History
History offers an effective focus for a good liberal arts education, for it underpins the other disciplines by clarifying a large portion of the human record. Its study sharpens both one's analytical powers and one's verbal skills. Some New College students pursue history at the graduate level; others consider it a base for the study of law; still other history graduates become politicians, diplomats, or corporate executives.
The following four areas of history are offered regularly at New College: American history, Caribbean/Latin American history, medieval/early modern European history, and modern European history. The faculty offers period, regional, and thematic specialties in a wide range of courses, seminars, and tutorials. Students are also encouraged to design group projects and Independent Study Projects that satisfy their particular needs and interests. The study of history can combine effectively with a number of other disciplines. Particularly strong interdisciplinary programs at New College are Medieval and Renaissance Studies, French Studies, and International Studies.
Courses offered in history include: Medieval Europe, Renaissance and Reformation Europe, The Black Death, The Western City, Colonial Latin America, Modern Latin America, Haiti, The Spanish Caribbean, Modern European History I (1648-1870), Modern European History II (1870-2000), The Old Regime and the French Revolution, Contemporary French History, Modern German History, The Age of Imperialism, United States History: Survey and Recent Interpretations, American Diplomatic History, World War II, The Cold War, American Intellectual History, and others.
