HTY 502 Graduate Reading Seminar: Revolutionary America

Amos Doolittle, British Retreat from Lexington
(engraving for sale Dec. 1775)

Doolitte_BritishRetreat_Lex_Dec1775Instructor:  Liam Riordan

Class Number:  76665

Days/Time:  Thursday, 4:00 – 5:50 p.m.

Location:  Stevens 175

Description: This seminar examines current scholarship about Revolutionary America. As one of the most vital fields in U.S. history, students need not be pursuing an early American specialty to benefit from this course. Historiographical and methodological developments will be central concerns as we consider varied interpretations of the political, social, economic, and cultural transformations of the broad Revolutionary Era. While much leading work has focused on ideology and political culture, we will also examine how the Revolution’s meaning varied by social group, region, and time period. A persistent question throughout the semester concerns your own assessment of the American Revolution. Was it a radical event?

Undergraduates with a strong record in upper-level History courses may enroll in this seminar with the permission of the instructor.

Prerequisites: Graduate students, senior history majors and others by permission.