TOPICS  OFFERED  FOR  SPRING  2015

 

 

Please note that the books listed for each course are only possible candidates. 
Do not buy any until the pre-meeting and a decision on the common reading is made.

Classes start January 5th and end April 30th.  

Holiday periods are adapted to by individual class voting.

 

 

 

1.    (ART)    20TH  CENTURY  ARTISTS

Our common reading is Always Looking: Essays on Art, by John Updike. Discussions could focus on the artists in each essay as well as their contemporaries. Some artists in this book: Gilbert Stuart, Monet, Klimt, Miro, Magritte. There are some illustrations in each essay. All these artists have very interesting bios and their paintings have made an important impact on art appreciation all over the world.

Common Reading:     Always Looking: Essays on Art, by John Updike and Christopher Carduff  (November 2012)

 

 

2.    (AST)  ASTORIA:  THE  JAMESTOWN  OF  THE  WEST 

Two years after the Lewis and Clark expedition ended, an ambitious entrepreneur and a visionary President collaborated on a plan to establish an American colony on the Pacific Coast. John Jacob Astor set out to establish a global trade network based at the mouth of the Columbia River in what is now Oregon. Jefferson envisioned a young United States from coast to coast.

This is the tale of the two-pronged expedition that was launched to achieve those goals. It is every bit as exciting and fascinating as the Lewis and Clark expedition. S/DG members will find ample topics for Presentations – John Jacob Astor, his background, the importance of the fur trade, the geography traversed by land and by sea, the colony of Astoria, the men who undertook the journeys, the impact on the fledgling United States.

All of this is told in a gripping narrative by historian Peter Stark, a prolific researcher and writer of historical non-fiction. You won’t be bored.

Common Reading:     Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition and Survival
by Peter Stark  (March 2014)

 

 

3.    (BSN)      THE  BEST  AMERICAN  SCIENCE  AND  NATURE  WRITING  2013  

This S/DG has been part of the Omnilore curriculum at least twice, in 2011 and 2012, based on the collections for those years.  The series began in 2000; each year has had a different guest editor, with tim Folger as the series editor.  For 2013 the guest editor is Siddhartha Mukherjee, author, of course, of The Emperor of all Maladies.

Dr. Mukherjee has chosen 27 articles, several of which first appeared in magazines such as the New Yorker, Scientific American, and Orion; other essays are from Outside Magazine, N. Y. Review of Books, the New York Times, N. Y. Times Magazine, Harper’s, Atlantic and even Playboy.  So they are science, but written for magazines read by the general public.

Each covers a very different topic from the ocean to space, and from machines to viruses, and they seem to run 10-15 pages in length.

The best thing about the class (I participated in the other two) is how much one learns about different topics, much as from TED classes and Documentaries.

The format for the class would probably best resemble that of a short story S/DG.  27 essays would be spread out over the 8 classes, so presentations would be short and would supplement the common reading.

Common Reading:     The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013 edited by Siddhartha Mukherjee and Tim Folger  (October 2013)

 

 

4.    (BUP)   THE  BULLY  PULPIT

This S/DG travels back 100 years to explore the origins of “muckraking journalism” and how it helped make America a better country. In The Bully Pulpit, Pulitzer Prize winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin describes a turbulent time in U.S. history: legislative deadlock paralyzed the country; there had been no greater disparity between poor and rich; sensational mergers produced giant corporations that resisted federal regulation; the influence of money in politics was profound; nasty little foreign wars involved us. The nation was unraveling while reform was in the air. The time: the cusp of the 20th century.

The work of a prodigious researcher and splendid storyteller, The Bully Pulpit is three books in one: biographies of Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft and a history of the unique impact of the press on the nurturing of the nascent Progressive movement. Goodwin’s telling of the complex and moving relationship between Roosevelt and Taft explores the human condition, greatly expanding what those who have studied Roosevelt thought they knew of him and prompting others to learn about - and grow to respect  - Taft.

Learn how the muckrakers pushed government to shed its laissez-faire attitude toward robber barons, corrupt politicians, and corporate exploiters of our natural resources, and how they helped usher in the Progressive era.

Common Reading:     The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft and the Golden Age of Journalism, by Doris Kearns Goodwin  (2013)

 

 

5.    (DOC)    THE  DOCUMENTARY  MOVIE

Not long ago, if you wanted to see a documentary film, you had to take a course, go to a movie festival, or catch it on PBS.  Nowadays we can find documentaries on our TVs through the magic of the Internet, Netflix and other on line sources or from our libraries. While your basic Hollywood studio movie is primarily made to make money, a documentary is the expression of its creator's personal passion.  This S/DG will explore the world of modern masters of the documentary.  Presenters will choose a film that class members can view at home before each class session, and then present for discussion whatever facets of the film they choose – the contents or subject, the techniques, the background, the directors focus on the subject, and its effect on public opinion.  Many Omniloreans after taking this class have been amazed at the diversity of what is available and how many of these films are unexpectedly enriching.

No Common Reading.

 

 

6.    (ECN)     THIS  WEEK  IN  THE  ECONOMIST 

The British publication The Economist is known for its informative and thought-provoking reporting on political and economic developments around the world. In this S/DG, we will discuss articles selected from four key areas (America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa) plus the occasional “Special Report” of the last two issues as catalysts for informed and lively discussion on the burning topics of our time. The Economist is available as a magazine subscription, a web site, or as Apps for your I Pad or smart phone. All Articles selected are easily accessed online at no cost at www.theeconomist.com.

Common Reading:  Current issues of The Economist.

 

 

7.    (EUR)     DOES  EUROPE  HAVE  A  BETTER  WAY?

Europe is writing their own rules for how a modern society should provide economic security, environmental sustainability, and global stability. This SDG will examine how well Europe is doing in five major areas: economic strength, with Europe now the world's wealthiest trading bloc, nearly as large as the U.S. and China combined; health care and other workfare support for families and individuals; use of renewable energy technologies and conservation; success of the various national democracies; and regional networks of trade, foreign aid, and investment that link one-third of the world to the European Union. In addition to comparing difference between Europe and the United State the differences among various nations in Europe and the historical and cultural bases for these differences provide many opportunities for interesting presentations.

Common Reading:     Europe's Promise: Why the European Way is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age, by Steven Hill  (January 2010)

 

 

8.      (FSH)       YOUR  INNER  FISH

Neil Shubin, paleontologist and professor of anatomy, tells the story of our bodies as you’ve never heard it before. In his preface to his book Your Inner Fish: A journey into the 3.5 billion-year history of the human body he states, “The best road maps to human bodies lie in the bodies of other animals.” With lively enthusiasm and clarity he goes on to teach his anatomy students that the best guide to the nerves may be in sharks, to limbs, in fish and that reptiles are a guide to the structure of the brain. “The bodies of these creatures are often simpler versions of ours.” His paleontological discovery and study of fossil fish gave him insight into the invasion of land by fish over 375 million years ago and subsequent development of life on land. Join this fascinating and original anatomy lesson and never look at your body in the same way again.

Presentations might be based on paleontology, fossil hunting, the various animals studied, Darwin, Evolution, studies and scientists cited in the ample “Notes, References and Further reading” section at the back of the book

Common Reading:     Your Inner Fish; a Journey into the 3.5 Billion-year History of the  Human Body, by Neil Shubin  (January 2009)

 

 

9.    (HOW)    HOW  NOT  TO  BE  WRONG

Not a math book but an introduction to mathematical concepts.  The author shows how mathematical facts can be divided into four quadrants: simple and shallow, simple and profound, complicated and shallow, or complicated and profound.  This book "hangs out" in the simple and profound quadrant: dealing with not "mere facts" but principles which can be considered as "go-to-tools" on a utility belt.

The book exams these tools in five sections: linearity, inference, expectation, regression and existence and deals with specific mathematical techniques that can help you not to be wrong.

Common Reading:     How Not To Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellenberg (May 2014)

 

 

10.   (IDM)   INTUITION  AND  DECISION  MAKING  

Most people trust their intuition when making many decisions while behavioral research has shown that for certain situations most people are wrong.  In a 2011 book Daniel Kahneman presents recent research on when we can and cannot trust our intuition.  This Nobel Prize winner’s research shows that there two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. He exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior.  The class will explore how everyday decisions can be best understood by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions.  Topics for presentations could include anchoring to earlier knowledge, the law of small numbers, similar research by others in the field of behavioral research, etc. 

Common Reading:     Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman  (October 2011)

 

 

11.   (IMM)    IMMIGRANT  VOICES  

Join us as we explore the experience of 21st-century immigrants to the United States through a collection of short stories. The eighteen stories collected in Immigrant Voices highlight the complex relationships of immigrants in the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century with their families, friends, new surroundings, and home countries. The anthology represents most of the major 21st-century immigrant populations in America. Contributors range from well-established authors such as Aleksander Hemon, Junot Diaz and Yuyun Li to those still early in their careers; 11 of the 18 writers are women.  The authors themselves have made many of the same kinds of transitions as the characters they portray, and they offer fresh perspectives on the immigrant experience. Co-edited by award-winning author Achy Obejas and cultural studies scholar Megan Bayles and published by the Great Books Foundation, this anthology addresses the perennial questions about society and the individual that the authors of the Great Books have pondered for centuries.

With immigration playing such a major role in public discourse and political argument, the stories included in this anthology are sure to encourage lively class discussions. The book includes a brief biographical note on each of the authors and suggested discussion questions for each selection.

Common Reading:     Immigrant Voices: 21st Century Stories, edited by Achy Obejas  and Megan Bayless   (March 2014)

 

 

12.   (IND)   INDIAN  GIVERS 

Did you know that the democratic system that our founding fathers devised for the new republic was based, not on Greek democracy, but on the Iroquois Nation’s legislative system. Native peoples’ gifts to the Europeans were numerous, foodstuffs such as corn, beans, tomatoes, avocados, turkeys; pharmacological products; paved roads; vulcanized rubber, and many more.  This book is highly readable and entertaining; you’ll never look at Native Americans the same again.  Presentation topics might include details on any of their contributions, various tribes and their specific gifts, or how the settlers incorporated these ideas into their own way of life.

Common Reading:     Indian Givers: How Native Americans Transformed the World by Jack Weatherford  (August 2010)

 

 

13.   (JMA)       JAMES  MADISON:  A  LIFE  RECONSIDERED

This new biography of James Madison explores the astonishing story of a man of vaunted modesty who changed the world. Among the Founding Fathers, Madison was a true genius of the early republic.

Outwardly reserved, Madison was the intellectual driving force behind the Constitution and crucial to its ratification. His visionary political philosophy and rationale for the union of states—so eloquently presented in The Federalist papers—helped shape the country Americans live in today.

With Thomas Jefferson, Madison founded the first political party in the country’s history—the Democratic Republicans. As Jefferson’s secretary of state, he managed the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the size of the United States. As President, Madison led the country in its first war under the Constitution, the War of 1812. Without precedent to guide him, he demonstrated that a republic could defend its honor and independence—and remain a republic still.

Common Reading:     James Madison: A Life Reconsidered, by Lynne Cheney (May 2014)

 

 

14.   (LAN)    LOS  ANGELES  NOIR II

Many Omniloreans made their first acquaintance with the Editor of the Los Angeles at the Omnilore Halloween Forum where she was a most interesting speaker. Denise Hamilton is an award-winning journalist, best-selling author, top contender for the most prestigious book awards, former Fulbright scholar and, not least, a native of Los Angeles.

The short stories in this collection are high-quality stories from such genre masters as Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, and outshine the typical all-original anthology in the series. Hamilton has been wise to select lesser-known works by legendary writers, guaranteeing that the volume will appeal both to fans unfamiliar with the stories and readers new to their hard-edged prose. The two best come from the pens of husband and wife Ross Macdonald and Margaret Millar. Macdonald's Lew Archer looks into an actress's disappearance in his taut Find the Woman, while Millar's The People Across the Canyon, about a young girl who forms an unhealthy attachment to some new neighbors, offers an unconventional look at the darkness in the human soul. With the exception of Walter Mosley's Crimson Shadow, the tales in the final modern section fall short by comparison.

In taking this course, there is no requirement to have taken the original one.

Common Reading:     Los Angeles Noir 2 – The Classics, edited by Denise Hamilton (April 2010)

 

 

15.   (MAP)    MAPS  FOR  PEOPLE  WHO  LOVE  GEOGRAPHY...AND  THOSE

   WHO DON’T!

Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings has written a charming, funny and informational book about maps, of all things, and the people who love them.  Weaving fun factoids into compelling narratives about geography, his topics range from map thieves, to border disputes, to the font on road signs, and on to gender, brain science, pop culture, politics, history, and religion. If you’d like to learn about the passions of private map collectors or the treasure trove of maps held by the Smithsonian, understand the excitement of geocaching, or visit the National Geography Bee, then find your way to this class.  It’s sure to be legend-ary (a little map pun for you).

Common Reading:     Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings (April 2012)

 

 

16.   (MEM)   THE  SEVEN  SINS  OF  MEMORY 

Memory is one aspect of the mind without which we cannot conduct our daily lives. The memories we retain throughout life establish our sense of self and shape our character. In our common reading, Harvard professor of psychology Daniel Schacter presents a fascinating account of the memory’s quirks and lapses, including transience, absent-mindedness, memory blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence, all of which can cause frustration, embarrassment, and even harm. These lapses are illuminated by fascinating case reports and the results of clever experiments with volunteers. Through our reading and discussions we will gain insights how memory operates in our own personal experiences. Presentations can address new advances in the study of aging and memory, the persistence of painful memories and ways of deleting them, false or invented memories, ways of boosting memory, or any other related topic.

Common Reading:     The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers by Daniel L. Schacter  (May 2002)

 

 

17.   (POL)    POLITICAL  ORDER  AND  POLITICAL  DECAY

In 2011, Omnilore offered an S/DG on The Rise of the Modern State.  As its common reading, the S/DG used The Origins of Political Order:  From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution, the first of two volumes in which Francis Fukuyama addresses the history of the modern state.  Now Fukuyama has just published the second volume, which explores the development of the modern state from the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy.  Together, the two volumes provide one of the most important works of political thought in at least a generation.

Taking up the essential question of how societies develop strong, impersonal, and accountable political institutions, Fukuyama follows the story from the French Revolution to the so-called Arab Spring and the deep dysfunctions of contemporary American politics. He examines the effects of corruption on governance, and why some societies have been successful at rooting it out. He explores the different legacies of colonialism in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and offers a clear-eyed account of why some regions have thrived and developed more quickly than others. And he boldly reckons with the future of democracy in the face of a rising global middle class and entrenched political paralysis in the West.

Some suggested topics for presentations are:  Parliamentarism vs. Federalism, the impact of non-state actors (e.g., Al Qaeda), and the paralysis in Washington.

Common Reading:     Political Order and Political Decay:  From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy
by Francis Fukuyama   (September 30, 2014)

 

 

18.   (RUS)   RUSSIA  AND  THE  RUSSIANS   

How did Russia become the country we know today?  Why didn’t it develop in a way similar to the countries of western Europe?  What geopolitical considerations governed Russia’s foreign policy?  How did Russia degrade from being a dominant power that defeated Napolean in 1814 to a humiliated and backward nation after losing the Crimean War in 1856?  This class will study the history of Russia from the first meetings of Rus Vikings and Slavs in the 6th century up to the emergence of Vladimir Putin.  The class will delve into the economic, political and sociological effects of serfdom in Russia and how they have influenced Russian policies long after the demise of serfdom.  The causes of economic weakness in the Russian Empire (1721-1917) and how they were addressed are also studied.  The class will also delve into the many reasons for the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917.  In addition, the Bolshevik Revolution and the rise of the Communist movement are studied.  The proposed text, “Russia and the Russians:  A History”, was written by Geoffrey Hosking, a professor of Russian history at the University of London and provides a well-organized chronological narrative.

Other presentation topics include the following.

·      Peter The Great

·      The Romanov Family

·      Tsar Nicholas II

·      Russia and Ukraine

·      Joseph Stalin

·      Vladimir Lenin

·      Vladimir Putin

Common Reading:     Russia and the Russians:  A History, by Geoffrey Hosking (Aug. 2011)

Other references and sources for presentation topics include the following:

·      Wikipedia Link – Serfdom in Russia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom_in_Russia

·      Empire:  The Russian Empire and Its Rivals, by Dominic Lieven  (2013) 

·      The Bolsheviks in Power:  The First Year of Soviet Rule in Petrograd, by Alexander Rabinowitch (2008)
http://books.google.com/books?id=BEoBCGJ4VqYC&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

19.   (SCW)      SPANISH  CIVIL  WAR

Even before WWII began, an important conflict was challenging the stability of the European continent.  During the 1930’s, the Spanish Republic collapsed and the outbreak of the only mass worker revolution in the history of Western Europe.  This SD/G will use “The Spanish Civil War” by Stanley G. Payne as a starting point to discuss the complex nature of the Spanish revolution and politics, while examining the development of Franco’s counter-revolutionary dictatorship.  Issues to be covered by the book discussion and possible presentations would be how the military developed and changed following WWI, how the non-intervention policy of other countries impacted the war, and the role of the German, Italian, and Soviet intervention.  Other possible topics include:  Journalism and the media coverage; writers and artists works from this time.

Common Reading:     The Spanish Civil War (Cambridge Essential Histories), by Stanley G. Payne (July 2012)

 

 

20.   (SFV)       SHIP  FEVER  

Ship Fever is a collection of stories (including one novella) by Andrea Barrett.  It was first published in 1996. 

Here is a quote from the book jacket: "Beautiful stories about the wonder and work of science....In Barrett's hands science is transformed from hard and known fact into malleable, strange, and thrilling fictional material." Boston Globe

There are eight stories.  The eighth story is the novella Ship Fever which describes the influx of Irish immigrants to Canada.  Most of them are ill with typhus and the facilities are, to say the least inadequate.

The first story, "The Behavior of the Hawkweeds" refers to the work of Gregor Mendel and his experiments with hybridization.  The second story, "The English Pupil, concerns Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist.  The Third story is titled "The Littoral Zone" with no specific reference to a known scientist, but centers around oceanography and an affair between two scientists who are married to other people. "Rare Bird" is set in 1762 and its scientific subject is ornithology, although it is woven into the conflict between the male and female characters in the world of science. "Soroche" takes place in Chili.  It is about a memory of a family trip there.  The wife becomes ill and is treated by a Dr. Sepulveda who tells her the story of Darwin in Tierra del Fuego.

"Birds with No Feet" concerns the adventures of Alex Carriere who travels in South America collecting specimens.  There he meets Wallace, Darwin's contemporary and the competition that ensues on the way to the Theory of Evolution.  "The Marburg Sisters" is set in the 20th Century. It is concerned with oenology.

I believe this collection of stories is perfect for an Omnilore S/DG.  It offers the aspects of fiction (character development, conflict, and setting) along with fascinating references of actual scientists.

If two presenters chose each story, one could concentrate on the scientists referred to in each story while the other discussed the literary aspects of each story.

Common Reading:     Ship Fever: Stories, by Andrea Barrett  (November 1996) 

 

 

21.   (SHK)    SHAKESPEARE:   ALL  THE  WORLD’S  A  STAGE …   

The Omnilorean New Globe Theater plans a January-April season, returning to our usual pattern and reading one each of the Bard’s Histories, Comedies, and Tragedies.  With players standing and with a few props, we propose to do reading walk-throughs of Henry IV Part 2 (continuing our excursion through the 8 contiguous History plays, this being the 3rd), and a comedy and a tragedy to be chosen during pre-meeting planning in December.

In this SDG you will learn how to research all perspectives of Shakespeare’s works — sources of each play upon which the Bard builds rich characters and enhances the plots, how to play each character “in character,” themes, symbols, images, motifs, commentary on issues of the day, and all manner of rhyme and reason.  Class members each serve on one play’s Board of Directors, responsible for casting roles for the repertory and leading discussions based on the research  optionally adding videos, music, and costumes.  For a glimpse of how we live the Bard in this S/DG, check out http://omnilore.org/members/Curriculum/SDGs/14c-SHK-Shakespeare to view the Fall Shakespeare class’s website of links to references relevant to our plays and downloadable organizing artifacts.

There are no prerequisites, theatrical or otherwise.  You will find that the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon will teach us, just as he’s taught others for four hundred years.  With plenty for the novice as well as the veteran, it is a foregone conclusion members will leave this class with a fuller understanding of the masterful story construction, realistic characters with depth and humanity, and the rich, evocative language which have earned William Shakespeare the title of greatest writer in the English language.

Common Reading:  Selected Plays

 

 

22.   (SMA)     THE  END  OF  WORK  IN  THE  SECOND  MACHINE  AGE

Digital technologies in the near future will perform many tasks once considered uniquely human - redefining work as we know it. We stand to realize an immense bounty in the form of dazzling personal technology, advanced infrastructure and near-boundless access to cultural items that enrich our lives. Amid this bounty will be wrenching change. Will the change be for the good? In this issues-oriented S/DG we will attempt to understand and evaluate the likelihood of predicted change and then evaluate the effects and policy alternatives that will need to be addressed.

In our common reading, the authors first take us through the technological developments that continue to shape our lives. They then discuss impacts of these developments and finally discuss policy recommendation for dealing with these changes. Drawing on our text and supplementary materials, we will explore technology and its potential to change our lives.  Presentations might include the overall impact on employment (kinds and numbers of jobs available), who the haves and have-nots will be, or individual technologies that are already changing how we live our lives.  Join us as we look at the potential for change and how we as a society must make sure it is for the better.

Common Reading:     The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies
by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee  (Jan. 2014)

 

 

23.   (SPZ)     SPINOZA:  THE  RENEGADE  JEW  WHO  GAVE  US  MODERNITY

Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated by Amsterdam’s Jewish community in 1656 when he was only twenty-three years old.  At the time, he was already germinating a secularist challenge to religion that would be as radical as it was original. He went on to produce one of the most ambitious systems in the history of Western philosophy, so ahead of its time that scientists today, from string theorists to neurobiologists, count themselves among Spinoza’s progeny.

In Betraying Spinoza, Rebecca Goldstein, a MacArthur Fellow, sets out to rediscover the flesh-and-blood man often hidden beneath the veneer of rigorous rationality, and to crack the mystery of the breach between the philosopher and his Jewish past. Goldstein argues that the trauma of the Inquisition’s persecution of its forced Jewish converts plays itself out in Spinoza’s philosophy. The excommunicated Spinoza, no less than his excommunicators, was responding to Europe’s first experiment with racial anti-Semitism.

Possible topics for presentation might include the environment in which Spinoza lived, more about his philosophy, critiques of his philosophy, and Spinoza in literature and popular culture.

Common Reading:     Betraying Spinoza:  The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein   (August 2009)

 

 

24.   (WMN)    YOU’VE  COME  A  LONG  WAY,  BABY:  50  YEARS  OF  WOMEN

                        IN  AMERICA

In 1960, American women had to get their husbands' permission to apply for a credit card.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton ran as a serious contender for the office of President. How did we get from there to here?  That’s the question we’ll explore in this class based on a text by Gail Collins, New York Times columnist and bestselling author. We’ll travel not so far back to the days of weigh-ins for stewardesses, a scarcity of female professors on campus, and a lack of  any women in the Boston marathon, in combat zones, and in police departments. Our reading will cover politics, fashion, popular culture, economics, sex, families, and work over the last five decades.  It mixes research with oral histories provided by women from across the country.  With topics like birth control, abortion, maternity leave and equal pay regularly in the news today, this class could not be more timely.  Let’s reflect on where we’ve been and ponder where we’re going.

Common Reading:     When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American  Women from 1960 to the Present, by Gail Collins (October 2010)

 

 

25.   (WSC)   WELLINGTON,  THE  SUPREME  COMMANDER  

The Duke of Wellington was not just Britain’s greatest soldier, although his seismic struggles as leader of the Allied forces against Napoleon in the Peninsular War deservedly became the stuff of British national legend. Wellington was much more: a man of vision beyond purely military matters, a politically astute thinker, and a canny diplomat as well as lover, husband, and friend. Rory Muir’s masterful new biography is the fruit of a lifetime’s research and discovery into Wellington and his times. The author brings Wellington into much sharper focus than ever before, addressing his masterstrokes and mistakes in equal measure.

Muir looks at all aspects of Wellington’s career, from his unpromising youth through his remarkable successes in India and his role as junior minister in charge of Ireland, to his controversial military campaigns. With dramatic descriptions of major battles and how they might have turned out differently, the author underscores the magnitude of Wellington’s achievements. The biography is the first to address the major significance of Wellington’s political connections and shrewdness, and to set his career within the wider history of British politics and the war against Napoleon. The volume also revises Wellington’s reputation for being cold and aloof, showing instead a man of far more complex and interesting character.

Some presentation topics might be these:  British navy, 18th C India, British East India Co., Anglo-Dutch Wars

Common Reading:     Wellington: The Path to Victory 1769-1814, by Rory Muir
(Dec. 2013)  

 

 

26.   (WWI)  HOW  EUROPE  WENT  TO  WAR  IN  1914

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (History), The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 is historian Christopher Clark’s riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War written in commemoration of the Centennial of this great event.

Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, He traces the paths to war in a minute-by-minute, action-packed narrative that cuts between the key decision centers in Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Paris, London, and Belgrade, and examines the decades of history that informed the events of 1914 and details the mutual misunderstandings and unintended signals that drove the crisis forward in a few short weeks.

Presentations might include:

·      alternative interpretations of the cause 

·      the legacy of (The war to end all wars)

·      the "Isms" which contributed to the conflict: Nationalism, Socialism, Romanticism, Militarism

·      How the citizenry responded?

Common Reading:     The Sleepwalkers:  How Europe Went To War In 1914
by Christopher Clark  (March 2013)

Possible Supplemental Reading:

·      The Guns of August, by Barbara W. Tuchman and Robert K. Massie (August 2004)

·      And Quiet Flows the Don,  by Mikhail Sholokhov (December 1989)

·      The Atlantic Special Commemorative issue WWI, How The Great War Made the Modern World, by various (2014)

·      BBC: 10 Interpretations of who started WWI