UNDERGRADUATE CATALOG - Mercy College

Course Descriptions / 221
HIST 314 History of England:
The history of England will be examined from the time of the first invasion of the Romans to
the present day. We will be interested in politics, cultural and social history, and will place
the major events of English history in the broader context of the development of the people
as we see their progress over two thousand years. Prerequisites: ENGL 110 and ENGL 111. 3
seminar hours, 3 credits.
HIST 320 Historiography and Historical Method:
An introduction to historiography and historical method through guided readings in primary
sources and secondary literature. This course is organized around topics that will give the
student experience in the recognition, critique, and writing of historical narrative. Use of the
computer in historical research will be stressed. This required course for History majors is to
be taken senior year. Prerequisite: ENGL 111 and division approval. 3 sem. hrs. 3 crs.
HIST 321 America in the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era: 1877 - 1920:
This course is about the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The first part of the course will cover the settling of the Great Plains; the burgeoning industrial
revolution; and the emergence of big business, taking into account the many opportunities
and abuses which resulted from these developments. The period was also characterized by a
high degree of domestic turmoil as the military suppressed the Indians; racist and xenophobic
groups targeted minorities and immigrants; and workers and farmers fought for their causes.
The second part of the course will focus on American expansionism, including the Spanish-
American War, and on the reforms of the Progressive Era during the presidencies of Theodore
Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson. 3 sem. hrs. 3 crs.
HIST 324 History of the United States Since 1941:
An intensive study of the recent past. The course considers such subjects as America and
World War II; the development of the Cold War and the Vietnam involvement; the nature of
the Eisenhower era, the Kennedy years, and the protest period of the 1960s, and the difficulties
of the Nixon-Ford-Carter administrations of the 1970s; the Reagan era of the 1980s and the
aftermath. 3 sem. hrs. 3 crs.
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
HIST 331 History of Ancient Egypt:
This course is a one-semester survey of the history and culture of ancient Egyptian civilization.
We will take an archaeological approach, looking at ruins as well as documents to see how
the people lived, thought, worshiped, what they ate and wore, and how they behaved. We
will look at the buildings and the art they left behind. We will also try to sift fact from fiction.
One of our tasks will be the historiography of this culture, in that we will observe the ways
in which later cultures viewed the achievements of the Egyptians. Prerequisites: ENGL 110
and ENGL 111. 3 sem. hrs. 3 crs.
HIST 332 China In History: From Antiquity to the Present:
The history of China, including origins of its society and culture; the development of classical
Chinese civilization during the age of feudalism; the development of China’s “super-power”
status during the age of bureaucratic empire; the setbacks and struggles during the interregnum of
the Western onslaught;, and China’s reemergence as a superpower today. 3 sem. hrs. 3 crs.
HIST 333 Asia in Revolution:
A study of the gigantic upheavals in society and culture that comprise Asia’s ongoing response
to the challenge of Western power. Highlighted will be Gandhian nonviolent resistance, Maoist
guerilla warfare, Japanese militarism, and the subsequent economic counter-challenge of the
Japanese-led Pacific rim. 3 sem. hrs. 3 crs.