By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Explain the conditions that have allowed for modern economic growth in the last two centuries
Analyze the influence of public policies on an economy's long-run economic growth

This course uses readings and discussions to focus on a series of short-term events that shed light on American politics, culture, and social organization. It emphasizes finding ways to make sense of these complicated, highly traumatic events, and on using them to understand larger processes of change in American history. The class also gives students experience with primary documentation research through a term paper assignment.

This subject introduces the history of science from antiquity to the present. Students consider the impact of philosophy, art, magic, social structure, and folk knowledge on the development of what has come to be called “science” in the Western tradition, including those fields today designated as physics, biology, chemistry, medicine, astronomy and the mind sciences. Topics include concepts of matter, nature, motion, body, heavens, and mind as these have been shaped over the course of history. Students read original works by Aristotle, Vesalius, Newton, Lavoisier, Darwin, Freud, and Einstein, among others.

What has been said of Moby-Dick—that it’s the greatest novel no one ever reads—could just as well be said of any number of American “classics” like The Scarlet Letter, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This course reconsiders a small number of nineteenth-century American novels by presenting each in a surprising context.

This seminar examines the global history of the last millennium, including technological change, commodity exchange, systems of production, and economic growth. Students engage with economic history, medieval and early modern origins of modern systems of production, consumption and global exchange. Topics include the long pre-history of modern economic development; medieval world systems; the age of discovery; the global crisis of the 17th century; demographic systems; global population movements; the industrial revolution; the rise of the modern consumer; colonialism and empire building; patterns of inequality, within and across states; the curse of natural resources fate of Africa; and the threat of climate change to modern economic systems. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments.

This seminar examines the global history of the last millennium, including technological change, commodity exchange, systems of production, and economic growth. Students engage with economic history, medieval and early modern origins of modern systems of production, consumption and global exchange. Topics include the long pre-history of modern economic development; medieval world systems; the age of discovery; the global crisis of the 17th century; demographic systems; global population movements; the industrial revolution; the rise of the modern consumer; colonialism and empire building; patterns of inequality, within and across states; the curse of natural resources fate of Africa; and the threat of climate change to modern economic systems. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments.

Our linked subjects are (1) the historical process by which the meaning of technology has been constructed, and (2) the concurrent transformation of the environment. To explain the emergence of technology as a pivotal word (and concept) in contemporary public discourse, we will examine responses — chiefly political and literary — to the development of the mechanic arts, and to the linked social, cultural, and ecological transformation of 19th- and 20th-century American society, culture, and landscape.
Note: In the interests of freshness and topicality we regard the STS.464 syllabus as sufficiently flexible to permit some — mostly minor — variations from year to year. One example of a different STS.464 syllabus can be found in STS.464 Cultural History of Technology, Spring 2005.

Today many people assume that technological change is the major factor in historical change and that it tends to lead to historical progress. This class turns these assumptions into a question—what is the role of technology in history?—by focusing on four key historical transitions: the human revolution (the emergence of humans as a history-making species), the Neolithic Revolution (the emergence of agriculture-based civilizations); the great leap in productivity (also known as the industrial revolution), and the great acceleration that has come with the rise of human empire on the planet. These topics are studied through a mix of textbook reading (David Christian’s “Maps of Time”), supplementary readings (ranging from Auel, “The Clan of the Cave Bear” to Hersey, “Hiroshima”), illustrated lectures, class discussions, guest lectures/discussions, short “problem paper” assignments, and a final project defined by the student.
Because MIT is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2011, this version of the class will also focus on connections between MIT as an institution and technology in the history of the last 150 years.

We will doggedly ask two questions in this class: “What is history?” and “How do you do it in 2010?” In pursuit of the answers, we will survey a variety of approaches to the past used by historians writing in the last several decades. We will examine how these historians conceive of their object of study, how they use primary sources as a basis for their accounts, how they structure the narrative and analytical discussion of their topic, and the advantages and limitations of their approaches.

This subject examines some of the many ways that contemporary historians interpret the past, as well as the multiple types of sources on which they rely for evidence. It is by no means an exhaustive survey, but the topics and readings have been chosen to give a sense of the diversity of work that is encompassed in the discipline of history.

 U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.Senior Contributing AuthorsP. Scott Corbett, Ventura CollegeVolker Janssen, California State University, FullertonJohn M. Lund, Keene State CollegeTodd Pfannestiel, Clarion UniversityPaul Vickery, Oral Roberts UniversitySylvie Waskiewicz

Early Industrialization in the NortheastA Vibrant Capitalist RepublicOn the Move: The Transportation RevolutionA New Social Order: Class Divisions

Imagine having to make every piece of clothing you wear. What tools would you use? How long would it take to make them? Where would you even start? Join Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum’s Curator Betty Seifert as she demonstrates the process of weaving with a combination of looms you can make at home up to larger vintage ones. Use to support Maryland standards for Math for Grade 4 or Maryland Social Studies frameworks for Grades 5 and 6. For Grade 4 Mathematics, Geometry, 4.G.A.3 have students plan their own simple weaving pattern with two colors and 4-10 warp/weft threads (so it can be planned on a grid from 4x4 up to 10x10). Before beginning their weave, student demonstrate whether their design is symmetrical using prior experience; students can weave in the classroom using a simple loom or with warp threads taped or velcroed at each end as seen in the video. For Grade 5 Social Studies Framework, Content Topic "Urbanization, Industrialization, and Immigration" have students weave using a simple loom or with threads taped/velcroed as seen in the video; allow them to experiment but have all students attempt to weave cotton duck fabric by passing two weft thread through the warp threads. Tightly woven fabric like this was a major product of Baltimore mills after the Civil War. Have students research housing and working in these mills. For Grade 6 Content Topic "Scarcity and Economic Decision-making" have students weave in the classroom with a simple loom or threads taped/velcored as seen in the video. Have students experiment with how long of time is needed to create a large enough cloth that might be useful then postulate how the development of different looms affected the scarcity of fabric and cloth and decreasing skill needed for weaving could have affected trading economies. If you evaluate or use this resource, please respond to this short (4 question) survey here bit.ly/3IhrtYs

This course detials the nature and development of economies from pre-history to the Industrial Revolution. It explains how this was dramatically different from modern economies. Finally it considers what caused the Industrial Revolution, why it was in Europe, and why it was delayed till 1800.