Reading for Tuesday, January 4th

I hope everyone is enjoying the remainder of the holidays. Before we come back to school, please read Merriman 360-375 and 513-523. We will be studying the Industrial Revolution over the next three weeks and we'll skip around a little bit in the textbook because of the broad time span impacted by industrialization. See you soon.

Assignments for week of Dec. 13th

For class on Wednesday, please read the Napoleonic Footsoldier handout and begin preparing for the exam on Friday. In class Wednesday we will discuss the impact of Napoleon on Portugal and Brazil, the handout, and save some time for a review before the exam. Please bring any questions that you may have, and prepare as much as possible before then, as we will only have time to discuss a select few terms, and briefly discuss the essays.

exam 2 review sheet

Homework for Friday and Tuesday

On Friday Dec. 3rd, you will be writing a DBQ essay in class. The following Tuesday we will begin to discuss the French Revolution in earnest. Toward that end please read chapter 12 in Merriman. It's a dense chapter, so leave some time to read it in more than one sitting. We will try to save some time to discuss the Cat Massacre reading, and for those who expressed interest in Marie Antoinette I have provided some links below to materials related to a PBS documentary about her. The check out the timeline on the first, and the second is the entire 2-hour movie available in 10-minute clips on YouTube.

http://www.pbs.org/marieantoinette/
YouTube - Marie Antoinette

Reading for Wed. Dec. 1st

Please review the sample DBQ and identify the following four things: thesis, POV analysis, grouping & faults identified by the commenter. Also read the essay handed out in class yesterday. Bring to class a brief outline of some of the analytical categories that we discussed. If you have a hard time remembering those, refer to the acronym RIPE CATS. (thank you Ethan ;)

Reading and Id terms for Tuesday, November 30th

Please read Merriman 411-431 and prepare the list of identification terms for chapter 11. The complete list is presented below:

1. War of Jenkins' Ear
2. Bonnie Prince Charlie
3. Pragmatic Sanction
4. Acadians
5. Diplomatic Revolution
6. Black Hole of Calcutta
7. rotten & pocket boroughs
8. Whigs & Tories
9. John Wilkes
10. Parlements
11. indirect rule (Ottoman)
12. the Sejm

• n

Homework & Reading for Thursday, Nov. 18th

Please read Merriman, 386-411. Note that we are skipping over chapter 10 for now. We will return to it when we address the Industrial Revolution. Also, please critique the DBQ essays of the other two members of your group. The essay and critique will count as separate participation assignments. Use the rubric I distributed last week when we began the assignment, and give your peers thoughtful, constructive suggestions.

Reading and assignments for Tuesday, 11/16

Please finish reading chapter 9 in Merriman. Also, please complete the DBQ assigned last Tuesday and bring a printed copy to class as you will workshop them with your peers. Also, please complete the list of id. terms for Chapter 9, and bring a printed copy to turn in. The full list of terms is below:

• Montesquieu
• Voltaire
• Diderot
• Rousseau
• Pietism
• Methodism
• Rococo
• Salons
• Beccaria
• Philosopher king
• Physiocrats
• Public opinion

Reading and homework for Friday, Nov. 12th

For Friday, please read Merriman, 315-336 and complete the practice DBQ essay that we began in class today. Remember that you should not spend more than an hour on it, as we're trying to make this experience similar to the AP exam conditions. For those of you who will not be in class on Friday, please bring the essay to class the following Tuesday, and keep up with the reading. Check the blog over the weekend for the conclusion of this chapter and a full list of id. terms.

Reading and homework for Tuesday, Nov. 9th

Please read Merriman, 312-325 for class on Tuesday.


As you begin reading Chapter 9, please take a moment to reflect on how the Enlightenment fits into the story of European history that we are constructing. In the coming weeks we will be building up to the French Revolution. Toward that end, please write 3-4 sentence identifications for the four enlightenment thinkers highlighted in this section: Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot and Rousseau. For the significance component of the id., try to show how their works reflected and/or influenced political realities of the 18th century. Feel free to write about how they influenced one another (ie. Rousseau and Diderot's encyclopedia). I would like you to type these up and bring them to class, but I will not collect them this Tuesday, rather I'll collect them with a couple of other assignments when we finish the chapter the following Tuesday.

Reading for Thursday, Nov. 5

Please read Merriman chapter 8. This is a short chapter, so we'll read the whole thing in one shot. See you Thursday.

Exam rescheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 2nd

Due to an abundance of scheduling conflicts, most students in the class have elected to take the quarterly exam on Tuesday, Nov. 2nd. The exam will be administered in class, last block. The format will be identical but will include a different set of questions (still derived from our review sheet). For the five students who chose to take the test on Friday, please come to class and I will get you started on a project in the library. Happy Halloween.

Exam Friday - 10/29/10

Just a reminder that our first quarter exam will take place on Friday. I have pasted a link to the review sheet below in case you need to access it. Remember that you will have to answer 12 identification terms and only one essay from each category.


exam 1 review sheet

Reading and Reminder for Thursday, Oct. 21

Please read Merriman, 226-241 and finish the Bubonic Plague essay. The final draft is due Thursday, and should be 3-5 pages, double-spaced, 1" margins, 12pt. Times New Roman font. There is no supplemental reading for Thursday so that you can focus your energy on the final draft. I look forward to reading them.

Reading for Tuesday, Oct. 19th

Please read Merriman, 208-226 and the Taking Sides reading distributed on Friday. There is no guided reading question for Tuesday's class.

*friendly reminder* - You should have ordered the Taking Sides book by this point. Also note that the final draft of Essay 1 is due this Thursday, Oct. 21st.

Homework due Friday, Oct. 15

Please read Merriman, 179-207. In a one-paragraph response:

Compare the expansion of Spanish and English economies in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Why did England surpass Spain and how did the Atlantic economy evolve in the process?

**note**  This is a huge question that is treated throughout chapter 5. I'm asking you to condense and simplify the textbook analysis of this topic.

Homework due Wednesday, Oct. 13

Please read Merriman, 163-178 and the selection by Fernand Braudel handed out in class and also available at the link below. Notice that the Merriman reading is fairly light but Braudel is lengthy and dense with information, so plan accordingly. For homework, please write a paragraph describing what the Annales school is, and how it fits into the historiographical trends discussed this week in class. (a brief internet search should provide you more than enough info.) Have a great weekend. I'll be busy reading your drafts.

 Fernand Braudel

Homework - due Friday, Oct. 8th

Sorry for the late post guys. Don't worry about a supplemental reading for tomorrow. Just read Merriman, 145-161 and finish up the rough draft. See you tomorrow...

Homework - due Wednesday, Oct. 5th

For class on Wednesday, please read Merriman, 126-145 and the excerpt in the pdf link below:

C.V. Wedgwood

Please submit a brief response that includes an identification of Wedgwood's thesis, and an outline of the main pillars of his argument. Your response should not exceed one paragraph, or the equivalent. Please try to post your response as a comment to this Post. If you are unable to do so, bring a hard copy to class on Wednesday.

Homework for Monday, Oct. 4th

Because we will not have class on Thursday, Sept. 30th, we will be pushing back the readings outlined in the course schedule one class. For Monday, please read Merriman pp. 103-125, and the Martin Luther debate handed out today. Also come to class prepared to discuss your progress on the first paper with a partner. The rough draft will be due on Wednesday, so this is your opportunity to get some feedback. Please bring whatever you've got on paper at that point to class with you.

MEH Update - 9/25/10

A couple of items for your consideration prior to Tuesday's class. I have selected a reader for us to use during the remainder of the course. The title is Taking Sides: Clashing Views in World History, vol. 2. (3rd edition) I would suggest you look for a copy of this on Amazon or Half.com, where they can be found much cheaper than from the publisher ($18.50 direct from Amazon, or under $10 from some private sellers). We won't use this for a week or two, but please order it soon so you have it. In the meantime I'll supplement our textbook with some primary source readings and a couple items from the first volume of Taking Sides. For Tuesday's class I would like you to read a short piece by Erasmus, which I will copy and have available for you on Monday. Please stop by my room (Hum 6) and pick up a copy. We'll center a class discussion around this piece on Tuesday. As always you have a reading assignment from Merriman. Please refer to the syllabus for page numbers. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.