Oct 9, 2006
Another Monday Reading Bleg
I’m working on syllabi for next semester this week. I’ve finished my undergraduate class syllabus; Ralph gave it a nod below and you can read it here if you like.
My graduate reading seminar in early American history is now costing me some serious effort. This used to be an easy course to teach and organize: early America meant the history of British settlement in the thirteen original colonies from 1607-1789. Easily defined temporal and geographical bounds are now a thing of the past, though. With the rise of prehistory and ethnohistory, no graduate readings seminar begins in 1607, for we recognize the importance of understanding indigenous North America prior to and during the early encounters with Europeans. Borderlands history has substantially increased the early Americanist’s awareness of the early Southeast, the Great Lakes region, and the trans-Mississippi west. And the growth of Atlantic history brings the Spanish and French North American settlements into sharper focus, and it has also brought the Caribbean and West Africa into the early Americanist’s orbit.
My graduate reading seminar has to make students aware of these vast historiographical changes and teach them how to navigate early American history. I’m calling the course Readings in North American History, 1500-1800. I plan to keep the focus on British North America, but every week I’ll assign reading that addresses Spanish or French North America and the early modern Atlantic world. I’ve got fifteen weeks to do this, and as my reading list gets longer (and probably less doable as well!) I’m very much aware of how much ground needs to be covered and how little time I have to introduce students to main themes, topics, and problems in early American history.
As a follow-up to Rob’s bleg last week, I’m interested in what Cliopatria’s readers would assign and discuss in a similar class. List your top five early American history books in the comments. On Friday I’ll make a composite post of readers’ favorite works in North American history, 1500-1800. Sometime next week when I’m done with the syllabus, I’ll post it online so interested folks can see which of their favorites made the reading list, and which ones did not!
My graduate reading seminar in early American history is now costing me some serious effort. This used to be an easy course to teach and organize: early America meant the history of British settlement in the thirteen original colonies from 1607-1789. Easily defined temporal and geographical bounds are now a thing of the past, though. With the rise of prehistory and ethnohistory, no graduate readings seminar begins in 1607, for we recognize the importance of understanding indigenous North America prior to and during the early encounters with Europeans. Borderlands history has substantially increased the early Americanist’s awareness of the early Southeast, the Great Lakes region, and the trans-Mississippi west. And the growth of Atlantic history brings the Spanish and French North American settlements into sharper focus, and it has also brought the Caribbean and West Africa into the early Americanist’s orbit.
My graduate reading seminar has to make students aware of these vast historiographical changes and teach them how to navigate early American history. I’m calling the course Readings in North American History, 1500-1800. I plan to keep the focus on British North America, but every week I’ll assign reading that addresses Spanish or French North America and the early modern Atlantic world. I’ve got fifteen weeks to do this, and as my reading list gets longer (and probably less doable as well!) I’m very much aware of how much ground needs to be covered and how little time I have to introduce students to main themes, topics, and problems in early American history.
As a follow-up to Rob’s bleg last week, I’m interested in what Cliopatria’s readers would assign and discuss in a similar class. List your top five early American history books in the comments. On Friday I’ll make a composite post of readers’ favorite works in North American history, 1500-1800. Sometime next week when I’m done with the syllabus, I’ll post it online so interested folks can see which of their favorites made the reading list, and which ones did not!