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Featured Class
Stan Rachootin / Mount Holyoke:
The Education of Charles Darwin. How a Scientific Revolution was Born.
Charles Darwin triggered a wholesale scientific revolution with the publication of his 1859 classic, The Origin of Species. Yet Darwin was hardly destined to be one of the world’s... read more
Free TrialBeethoven’s Ninth—The Story of a Masterpiece
Instructor:
Thomas Kelly / Harvard
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony may be the most famous piece of classical music. It certainly has the best-known tune, and its message to all of humanity has resonated ever since its premiere in 1824. Thi... read more
Bringing an Alleged Nazi to Justice 50 Years Later
Instructor:
Jonathan Steinberg / Penn
On June 22, 1941 at 3:00a.m. the Wehrmacht swept across the Soviet frontier. Each Army Group had a team of SS murders, the so-called Einsatzgruppen, assigned to exterminate the 5 million Soviet ... read more
Century of Immigration and the Transformation of America
Instructor:
Hasia Diner / Nyu
In the century between the 1820s, when mass migration from Europe began, and the 1920s, when the United States Congress began imposing severe immigration restrictions, America was transformed. Th... read more
FDR and the Path to World War II
Instructor:
Richard Pious / Columbia / Barnard
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and four days later Germany and Italy also declared war on the U.S. Yet America's involvement in World War II had been predetermined as early as May of 1940 when A... read more
Hitler—The Man and the Mystery
Instructor:
Jonathan Steinberg / Penn
“Hitler is not of our race,” observed the great German historian Otto Hintze. “He is an alien in our midst.” Hintze was right. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) never had a friend, probably had no sexual life, and ... read more
Medievalism in the 21st Century
Instructor:
Daniel Donoghue / Harvard
Europe’s Middle Ages, from 600 to 1500 A.D., is often remembered for its barbarity. Indeed, the repression of Jews, slavery, and rigid social hierarchy characterized the period. Today, it’s common to refer to the Tal... read more
Presidential Nominations—Why We Get the Candidates We Get
Instructor:
Richard Pious / Columbia / Barnard
The presidential nominating season is shifting into high gear, and it will hit its first climax this January and February when the sole candidates for both major parties will compete i... read more
Race, Politics, & Capitalism—The Story of Baseball & America
Instructor:
Sol Gittleman / Tufts
From the end of the American Civil War to the present, the emergence of baseball in the United States reflected the evolution of urbanization, immigration, race, the labor movement, entre... read more
The American Immigrant Experience
Instructor:
Sol Gittleman / Tufts
America is a nation of immigrants. While different ethnic and racial groups have signaled separate waves of immigration, the immigrant experience over the last 385 years has been strikingly similar — often defined by... read more
The Civil War and the Untold Story of Emancipation
Instructor:
David Blight / Yale
For many Americans, the word "emancipation" conjures up images of joyful, freed slaves and President Lincoln penning his famous proclamation. But Professor Blight argues that to truly understand the ... read more
The Cold War and How Secret U.S. Propaganda Saved Europe
Instructor:
Joseph Mc Veigh / Smith
In the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. Forces embarked on an ambitious program of “re-education” (in Germany) and “re-orientation” (in Austria) intended to reshape the culture of these nati... read more
The Dawn of Cinema and the Transformation of America
Instructor:
Charles Musser / Yale
The arrival of cinema (projected motion pictures) in the mid-1890s changed American culture like almost no other singular event. Things that were once forbidden suddenly became legal and even quit... read more
The Emergence of A Powerful Supreme Court
Instructor:
Christopher Schmidt / Dartmouth
The United States Supreme Court has assumed a central role in practically all the critical issues of our time—the war on terrorism, abortion, racial preferences, legislative districting, and even the ou... read more
The Founding Fathers and the Untold Story of the Revolution
Instructor:
Jack Rakove / Stanford
The Founding Fathers have often been portrayed as men of unflinching resolve, deeply committed to the idea of independence, but the revolution they led was one that none of them had truly anti... read more
The House, the Senate, and Why Congress Almost Never Gets Anything Done
Instructor:
Wendy Schiller / Brown
The 2006 election signaled a monumental shift in political power in the nation’s capital. The Democratic Party gained control of both houses for the first time since 1995, promisi... read more
The Legend of Galileo
Instructor:
William Carrol / Oxford
The story of Galileo’s encounter with the Inquisition in the early 17th Century constitutes one of the central chapters in a grand narrative of modernity. The Inquisition, according to the standard interpretation, required tha... read more
The Political and Moral Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Instructor:
Andrew Delbanco / Columbia
The name Abraham Lincoln is practically synonymous with political greatness. Every politician — Democrats as well as those of his own party, the Republicans —claims him as an inspiration. But what i... read more
The Politics of Morality in America
Instructor:
James Morone / Brown
Starting with the Puritans, a unique American brand of governance was created that had morality as its centerpiece. They hanged Quakers and “witches,” slaughtered Native Americans, and exiled heretics to Rhode Isla... read more
The State of Democracy 2009—What Would the Founders Say?
Instructor:
Wendy Schiller / Brown
Is the United States the democratic republic that our Founders envisioned? Are the “American” principles of government, reflected in our Constitution, still in place today? What would... read more
The Untold History of the US Constitution
Instructor:
Akhil Amar / Yale
Few documents in human history have been as momentous or as thoroughly studied as the American Constitution, but at its inception, the Constitution was far more democratic and pro-slavery than most citizens rea... read more
The Untold History of the US Constitution
Instructor:
Akhil Amar / Yale
Few documents in human history have been as momentous or as thoroughly studied as the American Constitution, but at its inception, the Constitution was far more democratic and pro-slavery than most citizens rea... read more
The Untold Story of Resistance in Nazi Germany
Instructor:
Anne Nelson / Columbia
The heroic accounts of Resistance movements in France and Holland during World War II have long been told in popular lore, books, and film. But what of resistance activities within Germany itself? Did such... read more
Understanding America Through Three Classic Photographs
Instructor:
Louis Masur / Trinity
It's nearly impossible to remember the most significant events in our nation's history without having specific images immediately appear in our mind's eye: photographs in color and in black and wh... read more
Weapons that Weren’t—Inside The Search For WMD in Iraq and Iran
Instructor:
Richard Pious / Columbia / Barnard
What really went wrong with American Intelligence on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction? Can it go wrong again with Iran, which may be developing its own WMD? The CIA, the Penta... read more
What is Islam?
Instructor:
Ali Asani / Columbia
There are 1.4 billion Muslims in the world—over a fifth of the world’s total population. Seventy percent of these Muslims live outside the Arab world, including Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Despite its vastness, it’s a religion t... read more
Will Obama Be a Great President? What History Tells Us
Instructor:
Richard Pious / Columbia / Barnard
Recorded just before the election of President Obama, Professor Pious weighed in on his chance of being one of the country’s great leaders. He also looked a challenger John McCain’s chances at g... read more
