HIST 231 Possible Topics
- Below is a list of possible topics, the historiographic issue(s) and/or debate(s), the bibliographic starting point, and the contact professor.
- Always mine the bibliography and notes of the books/articles you utilize to identify additional potential material.
- Get as far as you can in gathering information and thinking through the issue before consulting the contact professor!
| The Mexican Revolution | Was it really a revolution? | Michael J. Gonzales, The Mexican Revolution, 1910-1940 |
Dr. Marc Becker marc@truman.edu |
| Foco Theory | Why did Che Guevara's guerrilla foco in Bolivia fail? | Ernesto Che Guevara, The Complete Bolivian Diaries of Ché Guevara |
Dr. Marc Becker marc@truman.edu |
| Marianismo | Are Latin American women supposed to emulate the Virgin Mary? | Rosario Montoya, Lessie Jo Frazier, and Janise Hurtig, eds., Gender's Place: Feminist anthropologies of Latin America |
Dr. Marc Becker marc@truman.edu |
| Inkas | Utopian socialism or totalitarian regime? | Rafael Karsten, A Totalitarian State of the Past: The Civilization of the Inca Empire in Ancient Peru vs. Louis Baudin, A Socialist Empire: The Incas of Peru |
Dr. Marc Becker marc@truman.edu |
| Spanish Conquest of Mexico | Why didn't the Aztecs conquer the Spanish? | Matthew Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest |
Dr. Marc Becker marc@truman.edu |
| Land Reform | Were 1960s land reform programs in Latin America due to landlord initiative or peasant pressure? | William C. Thiesenhusen, Broken Promises: Agrarian Reform and the Latin American Campesino |
Dr. Marc Becker marc@truman.edu |
| Invasion of Iraq and Potential Impeachment of President George W. Bush | Given that Iraq posed no threat to its neighbors or the U.S., and that a military invasion was a violation of international law and any possible interpretation of the just war theory, why did George W. Bush attack that country, and should he be impeached and indicted for war crimes for doing so? |
1). Behind the Invasion of Iraq (New York: Monthly
Review Press, 2003). 2) John Bonifaz and John Conyers, Warrior-king: The Case for Impeaching George W. Bush (New York: Nation Books, 2003). |
Dr. Marc Becker marc@truman.edu |
| Early Modern Queens (as in royalty) | Change in how queens have been portrayed by scholars over time; question of how queens survived and even thrived in a patriarchal, misogynistic culture | Search for books and articles of Elizabeth I of England; Mary I of England; Mary, Queen of Scots; Mary of Guise (Scotland); Isabella of Spain, Mary of Hungary (Netherlands); Catherine de Medici (France); Catherine the Great of Russia; Maria Theresa of Austria; Christina of Sweden. Also search: Historical Abstracts; Annual bibliography of British and Irish History |
Dr. Kathryn Brammall brammall@truman.edu |
| Medieval/Early Modern Heresy | Varieties; Catholic responses to; popular reception; “heresy” in Reformation | JC Laursen, Histories of Heresy in Early Modern Europe; Claire Taylor, Heresy in Medieval France; Gordon Leff, Heresy in the Later Middle Ages. Search under Albigensians, Lollards, Bogomils, Cathars, Hussites, Anabaptists, Quakers, etc. Also search: Historical Abstracts; International Medieval Bibliography; Annual bibliography of British and Irish History |
Dr. Kathryn Brammall brammall@truman.edu |
| Medieval/Early Modern Witchcraft | Question of definition and causes of craze; differences according to geography; why more women than men | Start with general books by Montague Summers, Jeffrey B. Russell, Brian Levack, PG Maxwell-Stuart and then move to more specific topics: Norman Cohn, Europe’s Inner Demons: The Demonization Of Christians In Medieval Christendom; Lara Apps and Andrew Gow, Male Witches in Early Modern Europe; Bengt Ankarloo And Gustav Henningsen, Early modern European witchcraft: centres and peripheries, Lyndal Roper, Oedipus and the Devil : witchcraft, sexuality, and religion in early modern Europe, Stuart Clark, Thinking with Demons, Robin Briggs, Witches and Neighbours, Also search: Historical Abstracts; International Medieval Bibliography; Annual bibliography of British and Irish History |
Dr. Kathryn Brammall brammall@truman.edu |
| The Crusades | Changing historiographical approaches; popularity and criticism; Islamic reactions; interaction and cooperation between cultures; various motivations | MG Bull et al., The experience of crusading, Jonathan Harris, Byzantium and the Crusades, Michael Goodich, Sophia Menache & Sylvia Schei, eds., Cross cultural convergences in the Crusader, Carole Hillenbrand, The Crusades : Islamic perspectives, Amin Maalouf, The crusades through Arab eyes, See also books by Christopher Tyerman, Jonathan Riley-Smith, Harold Lamb, Jonathan Phillips, Regine Pernoud. Also search: International Medieval Bibliography |
Dr. Kathryn Brammall brammall@truman.edu |
|
Western Medieval Contact with the Islamic World, with focus
on transmission of scientific knowledge |
Definition of science, medieval renaissance, impact of contact between civilizations, | Jan P. Hogendijk and Abdelhamid I. Sabra, eds., The enterprise of science in Islam, Toby Huff, The rise of early modern science: Islam, China, and the West David Lindberg, The beginnings of Western Science, Shlomo Pine, Studies in Arabic versions of Greek texts and in mediaeval science, Piers D. Mitchell, Medicine In The Crusades. Also search: International Medieval Bibliography |
Dr. Kathryn Brammall brammall@truman.edu |
| Medieval/Early Modern Feudalism | Reasons for emergence; positive or negative historical force; varieties. | Marc Bloch, Feudal Society, Rodney Hilton, Class Conflict And The Crisis Of Feudalism: Essays In Medieval Social History, Peter Speed, ed., Those who Fought, Jan Rutkowski, The distribution of incomes in a feudal system, Michael Hicks, Bastard Feudalism, Sidney Painter, Rise of Feudal Monarchies, JL Goldsmith, Lordship in France, 500-1500 Also search: Historical Abstracts; International Medieval Bibliography |
Dr. Kathryn Brammall brammall@truman.edu |
| Jesse James | Eric Hobsbawm's view: Jesse was a "social bandit" who led a type of peasant protest and rebellion. David Thelen echoes Hobsbawm and argues James was popular because he attacked symbols of capitalism and the "new order." Western historian Richard White attacks this view saying James and the other outlaws of his time came from modern, market-oriented groups. Stiles has a much more political take on James -- seeing him as much more than a criminal, but rather a very politically conscious terrorist. | T.J. Stiles, Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War. |
Dr. Jeff Gall jgall@truman.edu |
|
Chose a controversial U.S. President, such as Reagan,
Hoover, Kennedy, FDR, Jackson, Jefferson, and Wilson. |
Identify some lively debate and differences in interpretation amongst historians of the president in question. | Start with a basic library search for your topic. |
Dr. Mark Hanley ss04@truman.edu |
| U.S. Religious History | The significance and nature of American revivalism | Start with a basic library search for your topic |
Dr. Mark Hanley ss04@truman.edu |
| African-Americans and Christianity |
A relationship of control or liberation? |
Start with a basic library search for your topic |
Dr. Mark Hanley ss04@truman.edu |
| Prohibition in America | Reasons for its failure; its ultimate impact | Start with a basic library search for your topic |
Dr. Mark Hanley ss04@truman.edu |
| 1960s Political Activism/Radicalism in the U.S. |
The different historical interpretations of successes, failures, impact, etc. |
Start with a basic library search for your topic |
Dr. Mark Hanley ss04@truman.edu |
| African Americans and the American Civil War | The role of African Americans in the coming of the American Civil War | There is lots of lively, recent debate on this: start with a basic search. |
Dr. Mark Hanley ss04@truman.edu |
| The U.S. Reconstruction Era | Was Reconstruction a tragic era? For whom? | Start with works by William Dunning and Eric Foner |
Dr. Jerry Hirsch jhirsch@truman.edu |
| Disability in the U.S. | Can a disability history be written? Or is disability a natural state, transcending universal medical care? | Start with Paul Longmore and Lauri Umansky, eds., The New Disability History: American Perspectives |
Dr. Jerry Hirsch jhirsch@truman.edu |
| American Labor History | How do we write the history of American labor? Is labor history the history of unions and their leaders or is it the history of workers in all its dimensions? |
1) Old labor history: Irving Bernstein, The Lean Years.
2) New labor history: works by Herbert Gutman, David Montgomery, Garry Gerstle; see also David Rodeiger, The Wages of Whiteness and Garry Gerstle's Working Class Americanism (the latter is easier to deal with as a starting point) |
Dr. Jerry Hirsch jhirsch@truman.edu |
| FDR's Disability | What impact did FDR's disability have on his life? How did Roosevelt manage his disability? Related approaches: The changing history of how we write about polio--medical epidemic? Pivotal cultural event? The story of scientific progress? | Start with any scholarly biography; see especially Hugh Gallagher, FDR’s Splendid Deception. |
Dr. Jerry Hirsch jhirsch@truman.edu |
| U.S. Communism | Assessment of the contributions and/or betrayals of American communists and the Popular Front of the 1930s. |
1) Lewis Coser and Theodore Draper's history of American
communism.
2) Michaell Denning’s much more recent The Laboring of American Culture. |
Dr. Jerry Hirsch jhirsch@truman.edu |
| The 1920’s in the U.S. | The shifting understanding of the era: did we pay for our sins in the 1920s with the Great Depression? Or did the contemporary cultural wars begin in the 1920s? |
1) Frederick Allen, Only Yesterday [1931] 2) Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper [recent] |
Dr. Jerry Hirsch jhirsch@truman.edu |
| African American Migration History | Why and how did African Americans migrate north after 1910? | The literature is vast. Start with Grossman, Land of Hope, and works by William Trotter. |
Dr. Jerry Hirsch jhirsch@truman.edu |
| Footbinding in East Asia | How does it relate to nationalistic sentiment? |
Huping
Ling, Surviving on the
Gold Mountain: A History of Chinese American Women and Their
Lives (see esp. p.19) Beverley Jackson, Splendid Slippers: A Thousand Years of an Erotic Tradition |
Dr. Huping Ling hling@truman.edu |
| Imperialism: The Western Invasion of Asia | Myth or Reality? | Check works by Paul Cohen and John Fairbank for overviews |
Dr. Huping Ling hling@truman.edu |
| Mao | Nationalist hero or monster? | Jung Chang (author of Wild Swan) recently wrote a book on Mao, titled Mao: The Unknown Story, to be released in October 2005. It is believed that it might stir up another round of debate on Mao. |
Dr. Huping Ling hling@truman.edu |
| Nature and effects of China's recent economic reform. | Is it working? | Just do a general search; there is no shortage of literature. Dr. Hungay Fong will be speaking at Truman in February, 2006, in this issue. |
Dr. Huping Ling hling@truman.edu |
| Is Japan still a Rising Sun? | Its strategic importance in Asia Pacific region and in the world. | No shortage of material; an on-line search will get you started. |
Dr. Huping Ling hling@truman.edu |
| The Taiping Rebellion |
Possible approaches: Taiping's Christianity, Taiping Land System |
Ssu-yu Têng, Historiography of the Taiping Rebellion |
Dr. Huping Ling hling@truman.edu |
| The Atlantic Slave Trade | What were the consequences of the AST (for Africa, Europe or the New World)? | Key authors here include Walter Rodney, Joseph Inikori, Herbert Klein, John Thornton, Eric Williams, Roger Anstey, and Seymour Drescher. |
Dr. Sylvia Macauley macauley@truman.edu |
| Ancient Egyptian Civilization | Was the ancient Egyptian civilization African/black? | Key authors here include Cheikh Anta Diop, Walter Rodney, V. Y Mudimbe, Raymond Mauny, Wyatt MacGaffey, Martin Bernal, Mary Lefkowitz, and Frank Snowden. |
Dr. Sylvia Macauley macauley@truman.edu |
| Roots and perpetuation of apartheid in South Africa | The relationship between owners of the United States multinational corporations of South Africa and the United States government. | Start with a basic library search for your topic. | Dr. Sylvia Macauley macauley@truman.edu |
| Decolonization in Africa: British atrocities during the Mau Mau rebellion in the independence struggle in Kenya. | The rebels were portrayed as savages, but it seems the British were worse and this is only recently being acknowledged | Start with a basic library search for your topic. |
Dr. Sylvia Macauley macauley@truman.edu |
| African Decolonization: The Negritude Movement |
Competing interpretations: 1)
Black existence as a historically developing phenomenon that
arose from the African slave trade and New World plantation
system.
2) Essentialism of black existence, used as a political/ideological tool for Black Liberation. |
Start with a basic library search for your topic. | Dr. Sylvia Macauley macauley@truman.edu |
| What are the origins of American democracy (or American character)? | Amateur and early academic historians pointed to Anglo-Saxon roots; Turner came up with the Frontier Thesis; some point to Puritan concern for education and creating a utopian society; some point to the desire of early Virginians to make a fortune and move on; etc. | The student should start with Jack Greene, Pursuits of Happiness, which is a relatively recent (1988) survey of colonial American history which takes the view that Virginia represented the roots of the American character. Another important work (though very long) is David Hackett Fischer, Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America, which sees today's distinct regional cultures in America as reflecting the British and European roots of colonial immigrants. There was a heated debate over Fischer's book and some of the commentary was published in either the American Historical Review or the William and Mary Quarterly. Perry Miller's "Errand into the Wilderness" is another important work on this topic. The student can mine the footnotes in Greene and Fischer (I think he has a bibliographic essay in the appendix) for more works. |
Dr. Dan Mandell dmandell@truman.edu |
| What was the nature of the American Revolution? |
Often this is phrasedas a debate between historians who
argue that it was contest to see who would rule at home
(local elites versus Parliament) or a contest over home rule (local elites versus radicals). |
Start with a basic library search |
Dr. Dan Mandell dmandell@truman.edu |
| The debate over the U.S. Constitution in 1787-89 | What was its nature, and what were differences (in social status, background, and ideas) between its supporters and its opponents? | Start with a basic library search. |
Dr. Dan Mandell dmandell@truman.edu |
| Was Native American culture antithetical to [emerging] capitalism; that is, did they and their European counterparts understand trade and goods in the same fashion? | One way to conceptualize this debate: Instrumentalists (Indians understood trade as the exchange of goods that held value) versus the "spiritualists" (Indians understood and were interested in goods only for their spiritual meaning). |
Instrumentalist arguments can be found in Francis Jennings, The Invasion of America and Bruce G. Trigger, Natives and Newcomers (1985); spiritualist arguments can be found in Calvin Martin, Keepers of the Game and Christopher Miller and George Hamell, "A New Perspective on Indian-White Contact," in the Journal of American History. |
Dr. Dan Mandell dmandell@truman.edu |
| Native American Missionaries | ongoing debate about the nature of the relationship between Indians and missionaries |
James Ronda, “Generations of Faith: The Christian Indians of
Martha’s Vineyard,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd.
Ser., 38 (1981): 369-394 Neal Salisbury, “Red Puritans: The ‘Praying Indians’ of Massachusetts Bay and John Eliot,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., 31 (1974): 27-54 Harold Von Lonkhuyzen, “A Reappraisal of the Praying Indians: Acculturation, Conversion, and Identity at Natick, Massachusetts, 1646-1730,” New England Quarterly 63 (1990):396-428 Francis Jennings, The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975), chapter 14. Alden Vaughan, New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians, 1620-1675 (various editions, first published 1965), chapters 9-11. Waban and other conversion narratives in John Eliot and Experience Mayhew, Tears of Repentance: OR, A further Narrative of the Progress of the Gospel (London: Peter Cole, 1653). |
Dr. Dan Mandell dmandell@truman.edu |
| Akhenaten’s Lineage |
family relationships: (did he have sons [i.e. was Tut his
son]?)? (archaeological focus) |
1) Reeves, C.N. The Complete Tutankhamun
2) Brock, Lyla Pinch, “Tutankhamun in the 'King's House' at Amarna? Cairo SR 11575/20647,” The Bulletin of the Australian Centre for Egyptology 9 (1998), 7-17. 3) Eaton-Krauss, M., “Tutankhaten in the Paintings of the King's House at Amarna?”, Bulletin of the Australian Centre for Egyptology 10 (1999), 13-17. |
Dr. Sara Orel orel@truman.edu |
| The Curse of Tutankhamun | an enduring myth created by a disgruntled journalist (this project would be more journalistic than archaeological) | Reeves, C.N. The Complete Tutankhamun |
Dr. Sara Orel orel@truman.edu |
| Masada | Did the account of mass suicide by the historian Josephus occur, in spite of the decided lack of evidence? |
1) Yadin, Yigael, Masada : Herod's Fortress and the
Zealot's Last Stand
2) Yael Zerubavel, Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition (see esp. Chapter Five) |
Dr. Sara Orel orel@truman.edu |
| Does what we call “science” have its origins in ancient Greece? | What is the place of ancient Greek science? Is it is proper (meaning historically accurate) to say that western science begins with the ancient Greeks? Which of the authors (Lindberg, Rochberg, Lloyd, Pingree and Bernal) should have the most intellectual weight? Note that there is no right or wrong answer to this question. Indeed, historians of science have not yet reached a consensus themselves about the "true" place of Greek science. | David Lindberg (The Beginnings of Western Science) writes that "the early philosophers began at the only possible place: the beginning." Similarly, the historian A.C. Crombie wrote "the ancient Greeks invented science as we know it." In contrast, David Pingree has reacted strongly to these sorts of claims, using the term "Hellenophilia" to depict a form of "barbaric excess" and overemphasis on Greek originality in natural philosophy. Pingree and other authors call into question the assumption that ancient science began with the Greeks. See the collection of articles in Isis from 1992 (on JSTOR). |
Dr. Peter Ramberg ramberg@truman.edu |
| Galileo's Trial | What was the purpose and motivation behind Galileo's trial? Was he tried and convicted for his heliocentrism or was that a cover for his atomism? Was it the result of a Tuscan "family" squabble, or a politically expedient result for Pope Urban VIII at the height of the thirty years' war? How did Galileo's personality and status affect his treatment? | Students can begin with a library search, and Peitro Redondi, Galileo Heretic. There is no shortage of historical opinions here. |
Dr. Peter Ramberg ramberg@truman.edu |
| Concept of Homosexuality | When did the concept of a homosexual identity come about (as opposed to homosexual practice/behavior)? | Estelle Freedman and John D'Emilio, Intimate Matters |
Dr. Steven Reschly sdr@truman.edu |
| Margaret Sanger | Eugenics in Margaret Sanger's campaign | Any biography of Sanger is a good starting point, as is The Autobiography of Margaret Sanger. Also see Ellen Chesler, Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America. |
Dr. Steven Reschly sdr@truman.edu |
| Environmental History | LA water system | William Kahrl, Water and Power |
Dr. Steven Reschly sdr@truman.edu |
| History of Syphilis | Pre-Columbian or Columbian (i.e., did the disease exist in the Eastern Hemisphere before 1492? Or did Columbus and his boys carry it back?). |
Alfred W. Crosby, The Columbian Exchange:
Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492.
Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1972. Deborah Hayden. Pox: Genius, Madness, and the Mysteries of Syphilis. New York: Basic Books, 2003. |
Dr. Steven Reschly sdr@truman.edu |
| The Enlightenment | The Meaning of the Enlightenment |
Carl Becker, The Heavenly City of the 18th-Century
Philosophers; M.C. Jacob, Living the Enlightenment; M.S. Micale and R.L. Dietle, eds., Enlightenment, Passion, Modernity (many articles); T. Munck, The Enlightenment: A Comparative Social History; R. Porter, The Enlightenment; L. Kreiger, Kings and Philosophers; P. Gay, The Enlightenment: An interpretation. |
Dr. David Robinson drobinso@truman.edu |
| Khmer Rouge | International Reaction (or lack thereof) to Khmer Rouge | Start with a basic library search for your topic |
Dr. David Robinson drobinso@truman.edu |
| Peasantry and Bourgeoisie during French Revolution | What were the roles of each? | Start with a basic library search for your topic |
Dr. David Robinson drobinso@truman.edu |
| Napoleon and the Popes | Did Napoleon dominate or cooperate? What was the relationship between the Papacy and Bonaparte, concordant and everything else? | Start with a basic library search for your topic |
Dr. David Robinson drobinso@truman.edu |
| Roles of the Waffen-SS | SS were clearly bad guys, but once the war started Waffen SS were supposed to be “just another group of German soldiers”--though having the honor of association with this elite group. It was a big issue at Bitburg in 1984, when Reagan visited a W-SS cemetery with Chancellor Kohl, effectively honoring their service, “just as soldiers.” | Start with a basic library search for your topic |
Dr. David Robinson drobinso@truman.edu |
| The Mongols | Why didn't the Mongols conquer the Middle East? | Start with a basic library search for your topic |
Dr. David Robinson drobinso@truman.edu and Dr. Sally West |
| Mesopotamian Temple Prostitutes | Did they exist or are they a construction of the [lurid] modern historical imagination? | Julia Asante, “From Whores to Hierodules: The Historiographic Invention of Mesopotamian Female Sex Professionals,” in Ancient Art and Its Historiography, ed. A. A. Donahue and Mark D. Fullerton. One can do a bilbiographic search on "Diotima: Materials for the Study of Woman and Gender in the Ancient World.": http://www.stoa.org/diotima/ |
Dr. Lynn Rose lynnrose@truman.edu |
| Middle Minoan Crete | Utopian society or the product of Sir Arthur Evans’ fertile archaeological imagination? |
Laura Ursprung, “The Rose Among the
Thorns: Issues of a Minoan Utopia Amongst Third and Second Millennium Aggressors” (TSU Art History senior thesis; I have a copy in my office which can be used in my office [only].) See also a lesson with links from Dartmouth College. |
Dr. Lynn Rose lynnrose@truman.edu |
| Spartacus | The transition (in the western collective cultural imagination) from just-another-slave-rebellion into the story a Freedom Fighter | Brent D. Shaw, Spartacus and the Slave Wars: A Brief History with Documents. See the Perseus Digital Library: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ |
Dr. Lynn Rose lynnrose@truman.edu |
| The Fall of Rome | Whimper or Bang? | Bryan Ward-Perkins, “The End of The Roman World: Did it Collapse or Was It Transformed?” History Today 55.6 (June 2005): 12-16. See also: Fall of Rome, on the old "lead poisoning" theory. |
Dr. Lynn Rose lynnrose@truman.edu |
| The Greek Dark Age | Did it exist? | Ian Morris, “Periodization and the Heroes: Inventing a Dark Age,” in Inventing Ancient Culture: Historicism, Periodization, and the Ancient World, ed. Mark Golden and Peter Toohey. |
Dr. Lynn Rose lynnrose@truman.edu |
| What caused the French Revolution? | Was it ideological or material? | Start with William Doyle, The Origins of the French Revolution (Oxford, 1980). |
Dr. Torbjörn Wandel twandel@truman.edu |
| Why did Germany start the two World Wars? | Controversy: the Sonderweg Thesis |
1)
(pro): Hans-Ulrich
Wehler,
“German 'Double Revolution' and the Sonderweg, 1848-79” in
The Problem of Revolution in Germany, 1789-1989, ed.
Reinhard Rürup.
See also
Hans-Ulrich
Wehler,
German Empire,
1871-1918. 2) (con): David Blackbourn and Geoff Eley, The Peculiarities of German History : Bourgeois Society and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Germany. |
Dr. Torbjörn Wandel twandel@truman.edu |
| Gender & The French Revolution | Was the French Revolution good or bad for women? |
Bad: Joan Landes, Women and the Public Sphere in the Age
of the French Revolution (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell
University Press, 1988). Good: Carla Hesse, The Other Enlightenment: How French Women Became Modern (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2001); and “The Cultural Contradictions of Feminism in the French Revolution”, in Colin Jones and Dror Wahrman, eds., The Age of Cultural Revolutions: Britain and France 1750-1820 (Berkeley, Cal.: University of California Press, 2002). |
Dr. Torbjörn Wandel twandel@truman.edu |
| Peter the Great | Was he the making of Russia, or the unmaking of it--and many permutations of that basic question remain sources of debate. | Evgenii Anisimov, The Reforms of Peter the Great: Progress though Coercion. Anisimov believes that Peter laid much of the ground work for twentieth-century Russian totalitarianism. (Significantly, he's writing right after the fall of communism.) Then there are the people who think Peter was the greatest hero ever (mostly nineteenth-century Russian westernizers). |
Dr. Sally West swest@truman.edu |
| Catherine the Great | was she was an enlightened ruler or not? (no horse topics, please) | Any scholarly biography of Catherine will provide an overview; Isabel de Madariaga's biography, Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great, is an authoritative source. |
Dr. Sally West swest@truman.edu |
| Stalinism | Why Stalinism? e.g., Was Stalinism an inevitable development of Bolshevism? |
1)
Robert Tucker, Stalin
as Revolutionary, 1879-1929: A Study in History and
Personality
2)Theodore von Laue, Why Lenin? Why Stalin? |
Dr. Sally West swest@truman.edu |
| New Deal | A conservative attempt to save capitalism in the U.S. or the start of socialistic big government? | Start with a basic library search for your topic. |
Dr. Tom Zoumaras zoumaras@truman.edu |
| FDR and WW I | Did FDR maneuver the U.S. into WWII? | Start with a basic library search for your topic. |
Dr. Tom Zoumaras zoumaras@truman.edu |
| WW II | What role did WWII play in stimulating the formation of the Civil Rights Movement (the feminist movement) in the 1950s and 1960s? | Start with a basic library search for your topic. |
Dr. Tom Zoumaras zoumaras@truman.edu |
| The Atomic Bomb | Was the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan motivated by diplomatic efforts to intimidate the Soviet Union or the desire to employ a military instrument designed to end combat as quickly as possible? | Start with a basic library search for your topic. |
Dr. Tom Zoumaras zoumaras@truman.edu |
| E.R.A. | Is the failure to enact the Equal Rights Amendment the result of internal problems within the feminist movement or concerted efforts of reinvigorated social conservative activists and their political allies? | Start with a basic library search for your topic. |
Dr. Tom Zoumaras zoumaras@truman.edu |
| U.S. and Vietnam | Did the U.S. lose the Vietnam War due to the restrictions and interference from policymakers within the Johnson administration or because the American war effort misunderstood the nature and challenges of the conflict in Vietnam? | Start with a basic library search for your topic. |
Dr. Tom Zoumaras zoumaras@truman.edu |
| U.S. Cold War | Was the Cold War the result of Soviet aggression or U.S. efforts to create Pax Americana? | Start with a basic library search for your topic. |
Dr. Tom Zoumaras zoumaras@truman.edu |
| Kennedy’s assassination | Was Kennedy's assassination the result of a conspiracy or the result of Lee Harvey Oswald's actions as a lone gunman? | Start with a basic library search for your topic. |
Dr. Tom Zoumaras zoumaras@truman.edu |
| Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War of 1898 | Was it an illustration of benevolent imperialism or blatant colonialism? | Start with a basic library search for your topic. |
Dr. Tom Zoumaras zoumaras@truman.edu |