HIS 8275-01

Prof. Johnson

Thursdays, 6-8:50 p.m.

Summer Session III (June-July) 2004

Course Description: European Imperialism in the 19th-20th Centuries

This summer reading course will meet once a week for short reports and discussions of readings. The readings will deal with case studies of imperialism in various geographical areas (the Mediterranean and Middle East, Asia, Africa, etc.) and in various forms (cultural, economic, political, etc.) during the period from the 1830s to World War II, examined from the perspective both of the imperialists and of those subjected to imperialism. We will consider in some detail the arguments used to justify, criticize, or explain imperialism in its various manifestations at the time and afterwards. Work will include one short oral report and two short papers; there will be no final examination.

Books (tentative list):

Kipling, Rudyard. The Man Who Would Be King & Other Stories. Dover Publications.

Hobson, John A. Imperialism. University of Michigan Press.

Lenin, Vladimir I. Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. International Publishers.

Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold's Ghost. Houghton Mifflin.

Strobel, Margaret. Gender, Sex and Empire. American Historical Association pamphlet.

Headrick, Daniel R. The Tools of Empire. Oxford University Press.

Conklin, Alice L., ed. European Imperialism, 1830-1930: Climax & Contradiction. Houghton Mifflin Company.

Parsons, Timothy. The British Imperial Century, 1815-1914: Imperialism from the Perspective of World History. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.