Prof. Edwin E. Moise
Office: Hardin 102
Office phones: 656-5369, 656-3153
Home phone: 654-7087
e-mail: eemoise@clemson.edu
Messages can be left in my mailbox in Hardin 124, or in the box on my office door.
Office Hours
Monday 10:10-11:00, 2:30-3:20 Tuesday 11:00-12:00 Wednesday 10:10-11:00, 2:30-3:20 Thursday 11:00-12:00 Friday 10:10-11:00
I do not emphasize trivial factual details in this course. On tests and quizzes I will NOT ask you to tell me the year Kenya became independent of British rule. There are some facts you need to know, but they are more important things than dates and names. On the other hand, I will expect you to get an idea of the sequence of events, what came first and what came later.
There will be no big course paper, but I will assign four short papers, each of which should be about two pages typed double spaced in normal type with normal margins (they may be longer than two pages if you wish). They are worth 40 points each. The midterm test (70 points) and the final exam (120 points) will be mostly essay questions. I will give some very short quizzes. The schedule for these will not appear on the syllabus, but they will be announced during the previous class. These only count ten points each; they will be mainly intended to make sure that you are doing the reading.
I use a 90%, 80%, 70% scale, sometimes modified in favor of students but never against them. In other words, a 90% average for the semester is guaranteed to be an A, 80% is guaranteed to be a B, and 70% is guaranteed to be a C. But 89% or 88% might perhaps become an A, depending on how the class as a whole is doing.
Any student who has an average of 90% or better, for work up to the final exam, will be permitted to exempt the final.
If you miss a ten point quiz you are out of luck; there is no make-up even with a good excuse. Ten point quizzes are given at the beginning of the class, so if you are ten minutes late on the day the quiz was given, you will have missed the quiz and your grade will be a zero. However, for each student I ignore the worst grade on a ten point quiz, so if you only miss one, that grade of zero will be the grade that does not count in your final grade for the course.
Students under the 2006-2007 curriculum, or later, are required to compile an electronic portfolio, showing general education competencies. Assignments for this course that fulfil some of these competencies will be marked in the syllabus.
Academic integrity requires that we not try to pass off other people's work as our own. What does this mean in practical terms, in this course? Really two things:
1) In-class tests are closed-book. You are supposed to get information only from your memory while writing your answers, not by sneaking looks at books, notes, an electronic device, or your neighbor's paper.
2) Students are not supposed to help each other do take-home assignments after the assignment has been given out. For students to study together to learn material for tests and quizzes is perfectly OK. Indeed, it is an excellent idea. But if two students work together on take-home essay assignment, and as a result the papers handed in by the two students resemble one another much too closely to be coincidence, I will bring charges of academic dishonesty against both of them. If a fellow student asks to see your paper, to see how the assignment was supposed to be done, say no. They should come to me if they want further explanation of how the assignment was to be done.
August 20: Introduction to the course.
August 22: The American and French Revolutions
>>> Lockard, pp. 561-573
Questions for discussion: Why did the American Revolution get started? Why did
it succeed? What similarities were there between the American and
French Revolutions? Why did the French Revolution get so radical? Do you think the French Revolution
benefitted or harmed France?
August 25: Revolutions in Latin American and the Caribbean; the Industrial Revolution
>>> Lockard, pp. 573-583
Questions for discussion: What kind of people led the revolutions against Spanish rule
in Latin America? Do you think Adam Smith's idea of "laissez faire" was right in his time? In our time?
August 27: Nationalism and Socialism
>>> Lockard, pp. 583-589
>>> Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, pp. 49-65 (the opening page
and part 1, "Bourgeois and Proletarians")
Questions for discussion: People became more nationalist in their attitudes in places
like Italy, Germany, and Ireland in the 19th century. Which seems more natural and normal to you; those
nationalist attitudes, or the earlier, less nationalist attitudes? How important and influential was Karl
Marx in his own time? What do you think of Marx's idea that the main issue in history has been the
struggle of economic classes against one another? What was (and is) the bourgeoisie? What was (and is) the
proletariat?
August 29: The Communist Manifesto
>>> Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, pp. 65-91 (parts 2, 3, and 4)
Questions for discussion: What does Marx say about the current conditions, and attitudes, of
the proletariat? What kind of revolution does Marx predict? Why is he so sure it is going to happen?
September 1: Imperialism
>>> Lockard, pp. 590-595
Hand in a short paper (about two pages, typed double space), on the question:
How did The Communist Manifesto describe the role the bourgeoisie had played, and was playing,
in history? Please deal with both positive and negative comments about the bourgeoisie. (General education
competency R1.) If you are citing a statement or idea that
appeared in a particular location in
The Communist Manifesto, give the page number.
Additional questions for discussion: Why did European empires expand so much in the 19th
century? What was Social Darwinism?
September 3: European Society; the Rise of the United States
>>> Lockard, pp. 597-612
September 5: The United States, continued; the Rest of North and South America, and the Pacific
>>> Lockard, pp. 612-627
September 8: Colonialism in Africa
>>> Lockard, pp. 629-644
Questions for discussion: What was the influence of Islam in Africa? What was the influence
of Christianity? How effective was African resistance to European conquest?
>>> There will be a short quiz at the beginning of class, covering reading from
the Communist Manifesto through the September 8 assignment.
September 10: The Middle East
>>> Lockard, pp. 644-655
Questions for discussion: To what extent did Christianity exist in the Turkish Empire
(Ottoman Empire)? Who were the Wahhabis? What was the attitude of Muslims to European civilization? What
was Zionism?
September 12: Colonialism in India
>>> Lockard, pp. 657-671
September 15: Colonialism in Southeast Asia
>>> Lockard, pp. 672-683
Questions for discussion: When Lockard writes of a "plural society" having developed
under the British in Malaya, what does he mean? How did Siam hold onto its independence? How did the
United States establish control of the Philippines? What was the role of the Chinese in colonial Southeast Asia?
September 17: China, 1750-1914
>>> Lockard, pp. 685-698
Questions for discussion: Who were the Manchus? What was their attitude about relations
with Europe, in the early 19th century? What were the causes of the Opium War? What did the government of
China think about modernization and westernization, in the late 19th century? Why was the government
overthrown in 1911?
>>> There will be a short quiz at the beginning of class, covering the assignments
from September 10 through September 17.
September 19: Japan, Korea, and Russia, 1750-1914
>>> Lockard, pp. 699-713
Questions for discussion: Why did Japan open itself to contact with the West? What were
the Shoguns? What were the major policies of the Meiji leaders? How dictatorial were Russian rulers? How
much westernization was there in Russia in the 19th century?
September 22: World War I
>>> Lockard, pp. 715-722
Questions for discussion: What Started World War I? How and why was it so different from
previous wars in Europe? Why did the United States get into it?
September 24: The Russian Revolution
>>> Lockard, pp. 722-728
Questions for discussion: What made it possible for Lenin and the Bolskeviks to take over
Russia? How much connection was there between the ideas in the Communist Manifesto and the actions of
the Communists (formerly called Bolsheviks) in Russia? What kind of ruler was Stalin?
September 26: TEST
September 29: The 1920s, the Depression, and the Rise of Fascism and Nazism
>>> Lockard, pp. 728-739
Questions for discussion: What was the Great Depression? What was Fascism? What were
Hitler's important policies in the 1930s?
October 1: World War II
>>> Lockard, pp. 739-746
Questions for discussion: What was the Holocaust? How much did Hitler conquer? How much
did Japan conquer?
October 3: China in War and Revolution
>>> Lockard, pp. 754-759
>>> Seybolt, Throwing the Emperor from His Horse, Introduction and chapters
1 and 2 (you may also wish to read the Preface, but that is optional)
Questions for discussion: What were Chiang Kai-shek's accomplishments? What were his
weaknesses? What was there about Communism that attracted some Chinese?
October 6: Imperialism and Nationalism (general discussion); India; Southeast Asia; Africa
>>> Lockard, pp. 749-753, 759-771
Questions for discussion: What problems did the British face in keeping control of
India? What were Gandhi's ideas and policies? What were the results of the Japanese occupation of
Southeast Asia during World War II? To what extent was nationalism developing in Africa by the 1930s?
October 8: The Middle East, Latin America; Globalization and Modernization
>>> Lockard, pp. 771-796
October 10: Eva Peron: Growing Up in Argentina
>>> Fraser & Navarro, Evita, pp. 1-48
Questions for discussion: What were the small towns like, in which the future Eva Peron
spent her early years? What was Buenos Aires like, in the 1930s? What was the politics of Argentina like?
Who was Juan Peron? How much power did he have, and how had he gotten it?
October 13: Decolonization and the Cold War
>>> Lockard, pp. 797-812
Questions for discussion: What was "neocolonialism"? Was the world a better place after
World War II than it had been before, or was it worse, or was it neither?
October 15: Globalization in Economics, Environment, and Social Networks
>>> Lockard, pp. 813-832
October 17: China under Mao Zedong
>>> Lockard, pp. 835-841
>>> Seybolt, chapters 3, 4, 5
Questions for discussion: How well did cooperatives (the Chinese version of collective farms)
work in Houhua? Why was the Great Leap Forward such a disaster? How bad was it,
in Houhua? What sort of leader was Wang Fucheng?
October 19: China went through chaos, then chose a new path
>>> Lockard, pp. 841-845
>>> Seybolt, chapters 6, 7, 8, 9
Questions for discussion: What was the Cultural Revolution? What important changes were there
in China after Mao Zedong died? What changed in Houhua, in particular?
October 22: Recent China
>>> Lockard, pp. 845-850
>>> Seybolt, chapter 10
Write a short paper (about two pages, typed double space), due in class, on the question:
Did the policies of the Chinese Communist Party, as seen in Houhua Village, serve the interest of the
Party? Or were those policies stupidly self-destructive? (General education competencies
R1,
S2, and
S3.)
October 24: Japan, Korea, and Taiwan
>>> Lockard, pp. 850-864
October 27: Western Europe since World War II
>>> Lockard, pp. 867-883
October 29: Communism and post-Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe
>>> Lockard, pp. 883-899
October 31: The United States, Canada, and the Pacific Basin
>>> Lockard, pp. 902-919
November 3: No Class
November 5: Latin America and the Caribbean
>>> Lockard, pp. 919-932
November 7: The Perons Come to Power in Argentina
>>> Fraser & Navarro, Evita, pp. 49-101
Questions for discussion: How was Juan Peron forced out of power in October 1945? How
did he get back into power? Who supported him, and why?
November 10: Evita and the New Argentina
>>> Fraser & Navarro, Evita, pp. 102-147
November 12: Evita's Death, and the Aftermath
>>> Fraser & Navarro, Evita, pp. 148-198
Question for discussion: What does the treatment of Eva Peron's body, after her death, tell
us about her role and status in Argentine politics?
November 14: Discussion: Politics in the Third World
Hand in a short paper (about two pages, typed double space), on the questions:
Were Juan and Eva Peron ethical, in their behavior as political leaders? Did they care about the welfare
of the people of Argentina? (General education competencies
E2,
R3,
S2, and
S3.)
November 17: South Asia since Independence
>>> Lockard, pp. 969-982
November 19: Southeast Asia
>>> Lockard, pp. 982-1000
November 21: Hand in Newspaper research exercise (general education competencies R1 and R3).
There is no requirement that you use The New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Wall Street Journal, but those papers have the advantage that you can access them online through the Clemson Library's Articles Access Page. If you want to use newspapers other than those, your best bet is to go to the Microfilm Reading Room on level 2 of the Library, which has quite a few newspapers on microfilm. Weekly newsmagazines can be found as bound volumes on level 1 of the Library.
Evaluate the attitudes
of the authors. Is there anything that leads you to distrust them, or to think that the facts may
be being distorted to fit the author's viewpoint? Notice
the source; did the reporter say that something was true, or only that somebody else had
said it was true? If you say there is bias, please make it clear exactly what was said,
that you consider biased. What kind of bias was it (false statements, or use of emotionally
loaded language, or just careful selection of facts so that only
facts favorable to one side get mentioned)? Notice what you are reading:
--A news article is not supposed to have too much of the reporter's own opinions in it, but
there is nothing inherently wrong with the reporter quoting the opinions of other people. If a reporter is
quoting some very opinionated person, try to judge whether the reporter agrees with the person's opinions.
--An editorial is supposed to present the opinions of the newspaper; there is
nothing inherently wrong about it being opinionated. But you can still complain about bias if the
editorial is illogical or deceptive in the way it pushes that opinion.
--The same applies to an opinion piece written by someone who does not represent the newspaper.
Please give source notes. I want to be able to tell in each section of your paper which article or articles you are discussing in that section. It is not enough to have a list at the end, if I can’t tell as I read the paper which article you are discussing where. Source notes must give page numbers. I don’t care about the format of source notes as long as they tell me what I need to know. Any format that allows me easily to discern the name of the author if it was given, the title of the article, the title of the publication, and the date and page, is OK. If you found the articles on the Internet, say so, and say where.
November 24: The Middle East
>>> Lockard, pp. 935-951
November 26, 28: No Class
December 1: Africa
>>> Lockard, pp. 951-966
December 3: The US-Iraq War
December 5: The World Today; Review
Final exam: Tuesday, December 9, 8:00 a.m.
Other Links
Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas
Clemson University Academic Success Center, which provides help and tutoring for students encountering academic problems. It does not, however, have tutors specifically for History courses.
Revised August 19, 2008.