COURSE INFORMATION
I. Topics Covered in Course Readings
Use a general textbook to make sure you are familiar with the following
topics: the fall of Rome, early Christianity, Feudalism, medieval Catholicism
(and monasticism), the Renaissance, the Reformation and Counter-Reformation,
the wars of Religion, absolutism and constitutionalism, the Enlightenment,
and the French Revolution.
II. Use of Reference Materials
You may come across many terms, expressions, and topics with which
you are unfamiliar. Don't just let them slide by; rather, use a dictionary
and/or encyclopedia to identify whatever it is you are having trouble with.
Some examples, which we will encounter in our readings: papacy, guilds,
vassal, fief, chivalry,, humanism, inquisition, heresy, dowry, philosophe,
tithe, Holy Roman Empire, Jacobin, misogyny, primogeniture, relic, eucharist,
asceticism, etc. The reference librarians in Jackson Library will
be able to assist you in finding reference works.
III. Guidelines for Critical Reading and Writing
Learning how to read, analyze, and write about historical literature
in a critical way is the main objective of this course. Keep the
following in mind as you read and write about the books and articles this
semester:
a. Check the date and place of publication (don't be fooled by reprints or later editions). How are these important to an understanding of the book? Consider a book on medieval Germany written by an Englishman in 1943.
b. Read the author's introduction or preface and/or acknowledgments. Whom else does he/she know, or with whom and with what types of historical writing does he/she choose to associate his/her work? To whom is he/she indebted? Whom does he/she consider as an opponent? Does the author state his/her purpose in writing the book? No author is an island, and very few are truly original; most authors are indebted either personally to someone else or methodologically to a school or approach.
c. Pay careful attention to the author's use of sources. To ascertain this, you will need to be aware of his/her footnotes and/or bibliography, even if you do not read every single reference (indeed, you probably shouldn't read every reference). How does the selection and use of sources inform the author's historical interpretation? Does the author use a single source [a treatise, a chronicle, an inquest]? A single category of sources [parish records, letters, memoirs, legal sources, etc.]? Many different types of sources? Does he/she make use of literary sources? Statistical sources? Police records? Are all sources equally reliable? Would use of another kind of source altered his/her conclusions?
d. Does the author make clear what is (are) his/her thesis (or theses) in the book or article? That is to say, can you discern if an argument is being made? Or, is the book pure narrative? [be careful!, for even narratives can have agendas and/or theses] If there is no apparent argument, is this a problem? If there is an argument, does it fit into some larger historiographical debate? Or, does it fit into or alongside some major historical or ideological theory [such as Marxism]?
e. Does the author bring to his/her analysis a particular method or approach? On many weeks, you will read works on the same subject from diametrically opposing methodological perspectives. While the tendency may be to believe that one is "right" and the other "wrong", we will find that it is more useful to simply try to uncover, analyze, and criticize the methods being used, and to express an opinion about which method seems to offer a better, or more important, understanding of the topic in question. The French Revolution is a case in point - there are almost as many explanations of it as there are books on the subject - we will see that the explanations for the Revolution are in part dependent on whether the author's primary interest is economic factors, political factors, ideological factors, national factors, or demographic factors.
f. To what sort of audience is the book or article addressed? Other scholars? A general readership? Students? How do considerations of audience affect an author's selection and use of sources?
g. Is the work in question a monograph, based primarily on original research? Or is it a synthesis that integrates new material with older ideas? Or some combination of the two?
h. You may have noticed (with outrage) that for some weeks I have assigned two ‘whole' books. Do I expect you to read every word of each book? CERTAINLY NOT! Remember that we are interested in arguments, assumptions, and methods; I expect you to familiarize yourself with each of the assigned works to such a degree that you can answer questions about arguments, assumptions, and methods, and so that you can formulate educated criticism of those works. Sometimes penetrating analysis and criticism can be performed simply by reading the preface, introduction, and table of contents (though I recommend you read a bit more than that). Some authors present a very uniform style in which they state the argument of each chapter in the opening paragraph to that chapter, and then go on to reprise that argument in the final paragraph. Again, this approach may sound bizarre to those who are accustomed to reading every word and thinking about every sentence. But let me warn you: you will be swamped if you attempt to read every page and master every paragraph. It is your task this semester to learn just how much of a book you need to read, skim, and/or "gut" so as to learn the essentials of what it contains: argument, method, assumptions, and, finally, its overall success and utility.
i. Can you think of other considerations? Let's discuss them.