HIST 150 - Suicide, Santa, and Soda

Through the use of primary documents (written, oral, visual, material) and recent scholarship from a variety of disciplines, this course emphasizes the need to rethink the past, reinterpret it in the light of new evidence. In doing so, this course will attempt to bring more life to the reading, researching, writing, thinking, and learning of American history by focusing on how historians go about their work—how they examine evidence, how they pose questions, and how they reach answers. Topics, such as The Strange Death of Silas Deane, Revisiting A Visit from St. Nicholas, and Pop Pedagogy, are set in the context of specific methods historians have employed. In each case, the course provides students with some sense of participation—the savor of doing history.

Credits: 3 hours