Professor Louis Masur | Rutgers University

Sundays, 10:30am – 12:00pm ET, January 17, 24 and 31, 2021

In 1873, Mark Twain maintained that the Civil War and its immediate aftermath “uprooted institutions that were centuries old, changed the politics of a people, transformed the social life of half the country, and wrought so profoundly upon the entire national character that the influence cannot be measured short of two or three generations.”

In this three part course, we will examine the coming of the war, the four years of conflict that forever transformed the United States, and the struggle that followed  to reconstruct the nation.

$89

Professor Joseph Luzzi | Bard College

Saturdays, 11:00am – 12:15pm ET, January 23, 30 and February 6, 2021

In this 3-part course, we will explore the books that best represent this quest to tell the American story, answering such questions as: What does it mean to be “American”? What books have had the greatest impact on U.S. history and culture? How can fiction illuminate the hard truths of American life? We will explore how masterpieces ranging from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury to Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, and Philip Roth’s American Pastoral, and more, reveal the characters and conflicts of the American spirit.

$89

Professor Tina Rivers-Ryan | Albright-Knox Art Gallery ( Formerly of Columbia University)

Saturdays, 1:00pm – 2:30pm ET, February 6 and 13, 2021

The Course will be taught by art historian and curator Dr. Tina Rivers Ryan. Although she has been lecturing with One Day University for a decade, Dr. Ryan has never spoken before about these masterpieces — until now! The extended format of the Premium Course will allow her to give these paintings the attention they deserve, placing them into the context of each artist’s career and the larger history of art. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to hear her informative, accessible interpretations of these iconic works.

$89

Professor Marc Lapadula | Yale University

Thursdays, 7:00pm – 8:30pm ET, February 11, 18, 2021

In addition to the seductive allure of Television in the 1950s, the intrusion of the House Un-American Activities Committee and its concomitant blacklist decimated the ranks of talented actors, producers, screenwriters, composers and directors and threatened to drain Hollywood’s once seemingly depthless talent pool. With this in mind, how did the decade of the 1950s and its after-effects that spilled over into the early 1960s manage to produce some of the most outstanding, provocative and controversial cinematic achievements in the history of the movies? The treacherous web of political limitations imposed at this time forced filmmakers to become much more sophisticated in the articulation and dissemination of their jaundiced view of society, compelling them to disguise their true artistic intentions and scathing critique of a culture headed towards self-destruction behind a mask of clever genre thrills. We will closely examine two outstanding films in their entirety that are shining examples

$89