are covered.

HHS 367    Twentieth-Century History   (3-0-3)
A retrospective of major world events during the century including world war, revolution, economic and social changes, the decline of colonialism and the emergence of developing nations in the non-Western world. Trends for the twenty-first century are also examined.

HHS 371    American Political History   (3-0-3)
An exploration of the modern American political experience from the turn of the twentieth century to the present. This course examines the historical significance of the American policymaking process. Highlighted eras promoting government activism include Progressivism, New Dealism, Great Society measures, and recent political proposals. Discussions also focus on the political dynamics and responsibilities of federal and state governments and the duties of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

HHS 374    Psychohistory   (3-0-3)
An interdisciplinary inquiry into individual and group motivations underlying socially significant historical experiences. Selected issues include personality formation through the ages (Martin Luther and Andrew Jackson), individual and collective consciousness (Anne Hutchinson, and the Salem witchcraft hysteria), and psychobiographies of Woodrow Wilson, Adolf Hitler and others.

HHS 378    Readings in Modern European History
Selected contemporary persepctives on European history since the French Revolution up to the creation of the European Union.

HHS 382    The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39

HHS 384    Orientalism: Relations Between the U.S. and the Middle East to 1900
This course concerns social, economic, political, and cultural impressions of the Middle East reported by American writers, diplomats, and missionaries during the nineteenth century. American interest in Middle Eastern arts, particularly architecture and furniture design, are also explored.

HHS 386    Ancient Civilizations: The Roman Empire

HHS 387    History of American Film
This course examines American fiction films in terms of their historical development through the studio system and in terms of current narrative theory. The course is concerned with ways in which narratives are constructed and ways in which they provide the appearance of "meaning." Particular attention is given to film noir. Various European films that strongly influenced, or parallel, American works are also examined.

HHS 390    History of Money, Credit and Banking   (3-0-3)
This course explores the history of mediums of exchange and the consequent development of credit and credit exchange mechanisms from earliest times until the present. In particular, this course examines the relationship of money and credit to the technological environment and how evolving technologies, ranging from metallurgy to electronics, have created and shaped historical eras. Periods covered include pre-feudal, feudal, early capitalist and modern times.

HHS 395    Images of American Life   (3-0-3)
This course is an advanced elective concerned with cultural aspects of American arts from the nineteenth century to the present. The course centers on the ways in which images in literature, painting, photography, films, and other arts reflect, reinforce and stimulate cultural norms. Trends in European arts are studied in relation to their influence on American art.

HHS 414    Industrial America   (3-0-3)
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the United States was fundamentally transformed. This course examines the nation’s genesis as an industrial and economic power and society’s adaptation to the industrial age. It also considers the impact of industrialism on such historical problems as technological change, economic development, race and gender relations, political participation, reform movements, urbanization, immigration, imperialism and globalization.

HHS 420    Modern East Asian Studies   (3-0-3)
This course explores the modern economic and political development of China, Korea and Japan from the late nineteenth century to the present and responses to Western imperialism. The rise of Chinese and Korean communism and Japanese fascism during the twentieth century are especially emphasized. There is also a close examination and comparison of development in additional Asian countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam.

HHS 429    The Scientist, the Engineer and the Computer   (3-0-3)
To confront the student with social, political, legal and ethical issues that professional scientists and engineers are being forced to reexamine in the light of the computer revolution. The course reviews traditional principles while challenging the student to recognize that technological innovation often drives social change and, specifically, that innovations as sweeping as the rapid and continuing changes in computer technology sometimes lead scientists and engineers into completely uncharted territory.

HHS 430    History of Modern Turkey   (3-0-3)
A study of the emergence and development of the Turkish Republic. The course examines the Republic’s origins in the Ottoman Empire and traces its development from the period after the First World War to the present.

HHS 432    History of Nationalisms in the Middle East   (3-0-3)
A comparative review of the differing histories and alternative approaches to nationalism in the three major Middle Eastern States.

HHS 434    History of the Ottoman Empire   (3-0-3)
An examination of the economic, social and political transformations that created one of Europe’s most powerful empires from 1299 until 1918. The course follows the growth and later dismemberment of the Empire with special focus on the continuities found in the region today.

HHS 453    Justice in War

HHS 460    Technogenesis in American History   (3-0-3)
Taught through problem-based learning techniques, the course entails intensive readings on American genesis of technologies through mainly biographical accounts ranging from Eli Whitney’s rifles with interchangeable parts to Jim Clark’s development of Netscape in Silicon Valley, and the contemporary role of universities in generating intellectual property. Such topics as the inventive-entrepreneurial process, patents and the role of government in sponsoring R&D, and the development of Management of Technology techniques are covered.

HHS 463    The Sixties: Decade of Protest Literature   (3-0-3)

HHS 465    Engineering in History   (3-0-3)
This course is a social and cultural history of engineering. It examines the nature and the role of the engineer and engineering in western civilization, the emergence of engineering in Europe, the rise of the American engineering professions, the role of engineers in American society, as well as gender and ethical considerations and contemporary issues in the engineering profession.

HHS 468    History of the World   (3-0-3)
A survey of major developments in the history and geography of Planet Earth.

HHS 469    History of England: 1066 - Present   (3-0-3)
The impact of the Norman Conquest on kingship, government and social structure; the reign of the Tudors on church and state; the Puritan and Lockean revolutions on the development of Parliament and Common Law; the two party system on reform; the industrial revolution on economic power and Empire; and Britain’s role in world wars and the twentieth century. Particular attention is paid to the development of individual rights.

HHS 473    Renaissance Studies: Leonardo da Vinci   (3-0-3)
The life and times of the Renaissance artist-engineer, the institutions and influences which created his imagination, inventiveness and great works of art. The course also covers what he was not, exploding popular myths about his achievements, and investigates his life on a personal, more human level.

HHS 476    History of Medicine   (3-0-3)
Examination of the history of medical science in the Western World from Greek antiquity to the present.

HHS 483    History and Geography   (3-0-3)
A survey of recent trends in the application of ecological and geographical perspectives in historical studies. Some emphasis on historiography is appropriate for thesis writers.

HHS 495    Seminar in History   (3-0-3)
Research topics in history and methods of historical scholarship.