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Message Department of History Course CatalogueFall 2025Everything Has A History. Discover It In Fall 2025.Lecture Courses – GenEds – Undergraduate Seminars – First-Year Seminars – Tutorials – Conference Courses – Graduate Proseminars – Graduate Seminars - Independent Study & PracticaCross-Listed Courses – Distribution Requirements– Spring 2026 Courses

Lecture CoursesOur lecture courses are listed in the 10-90 range and are primarily undergraduate level lecture format courses open to all students at any level, whether first-year students or senior concentrators unless indicated otherwise.These courses will meet for two 1hr15min lectures per week Each lecture also holds a required 1hr discussion section. Students will sign up for a placeholder section and submit time preferences in my.harvard immediately following registration.

Hist 20A: Western Intellectual History: Greco-Roman AntiquityProf. James HankinsFall 2025 Mondays & Wednesdays 10:30-11:45A survey of major themes in the intellectual history of the Greek and Roman World, with special attention to metaphysics, psychology, ethics and the philosophic life. Readings in the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, Epictetus, Cicero, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Plotinus, Augustine, and Boethius.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 23: Immigration Law: A History of the PresentProf. Jesse Hoffnung-GarskofFall 2025 Mondays & Wednesdays 10:30-11:45This course assists students to develop an informed analysis of the current political debate through investigation of the legal history of immigration since founding of the republic. Students analyze the ways that histories of race, gender, sexuality, class and global politics have shaped and continue to shape the law and politics of immigration. Through structured in-class activities and challenges, students learn a range of legal history methods. They then have opportunities to use these methods to study competing claims about immigration in the current moment. Ideal for anyone considering a career in immigration law, policy, social activism or public service, but all are welcome.

Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 29: The Fall of the Roman EmpireProf. Michael McCormickFall 2025 Mondays & Wednesdays 12:00-1:15Uses the latest results of archaeology, written sources, environmental sciences, genetics, GIS, etc., to study the changes, violent or subtle, that transformed the Roman world to produce medieval civilization between ca. 300 and 700. Topics include Constantine's conversion; economic recovery, collapse and climate change; the barbarians; women and power; pandemic disease; emphasizes reading of ancient sources in translation, archaeology, and the sciences of the human past.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 39: Jews In the Modern WorldProf. Derek PenslarFall 2025 Mondays & Wednesdays 9:00-10:15A survey of Jewish history over the past three hundred years. The course presents Jews as members of a world civilization that has constantly interacted with, shaped, and been shaped by other civilizations. We focus on three major geographic centers of modern Jewish life: the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and North America. Topics to be covered include: the impact of modernity on Jewish society; the transformation of Judaism and

the formation of secular Jewish identities; new forms of antisemitism; the Holocaust, modern Jewish political movements; and the state of Israel.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 44: Germany, 1848-1949Prof. Alison Frank Johnson Fall 2025 Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:30-11:45German History loomed like a specter over the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, Americans have been debating the relevance and legitimacy of comparisons between German history and our contemporary world. How useful is German history for understanding our current moment? How might our present-day concerns distort what we see in the past? This course will examine the history of Germans in Europe and elsewhere, starting with the revolutions of 1848 and ending with the separation of Austria, West Germany, and East Germany following the Second World War. Themes will be war, insurrection, and terrorism, revolution and counter-revolution, gender and sexuality, reform, violence, anti-Semitism, racial thinking and racism, and migration. Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 55: Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789Dr. Jin-Woo Choi Fall 2025

Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:30-2:45This course is an introductory survey of European Early Modern history, from the fifteenth to the late eighteenth century. Organized chronologically and thematically, it examines developments from the late Middle Ages to the Age of Revolutions, including the passage from feudalism to urban institutions, the Renaissance, European Expansion overseas, the Protestant and the Catholic Reformations, the Scientific Revolution, the Rise of Absolutism, slavery, the Enlightenment, and Revolutions. Meetings will alternate between lecture and discussion of primary sources (available in English translation).Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 56: Coffee and the Nighttime: History and Politics, 1400-2020Prof. Cemal KafadarFall 2025 Mondays & Wednesdays 1:30-2:45Since the fifteenth century, individuals and societies in different parts of the world adopted a gradually but unmistakably quickening tempo in their everyday lives and started to make more uses of the nighttime –for socializing, for entertainment, and for work. In this reconfiguration of the architecture of day and night, people turned to various psychotropic substances such as coffee to help them better manipulate times of activity and repose. They have also created new social institutions such as coffeehouses, which turned into public spaces for engagement with new forms of arts and politics. The course offers a history of these developments until our own time of “living 24/7” in terms of their social, economic and political consequences. Biological aspects such as addiction and pressures on our circadian rhythms

will also be explored in the context of histories of sleep and nocturnal activity.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 62: African Diaspora in the AmericasProf. Vincent Brown Fall 2025 Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:00-10:15Africans and their descendants in the Americas have drawn upon their experiences to create enduring cultural forms that seem simultaneously to be thoroughly American and distinctly African. How can we best understand these diverse cultural practices? From where did they derive? How are they related to each other? The course explores how transnational affinities have been articulated, debated, and put to use from the Transatlantic slave trade to the present.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 76: The History of EnergyProf. Ian MillerFall 2025 Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:30-11:45

Modern life is defined by our use of energy: fossil fuels, hydroelectricity, nuclear power, renewables. These forms of energy power modern economies, politics, and everyday life. They heat and cool our homes, cook our food, enable our work, and illuminate the device you are almost certainly using to read these very words. Humanity’s seemingly boundless appetite for energy has also remade global climate. This course tracks the development of modern energy history from the advent of age of coal to the present day, with special attention to the intersections between social change and energy systems. Our primary focus will be on the emergence of what some scholars call “fossil fuel civilization”; its costs, benefits, and prospects. Our approach is historical rather than economic or technical. We will read primary documents, place today’s news in context, and craft our own narratives of historical change.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 83: Heidegger’s Being and TimeProf. Peter Gordon Fall 2025 Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:00-10:15Martin Heidegger’s famous first book, Being and Time, is one of the most important philosophical works of the twentieth century. It existentializes Aristotle’s ontology, systematizes the existential insights of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, and on that basis offers a radical critique of Husserl’s phenomenological account of intentionality. The result is a dramatically original and compelling interpretation of the human condition. This interpretation leads, in turn, to an account of the nature of philosophical and scientific inquiry, as well as their limitations. Being and Time has

“I know, as many do, that I’ve been living a pandemic all my life; it is structural rather than viral; it is the global state of emergency of antiblackness.” Dionne Brand, “On Narrative, Reckoning and the Calculus of Living and Dying,” Toronto Star important implications for all those disciplines that study human beings. In this course we will explore major themes of this often bewildering work, with an emphasis on charitable interpretation: What is the relationship between theoretical knowledge and understanding-by-doing? What is the nature of our social being? What does it mean to be ‘inauthentic’ or ‘authentic,’ and what are the implications of human finitude? Finally, what is the ‘Question of Being’? Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 86: Race and Public Health Crises: From TB to AIDS to COVID-19Prof. George Aumoithe Fall 2025 Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:00-1:15This course explores the complex interplay between race and public health crises, from tuberculosis to AIDS and COVID-19. Students will examine the visual culture of epidemics, critically analyze systems of racial classification, and study the work of influential sociologists, political scientists and historians of medicine and public health. The course challenges students to question the racial epistemology underlying epidemiological research and practice, fostering a deeper understanding of how race has shaped and has been shaped by public health responses from the 19th century to the present. By engaging with diverse materials and perspectives, students will develop critical tools to analyze racial health disparities and their societal implications, both in historical contexts and amid contemporary health challenges.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll Now

Hist 87: Democracy: The Long View and the Bumpy HistoryProf. Alexander KeyssarFall 2025 Tuesdays & Thursdays 4:30-5:45This course will explore key episodes and turning points in the history of democracy from ancient Athens to the present. It is shaped by two overarching and compelling questions: What circumstances, conditions, and forces are conducive to the development, deepening, and preservation of democratic ideas, values, and institutions? And conversely, what are the conditions or forces that tend to inhibit or threaten the emergence, strengthening, or even survival of democracy? Among the historical episodes to be examined are: ancient Greece and the Near East; the American Revolution; Europe during industrialization; Latin America in the 19th and 20th centuries; India and Pakistan; the “third wave” of democratization; and the challenges facing democratization in the last thirty years. This course is jointly offered at HKS as DPI 703.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll Now

History GenEd Lecture CoursesThese lecture courses are listed in the General Education department and are taught by full members of the History Department Faculty. As with Cross-Listed Courses, GenEd Courses taught by full members of the History Department Faculty automatically count as History courses for concentration credit.These courses will meet for two 1hr15min lectures per week Each lecture also holds a required 1hr discussion section. Students will sign up for a placeholder section and submit time preferences in my.harvard immediately following registration.

GenEd 1034: Texts and Translations Profs. Ann Blair and Leah WhittingtonFall 2025 Mondays & Wednesdays 3:00-4:15What makes some texts long-lived while others are ephemeral, today and in the past? Description: We live in a moment of “crisis” around regimes of preservation and loss. As our communication becomes ever more digital— and, therefore, simultaneously more ephemeral and more durable—the attitudes and tools we have for preserving our culture have come to seem less apt than they may have seemed as recently as a generation ago. This course examines how texts have been transmitted from the past to the present, and how we can plan for their survival into the future. We will examine what makes texts durable by considering especially the media by which they are transmitted, the changing cultural attitudes toward their content, and the institutions by which they are preserved. The European Renaissance will provide a central case study. During this period scholars became aware of the loss of ancient texts and strove to recover and restore them insofar as possible. These interests prompted new developments in scholarly conservation techniques which we still value today (philology, libraries, and museums) but also the creation and transmission of new errors, ranging from well-intentioned but overzealous corrections and “improvements” to outright forgeries. What can the Renaissance teach us about how to engage productively with these problems, both as the source of our current attitudes toward preservation and loss, and as a case study of another culture dealing with anxiety over preservation and loss? Ultimately, we hope that students will be able to think productively about preservation in the past and in the future, while recognizing that all preservation inherently involves some kind of transformation.

Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowGenEd 1147: American Food: A Global History Prof. Joyce ChaplinFall 2025 Mondays & Wednesdays 12:00-1:15Food has been central to American history, from Indigenous domestication of maize (now the world’s most common food staple) to European invasion in search of spices, and from the starving time in early Virginia to debates about fatness and health in the United States today. But what--if anything--is American about American food? What does food tell us about the American past and what might that past indicate about food today? How have food and eating changed over time? How have individual food choices and national food policies connected Americans to the larger world, both the social or political worlds of other human beings and the natural world of all other living beings? Readings will include primary (raw) and secondary (cooked) sources, and assignments will include two short papers, a mid-term exam, and either a final exam or an individual research paper or project.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowGenEd 1203: How the Germans Embraced Hitler: Politics, Culture, the Economy and the Death of Democracy in Germany 1918-1945Prof. David SpreenFall 2025

Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:30-11:45In a time where modern democracies across the world face challenges, what can (and can’t) we learn from the collapse of German democracy and the rise of Hitler between the two World Wars? Comparisons with fascism are yet again en vogue. Whether from the Left or the Right of the political spectrum, if statements about political opponents are to be believed, there are Nazis everywhere. Leaving aside such facile comparisons and analogies, this course offers an in-depth case study of Germany's path from a democracy full of promise and possibility to that democracy's collapse into tyranny, war, and the Holocaust. We will work extensively with primary sources including contemporary eye witness accounts, political and economic commentary, art, and literature to explore the rise of National Socialism in the context of the politics, culture, and economics of Germany after the First World War before turning to the way the Nazis managed to seize the state, remake German society after 1933, and plunge Europe into war and genocide by the end of the decade. The course will debunk the many myths about the roots of Nazism and work towards an explanation of its rise that does justice to the complexities of lived experience between the two World Wars. With an eye towards the active nature of democratic citizenship, the course will emphasize the many junctures at which the ascend of National Socialism could have been prevented by people from the various corners of interwar Germany's political spectrum.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll Now

Undergraduate Seminar CoursesLimited to 12-15 students, our undergraduate seminar courses are listed in the 100-199 range and are primarily undergraduate level seminar-format courses open to all students at any level, whether first-year students or senior concentrators.These courses will meet for either 2hrs or 2hrs45min per week These courses fulfill one of the two seminars required of concentrators in History. Unless indicated otherwise, these courses will allow concentrators to complete one, 20-page minimum, paper with primary source research. Fall 2025 Undergraduate Seminar CoursesHist 115 Amsterdam: Portrait of an Early Modern MetropolisProf. Geert Janssen ~ Tuesdays 3:00-5:00pmThis course introduces students to early modern urban life by examining one of Europe’s largest metropoles. During the 17th century, Amsterdam rapidly transformed into Europe’s global trading hub and political powerhouse of the emerging Dutch Republic. It nurtured some of the period's greatest luminaries, including Rembrandt, Descartes and Spinoza. Long celebrated for its religious tolerance, artistic innovation and economic modernity, Amsterdam’s golden age also became notorious for its involvement with slave trade and military repression in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. This course seeks to probe these ambiguous characteristics of the city and to identify their possible interconnections. For this purpose, we will assess a variety of written and visual source material, including pamphlets, diaries and travel accounts as well as prints, paintings and material objects. These sources will enable students to gain a deeper understanding of early modern urban culture and to consider the use of visual evidence in historical scholarship. Classes on civic republicanism, religious diversity, and global migrations will alternate with sessions on the home, consumption, and gender. The course will make extensive use of the rich Dutch art collections of the Harvard Art Museums and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 117 The 'Settler Revolution' at the Edge of Empire: Australia, 1770-1901Prof. Stuart James Ward ~ Thursdays 12:45-2:45

Geographically tucked away at the southern confluence of the Pacific and Indian oceans, Australia occupies a portion of the globe easily dismissed as an historical outlier. But it is of cardinal importance to comprehending the outbreak of the ‘Settler Revolution’ that came on the heels of the great material and political convulsions of the late eighteenth century. Though lesser known than its American, French or Industrial counterparts, the mass exodus of willing (and unwilling) migrants in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars was no less revolutionary in its impact. The formidable scale, unprecedented reach and dogged persistence of this global phenomenon are by no means self-explanatory. Fundamental to making sense of ‘settlerism’ is the concept of global modernity – that potent mix of technological innovation, economic dynamism, hypermobility and destructive physical force that transformed the nineteenth-century world. Though the term itself is contested (and its core characteristics disputed) few would deny the step change in long-range capabilities that made colonizing the farthest ends of the earth a viable proposition.Fundamental to making sense of ‘settlerism’ is the concept of global modernity – that potent mix of technological innovation, economic dynamism, hypermobility and destructive physical force that transformed the nineteenth-century world. Though the term itself is contested (and its core characteristics disputed) few would deny the step change in long-range capabilities that made colonizing the farthest ends of the earth a viable proposition.Fundamental to making sense of ‘settlerism’ is the concept of global modernity – that potent mix of technological innovation, economic dynamism, hypermobility and destructive physical force that transformed the nineteenth-century world. Though the term itself is contested (and its core characteristics disputed) few would deny the step change in long-range capabilities that made colonizing the farthest ends of the earth a viable proposition.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 120 Atlantic Slave WarsProf. Vincent Brown ~ Thursdays 12:45-2:45This course explores how the violence of imperial expansion and transatlantic enslavement remade the history of Europe, Africa, and the Americas. European imperial conflicts extended the dominion of capitalist agriculture. African battles fed captives to the transatlantic trade in slaves. Masters and their subalterns struggled with one another continuously. These clashes amounted to a borderless slave war: war to enslave, war to expand slavery, and war against slaves, precipitating wars waged by the enslaved against slaveholders, but also between slaves themselves. Examining how conflicts in one part of the world travel and take root in another will enhance our understanding of the relationship between European, African, and American history.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 124 Law and Order AmericaDr. Aaron Jacobs ~ Mondays 3:00-5:00

During the summer of 2020, the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others at the hands of police sparked protests across the United States and around the world. Many activists insisted upon viewing these popular uprisings in historical terms, connecting the violence endemic to the contemporary criminal legal system to the legacies of antebellum era slave patrols. This course explores that idea by tracing the origins of police power in the United States and its relationship to customary traditions of violent social control, examining evolving conceptions of legal order from the time of European colonization to the present.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 132 Travelers in the Byzantine WorldProf. Dimiter Angelov ~ Wednesdays 3:45-5:45This seminar is based on the fascinating firsthand accounts of travelers who visited Constantinople and other areas of Byzantine world. The texts will generate questions for discussion and research on a wide range of issues, such as Byzantine civilization, cross-cultural contacts in the Middle Ages, the practice and experience of travel, and the interrelationship of travel, ethnography, and politics. Sources will be chosen from among the works of western, Islamic, Jewish, and Russian travelers.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 137 A History of Love: Modern South and Southeast AsiaSudarshana Chanda ~ Tuesdays 3:00-5:00How do we study a history of love? And how does love manifest and endure across boundaries? In this seminar we will ask how Asians, mainly from South and Southeast Asia, pursued boundary crossing love in Asia and in the diaspora in the 19th and 20th centuries. Moving thematically after an introductory week, we will study how love manifests across various boundaries, such as ethnicity, race, religion, caste, gender/sex. By looking at a range of primary sources – love letters, matrimonial advertisements, podcasts, short stories, and films – we will think critically through ideas of love and how they have been articulated. Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 160 Abolitionist Women and Their WorldsProf. Tiya Miles ~ Tuesdays 12:45-2:45What was life like for women who stood at a major crossroads of history? What was required, in tumultuous times, to think and act boldly? This course focuses on women from diverse racial and

regional backgrounds who labored to abolish slavery in the United States and then enlarged their political visions to include a range of progressive causes: racial equality, temperance, black suffrage, and women’s suffrage. We will explore the texture of women’s experiences in the 19th century, the conditions that gave rise to multifaceted societal change, and the ways in which that change unfolded. Finally, our course will consider how these women’s stories are remembered in present-day public culture and whether knowledge of this era can play a role in the urgent societal issues of our own time.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 165 Asian American Women's History at the Schlesinger LibraryProf. Erika Lee ~ Mondays 12:45-2:45Asian Americans are the fastest growing group in the US, yet the long and diverse histories of Asian Americans, especially Asian American women, have often been absent from the research and teaching of American history. Much of this invisibility is due to the absence of Asian American women in the archives that historians traditionally use to write history. Asian American women’s experiences of migration, labor, and activism can be particularly hard to find in institutional archives. When they do appear, their lives have often been recorded by outsiders and under conditions and constraints of state surveillance or patriarchal family structures and ideologies. Yet, new historical scholarship and new efforts to collect and preserve the records of Asian American women in community-based and institutional archives have revealed their strength, resilience, and transformative power in shaping their own lives and impacting change within local, national, and transnational contexts.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 167 Race, Gender, and Law Through the ArchiveProf. Myisha Eatmon ~ Wednesdays 12:00-2:45From First Lady Michelle Obama to political mastermind Stacy Abrams to Vice President Kamala Harris, Black women have left their stamp on 21st-century politics and grassroots organizing. But, as historian Martha S. Jones (and many others) has shown, Black women have always been at the “vanguard” of affecting positive change in American society. This course sets out to look back to the 20th century to examine conditions under which Black women lived in the early days of Jim Crow and the role that Black women and non-binary people have played in shaping politics, grassroots organizing, the legal bar, and higher education during Jim (Jane) Crow and beyond. Through the archive and the personal papers of Pauli Murray, June Jordan, Angela Davis, and Flo Kennedy, we will see the human side of these themes and the Black Freedom Struggle. What did life look like for Black women during the Nadir? How did these people navigate gender and sexuality while pushing for civil rights? How did gender, sexuality, and intersectionality impact their political ideologies?

Though many scholars argue that the law is autonomous, Critical Legal Studies scholars and Critical Race theorists argue that the law is subjective. In “Race, Gender, and the Law through the Archive,” students will see the subjectivity of the Black women and non-binary people who helped push for social and legal reform. Some of these women/people shaped the law as attorneys (Pauli Murray and Flo Kennedy). In contrast, others shaped the law and visions of freedom through their activism (Murray, Kennedy, Angela Y. Davis, and June Jordan), teaching (Davis), and art (Jordan). Through their avenues of influence, all of these women/people, whose papers are housed at Harvard’s Schlesinger Library, wielded the law or helped shape it in the twentieth century.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 186 Moral EconomySama Mammadova ~ Tuesdays 3:00-5:00How have societies across history reconciled private interest with public good, profit with sustainability, economic necessity with moral obligation? What principles have governed the distribution of wealth and the provision of welfare? This course offers a historical exploration of the concept of moral economy and illuminates the enduring tensions around economic justice, mutual aid, and social responsibility. From regulation of commerce and credit to debates around slavery, colonialism, and environmental risks, this course will investigate the ethical frameworks that have shaped economic life for centuries. In every class, we will work with a wide array of primary sources, as well as secondary sources from the fields of history, economics, theology, psychology, and anthropology to address pressing contemporary questions: Is it ethical for education and healthcare to leave individuals with lifelong debt, and how should economic policies address this burden? What role should governments play in regulating commerce, administering credit and welfare, and redistributing wealth? Is capitalism inherently at odds with morality? How can businesses balance shareholder interests with ethical responsibilities? And, finally, how does the prism of moral economy illuminate ongoing issues on our own campus, such as Harvard’s investment in fossil fuels?Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 187 Writing Histories of Climate ChangeProf. Emma Rothschild & Victor Seow ~ Wednesdays 12:45-2:45Explores different ways of writing about the history of climate change. The course will emphasise connections between large-scale data and local or micro-histories. It will consider the causes of human-induced climate change in particular places and times, and ways of averting them. Students will write short texts drawing on economic history, literature, environmental history, the history of science, and opinion writing.

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History First-Year Seminar CoursesThese First-Year Seminars are taught by by full members of the History Department Faculty automatically count as History courses for concentration credit. FYS are designed to intensify the intellectual experience of incoming students by allowing them to work closely with faculty members. They are also the ideal space to explore interests and engage with other First-Years. First-Year seminars are graded SAT/UNS and may not be audited. Only students in their first-year in the College may take a seminar in either or both of the terms. Each seminar is worth 4 units of credit. Enrollment is limited to 12-15 students. More information of the FYS Program and the Application Process can be found here.These courses will meet for either 2hrs or 2hrs45min per week These courses fulfill one of the four elective courses for history concentrators. Fall 2025 History FYS CoursesFYS 47U Declarations of Independence: The Political Philosophy of the American Revolution Prof. David Armitage ~ Wednesdays 12:45-2:45Here's a hard truth: You are going to die. That's nothing against you, of course. I'm going to die, too, and so is everyone else ‐ it's just the way of things for creatures like us. Yet, despite the central role that death plays in our existence, it seems to remain deeply mysterious in a number of ways. It is difficult even to say precisely what death is—is it a mere biological phenomenon? If so, is there any sense to be made of the idea that I might continue to exist after my death, perhaps as a soul? Or is death instead final, in the sense that it causes me to cease existing altogether? Beyond these kinds of questions about death's nature, there are also questions about death's significance or value: Is death bad for the person who dies? If they go out of existence, how could it be bad ‐ things can't be good or bad for us if we don't exist, it seems! Is it better to die at a certain age or time than some other? What should I think about my future death ‐ should I fear it? Would it be better for us if we were immortal? In this class, we'll examine important philosophical work that responds to each of these questions, and more.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowFYS 66K The Philosophy of Laughter

Prof. Peter Gordon ~ Wednesdays 12:45-2:45Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. In this seminar we will pursue one of the most puzzling features of human life: our capacity for laughter. What do we find humorous and why? Drawing upon multiple disciplines, from philosophy to neurology, and from psychoanalysis to sociology, we will explore multiple explanations for why we laugh and whether humor is distinctive to human beings. We will explore Rembrandt’s laughter and Haydn’s wit, the sacred “folly” as discussed by the humanist Erasmus, and the hostility of humor as theorized by Freud. Readings will include selections from various early modern and modern philosophers, with occasional appeals to historians of art, musicologists, sociologists, and scientists. If we are fortunate, we will also call upon the expertise of a chimpanzee.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowFYS 66M Harvard Collects: Exploring History and Culture in Museums, Libraries, and Archives Dr. Chloe Chapin ~ Tuesdays 12:00-2:45Harvard’s libraries, museums, and archives are some of the oldest and largest in the world, with more than 2 million museum objects, 20 million books, 22 million specimens, and 400 million manuscript items. Why does Harvard have so many things? In this class, we will explore the history, culture, and purpose of Harvard through its collections. We will put our in-person examination of material objects in conversation with current thinking on relationships between humans, things, and places. In weekly field trips to Harvard museums, libraries, and archives, we will conduct in-person, (sometimes) hands-on examinations of first editions, extinct animals, revolutionary technology, art masterpieces, maps of ancient worlds, personal diaries, homework assignments from former Harvard students, and everyday objects that people around the world made, used, loved, and lost.In this class, you will be asked to create a proposal for your own museum exhibition, using objects and archival material to tell your own story. Short weekly assignments will help you build skills in archival research, object analysis, developing research questions, academic writing, and editing. By thinking through things, you will also develop strategies for asking questions about who and what have not been collected.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowFYS 72C: A Whale Ship Was My Yale College and My HarvardProf. Joyce Chaplin ~ Tuesdays 9:45-11:45amHow should we live in the world, both with each other and with everything in the natural world around us? It’s a big question and Herman Melville wrote a big book about it, Moby-Dick (1851), from which this seminar takes its title and its focus. The novel tells a tale of humans who go to sea in a wooden ship, sailing to the literal ends of the earth in the deadly pursuit of whales, source of wealth but also vital

beings in their own right. It’s a story with serious consequences, especially when read in our time of environmental and climate emergency, the whale-ship in which we now all sail, at Harvard and beyond. But because Moby-Dick also makes the natural world beautiful and the connections among humans hopeful (even under cruel conditions), it gives us an especially powerful prism to consider today’s most pressing problems. Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowFYS 71M Global Capitalism: Past, Present, FutureProf. Sophus Reinert ~ Wednesdays 6:00-8:00Few forces have shaped the world over the past millennium more than capitalism has, yet few terms remain more elusive and more divisive. Today, less than half of young Americans view capitalism positively, and calls for alternatives are becoming ever more frequent. Why? And why have different forms of capitalism led to such unequal outcomes around the world? What is capitalism, really; what has it been, and what might it be? This course takes students on a journey to explore the past, present, and future of various forms of capitalisms, globally and beyond, introducing them to theories and frameworks to help make sense of the world in which they live, and where it might be headed.This seminar introduces students to the Socratic teaching method used in the Harvard Business School and is based on case studies covering the vast epic of capitalism. In addition to discussing the past, present, and future of global capitalism, the seminar will familiarize students with basic concepts of macroeconomics as well as tools, such as balance of payments analysis and national economic accounting to prepare them for lives of active global citizenship. The seminar will, at times, meet at Harvard Business School in order to make use of Baker Library’s extraordinary collection of materials relating to the histories of business, capitalism, and political economy.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowFYS 73V Antisemitism, Then and NowProf. Derek Penslar ~ Mondays 3:00-5:00Why do people hate each other? Why are some groups of people more likely to be hated than others? This seminar seeks to answer these questions through the study of the hatred of Jews, commonly known as antisemitism. Jews have lived throughout the world over thousands of years, and they have been hated for diverse and at times contradictory reasons – they are said to be too different or trying too hard to fit it; religious extremists or extremist secularists; rich capitalists or revolutionary socialists; having no nation or roots, or fanatically attached to the state of Israel. Are there aspects of antisemitism, or other forms of group hatred, that transcend these differences and have common bonds? Is antisemitism an illness, or a symptom of a variety of maladies?

In this seminar, we will address these questions. We will do so by tracing Jew-hatred from antiquity to the present, in both Christian and Islamic lands. Our approach will be anchored in history, but we will draw upon insights from the humanities, such as theology and philosophy, and the social sciences, such as sociology and psychology. We will discuss religious and legal texts, political writings, polemics, and literature. We will also examine depictions of Jews in art and film. Through this course, we will learn how social pathologies like antisemitism grow out of basic human psychological needs, and how we can best address those needs without resorting to hatred of others.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowSpring 2026 History FYS CoursesFYS 71C Law and Social Change: How Reform Movements Leverage the LawProf. Tomiko Brown-Nagin ~ Wednesdays 3:00-5:00Legal realists and critical theorists have long argued that the law is a byproduct of society. “The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience,” Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously wrote. Focusing on the prospect of achieving racial justice through law, political science warned that law would never hover like a “protecting angel” over oppressed racial minorities. For it would always reflect the dominant social order and sympathy for outsiders should never be assumed. On the other hand, proponents of a Dynamic View of the U.S. Supreme Court argue that it has repeatedly been a catalyst of social change in the United States. Still others, asserting that the law is “everywhere,” decenter the Court and focus on the myriad ways, direct and indirect, that law, broadly defined, can be a tool of change.This seminar defines law broadly; and it considers the idea of experience—including events and people external to the legal system—affecting the law and creating social change. It discusses how social movements—groups of citizens mobilized in support of a cause—deploy the Constitution and other types of rights talk to “frame” disputes and move forward their agendas. Seminar participants will discuss how movements crystallize grievances, mobilize supporters, demobilize antagonists, and attract bystander support by referencing constitutional rights and other ideas about law. It also considers the effectiveness of movements’ legal strategies. The seminar considers these questions in relation to several well-known social reform movements—including abolitionism, the civil rights movement, the women’s liberation movement, 20th century populism, MeToo, and Black Lives Matter—as points of departure for discussion.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowFYS 72Z Oil & EmpireProf. Rosie Bsheer ~ Tuesdays 12:45-2:45

What is the relationship between oil and empire? How has control over oil—the single most important commodity in the world—shaped the nature of power, politics, and environmental and social life in the twentieth century? How have different disciplines contributed to and at times undermined a critical understanding of oil politics? This interactive seminar will address these and other questions by examining the political, social, material, and cultural history of oil. Given the centrality of oil to modern life, control over this prized resource has resulted in a complex and often violent history. We will thus look at the ways in which the political economy of oil has shaped the rise and fall of empires, the fate of nation-states, the making of the economy, the nature of class, gender, and racial discrimination, and the production of historical knowledge and the built urban environment. By moving between primary source documents and films, multi-disciplinary scholarly analyses, in-class discussions and debates, and written assignments, students will learn to be principal investigators and thereby sharpen their own critical interpretive abilities. This seminar on the global history of oil will address trends and processes from Ecuador, Mexico, the United States, and Venezuela to Nigeria, Indonesia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll Now

Conference CoursesOur conference courses are listed in the 1900-1999 range and are seminar-style courses with advanced undergraduates and graduate students.These courses will meet for either 2hrs or 2hrs45min per week These courses fulfill one of the two seminars required of concentrators in History. Unless indicated otherwise, these courses will allow concentrators to complete one, 20-page minimum, paper with primary source research. For Graduate students, these courses may fulfill either their seminar or general history course requirements. Consult the syllabus and the individual professor for questions about which.Fall 2025 Conference CoursesHist 1936 The Rights of NatureProf. Jill Lepore ~ Tuesdays 6:00-8:00pmCan law save the planet? This course, offered jointly at HLS and FAS/GSAS, investigates a legal movement known as the Rights of Nature. Beginning from the premise that existing environmental law is inadequate to the problems of climate change, mass extinction, and habitat loss, this movement proposes strategies that include granting rights to nature through legal personhood and assigning property rights to wildlife. The course explores both the promise and problems with this mode of thought while also excavating the field’s origins, which lie in many places, including, importantly, in Indigenous Law.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 1939 Economic History of Modern ChinaProf. Arunabh Ghosh ~ Wednesdays 12:45-2:45This conference course offers a close examination of the economic history of modern China set against the background of major debates in the field of world economic history and within the field of modern

Chinese history. The approximate time frame covered is from the late eighteenth century to the present. Prior coursework in Chinese history (in particular on modern China) is recommended but not necessary.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 1942 The Second World WarProf. Erez Manela ~ Thursday 3:00-5:45The Second World War profoundly shaped 20th century history and its legacies continue to reverberate today. This course will take an expansive approach to the history of the war, both in time and space. We will begin with the legacies of the First World War and how they foreshadowed the next global conflict. We will examine the unfolding and impact of the war not only in Europe but also in Asia and around the globe. Finally, we will look at the war’s legacies in the postwar international order, including the emergence of the Cold War and the unfolding of decolonization.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 1953 Religion and Popular Culture in Modern EuropeProf. Alison Frank Johnson ~ Thursdays 12:45-2:45This seminar (a conference course open to both undergraduate and graduate students) examines the history of Catholic and Protestant religious practice in modern Europe. Our focus will be on popular expressions of religious faith and the way that official church doctrine and ideology affects social and cultural history. Examples will be: pilgrimage, veneration of saints, political parties with religious platforms, religious anti-Judaism and its relationship with racial antisemitism, efforts to combat bigotry, the Catholic and Protestant churches and the Nazi dictatorship.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 1956 History of the Soviet Union Through Film and LiteratureProfs. Terry Martin & Justin Weir ~ Wednesdays 3:00-5:00pmThe course introduces students to Soviet history through several famous works of literature and film. Key periods and events include the Bolshevik Revolution, Civil War, WWII, the post-Stalin Thaw, the Brezhnev years, Glasnost’ and Perestroika, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Along with short historical readings, we will examine works of popular culture, as well as book and films that were unable to be published and shown until Glasnost’ and the post-Soviet period. Among the readings will be Babel’s Red Cavalry, Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita, and works by Zamyatin,

Solzhenitsyn, Alexievich, and others. Films include, for example, works by Vertov, Eisenstein, Tarkovsky, Kalatozov, and Balabanov.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 1966 Asia and Asians at HarvardProf. Sugata Bose ~ Tuesdays 9:45-11:45amAn exploration of relations between Asia and Euro-America during the long twentieth century through the prism of Asians and the study of Asia at Harvard. Topics and themes to include Asian visitors, faculty and students at Harvard; the University’s engagement in the shaping of policy towards Asia; and the institutionalization of Asian studies at Harvard. Students will have the opportunity to craft their own research projects. Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 1984A Book History: Before the Modern AgeProf. Ann Blair ~ Fridays 12:00-2:45 (Year-Long Course)This course meets every other week across fall and spring semesters. The fall will provide an introduction to recent work in the book history from antiquity to 1800, with an emphasis on Europe and some comparison with Islamic and East Asian contexts. In the spring we will discuss major themes in the field including authorship, commercial and legal regulations, distribution, reading, libraries, and survival rates. Assigned thematic readings will often concern Europe in the handpress era (1450-1800), but for their bibliographical essay (in fall) and final research paper (in spring) students may investigate materials in a pre-modern context of their choice. Designed for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 1993 Introduction to Digital HistoryDr. Gabriel Pizzorno ~ Thursdays 12:00-2:45This course trains students in a range of digital methods used for the acquisition, analysis, and visualization of data in the context of historical research. Beyond developing practical skills, students will learn how to critically evaluate the potential and limitations of new technologies, and how to integrate them into their work in a careful, theoretically informed way.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll Now

TutorialsHist 97 or the Sophomore Tutorial is the only course required of all History concentrators and is designed as an introduction to the discipline and the Department. Hist 97 consists of 5 parallel seminars, each of which is formulated thematically and has separate reading assignments, but students across all seminars will have similarly structured writing assignments, with similar due dates. History 97 is designed to be a shared experience that will equip students with a basic familiarity with the skills required for successful writing and research in history. The course seeks to develop several skills at the core of work in history: searching for and evaluating relevant secondary sources; engaging with historiography, close-reading primary sources, constructing an evidence-based historical argument, writing with footnotes, articulating constructive criticism, and revising writing based on feedback from instructors and peers.History 97s are taught each Spring and must be applied for by contacting the ADUS, Dr. Carla Heelan (cmheelan@fas.harvard.edu), in the Fall Semester before Spring enrollment begins.Hist 99, the Senior Thesis Tutorial, is a two-semester sequence comprising Hist 99a and Hist 99b. Students who wish to pursue concentration honors in History must write a Senior Thesis, which also requires enrollment in the year-long History 99A & 99B: The Senior Thesis Tutorial. In order to enter the thesis program, students must first write a qualifying 20-page research paper before senior fall (this paper is customarily written as the final assignment for one of the two required seminars). In the history concentration, the senior thesis is not required. Undergraduate theses in the History Department are typically between 85 and 120 pages, though there is always some variation to these numbers. The thesis entails considerable primary- and secondary-source research, and the goal is to make an original contribution to historical knowledge. Most thesis writers complete an analytical thesis, though there is an option for creative multimedia theses. Please contact the ADUS, Dr. Carla Heelan (cmheelan@fas.harvard.edu), with any questions.The department’s senior thesis program is one of the strongest in Harvard College. In recent years, one quarter or more of our thesis writers have received Hoopes Prizes, which is well over the College average.Fall 2025 Tutorial Courses

Hist 99A: Senior Thesis TutorialDr. Heelan ~ Wednesdays 6-8:45 Required of, and ordinarily limited to, seniors completing the History concentration's thesis program. Permission must be obtained from the Tutorial Office.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll Now

Course Distribution RequirementsAll History concentrators are required to take:One course in the North America Distribution.One course in the Beyond North America Distribution.One course in Pre-1750 Distribution.Fall 2025 Courses Meeting the North America RequirementGenEd 1147 American FoodProf. Joyce Chaplin ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 12:00-1:15Hist 23: Immigration LawProf. Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof~ Mondays & Wednesdays 10:30-11:45Hist 39 Jews in the Modern WorldProf. Derek Penslar ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 9:00-10:15Hist 62 African Diaspora in the AmericasProf. Vincent Brown ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:00-10:15Hist 76 The History of EnergyProf. Ian Miller ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:30-11:45Hist 86 Race and Public Health Crises: From TB to AIDS to COVID-19Prof. George Aumoithe ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:00-1:15

Hist 120 Atlantic Slave WarsProf. Vincent Brown ~ Thursdays 12:45-2:45Hist 124 Law and Order AmericaDr. Aaron Jacobs ~ Mondays 3:00-5:00Hist 160 Abolitionist Women and Their WorldsProf. Tiya Miles ~ Tuesdays 12:45-2:45Hist 165 Asian American Women's History at the Schlesinger LibraryProf. Erika Lee ~ Mondays 12:45-2:45Hist 167 Race, Gender, and Law Through the ArchiveProf. Myisha Eatmon ~ Wednesdays 12:00-2:45Hist 187 Writing Histories of Climate ChangeProf. Emma Rothschild & Victor Seow ~ Wednesdays 12:45-2:45Hist 1936 The Rights of NatureProf. Jill Lepore ~ Tuesdays 6:00-8:00pmHist 1942 The Second World WarProf. Erez Manela ~ Thursday 3:00-5:45

Fall 2025 Courses Meeting the Beyond North America RequirementGenEd 1034 Texts in TransitionProfs. Ann Blair & Leah Whittington ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 3:00-4:15pmGenEd 1203 How the Germans Embraced Hitler: Politics, Culture, the Economy and the Death of DemocracyProf. David Spreen ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:30-11:45Hist 39 Jews in the Modern WorldProf. Derek Penslar ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 9:00-10:15Hist 44 Germany, 1848-1949Prof. Alison Frank Johnson ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:30-11:45Hist 56 Coffee and the NighttimeProf. Cemal Kafadar ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 1:30-2:45pmHist 62 African Diaspora in the AmericasProf. Vincent Brown ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:00-10:15Hist 76 The History of EnergyProf. Ian Miller ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:30-11:45Hist 83 Heidegger's Being and TimeProf. Peter Gordon ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:00-10:15

Hist 86 Race and Public Health Crises: From TB to AIDS to COVID-19Prof. George Aumoithe ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:00-1:15Hist 87: Democracy: The Long View and the Bumpy HistoryProf. Alexander Keyssar ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 4:30-5:45Hist 115 Amsterdam: Portrait of an Early Modern MetropolisProf. Geert Janssen ~ Tuesdays 3:00-5:00pmHist 117 The 'Settler Revolution' at the Edge of Empire: Australia, 1770-1901Prof. Stuart James Ward ~ Thursdays 12:45-2:45Hist 132 Travelers in the Byzantine WorldProf. Dimiter Angelov ~ Wednesdays 3:45-5:45Hist 137 A History of Love: Modern South and Southeast AsiaSudarshana Chanda ~ Tuesdays 3:00-5:00Hist 186 Moral EconomySama Mammadova ~ Tuesdays 3:00-5:00Hist 187 Writing Histories of Climate ChangeProf. Emma Rothschild & Victor Seow ~ Wednesdays 12:45-2:45

Hist 1939 Economic History of Modern ChinaProf. Arunabh Ghosh ~ Wednesdays 12:45-2:45Hist 1942 The Second World WarProf. Erez Manela ~ Thursday 3:00-5:45Hist 1953 Religion and Popular Culture in Modern EuropeProf. Alison Frank Johnson ~ Thursdays 12:45-2:45Hist 1956 History of the Soviet Union Through Film and LiteratureProfs. Terry Martin & Justin Weir ~ Wednesdays 3:00-5:00pmHist 1966 Asia and Asians at HarvardProf. Sugata Bose ~ Tuesdays 9:45-11:45amHist 1984A Book History: Before the Modern AgeProf. Ann Blair ~ Fridays 12:00-2:45 (Year-Long Course)

Fall 2025 Courses Meeting the Pre-1750 RequirementGenEd 1034 Texts in TransitionProfs. Ann Blair & Leah Whittington ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 3:00-4:15pmHist 20A: Western Intellectual HistoryProf. James Hankins~ Mondays & Wednesdays 10:30-11:45Hist 29 The Fall of the Roman EmpireProf. Michael McCormick ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 12:00-1:15Hist 55 Early Modern EuropeDr. Jin-Woo Choi ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:30-2:30pmHist 56 Coffee and the NighttimeProf. Cemal Kafadar ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 1:30-2:45pmHist 115 Amsterdam: Portrait of an Early Modern MetropolisProf. Geert Janssen ~ Tuesdays 3:00-5:00pmHist 132 Travelers in the Byzantine WorldProf. Dimiter Angelov ~ Wednesdays 3:45-5:45Hist 186 Moral EconomySama Mammadova ~ Tuesdays 3:00-5:00

Hist 1984A Book History: Before the Modern AgeProf. Ann Blair ~ Fridays 12:00-2:45 (Year-Long Course)

Cross-Listed CoursesAll cross-listed courses automatically count towards concentration credit without submitting a Related Fields Petition (for Undergraduates) or a Petition to Count (for Graduate Students). Information on petitioning for elective credit for other courses may be found here (for Undergraduates).Fall 2025 CoursesAFRAMER 146X A Black History of Electronic Dance MusicProf. George Aumoithe ~ Wednesdays 12:00-2:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowAFRAMER 219A Race and Ethnicity in Latin AmericaProfs. Alejandro de la Fuente & Paulina Alberto ~ Thursdays 12:45-2:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowAFRAMER 224 African Postcolonial StateProf. David Glovsky ~ Wednesdays 9:45-11:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowAMSTDIES 201 Methods in American Studies Prof. Phil Deloria ~ Tuesdays 9:00-11:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowCHNSHIS 113 Life and Death in Late Imperial China: Social History of the 10th to 19th Centuries

Prof. Michael Szonyi ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 10:30-11:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowCLS-STDY 97A Introduction to the Ancient Greek World Prof. Kathleen Garland ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 1:30-2:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowCLS-STDY 114 Constantinople Prof. Alexander Rhiele ~ Tuesdays 12:00-2:00Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowFOLKMYTH 176 Tattoo: Histories and Practices Prof. Felicity Lufkin ~ Tuesdays 3:00-5:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowGENED 1019 The Caribbean Crucible: Colonialism, Capitalism and Post-Colonial Misdevelopment In The Region Prof. Orlando Patterson ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 1:30-2:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowGENED 1034 Texts in Transition Profs. Ann Blair & Leah Whittington ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 3:00-4:15Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowGENED 1089 The Border: Race, Politics, and Health in Modern Mexico

Prof. Gabriela Soto Laveaga ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:30-11:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowGENED 1136 Power and Civilization: China Prof. Peter Bol ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 10:30-11:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowGENED 1147 American Food Prof. Joyce Chaplin ~ Mondays & Wednesdays 12:00-1:15Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowGENED 1203 How the Germans Embraced Hitler: Politics, Culture & the Death of Democracy in Germany, 1918-1945 Prof. David Spreen ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:30-11:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHIST-LIT 10AB Introduction to the Medieval World Prof. Sean Gilsdorf ~ Tuesdays 12:45-2:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHIST-LIT 90HB Indigenous Economies and Environments Prof. Mandy Izadi ~ Wednesdays 9:45-11:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHISTSCI 1445 Medicine and Health in America

Prof. Eram Alam ~ Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:30-11:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowKORHIST 230R Readings in Premodern Korean History Prof. Sun Joo Kim ~ Wednesdays 3:00-5:00Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowMEDVLSTD 10 Introduction to the Medieval World Profs. Sean Gilsdorf & Brian FitzGerald ~ Tuesdays 12:45-2:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowMODMDEST 112 A History of Modern Syria, 1921-2021 Prof. Adam Mestyan ~ Mondays 3:45-5:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowSOCIOL 1263 Community Organizing and Social Action Prof. Flavia Parea ~ Tuesdays 12:00-2:45Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll Now

Graduate Proseminar CoursesThese courses are listed in the 2000-2999 range and are seminar-style courses for graduate students.These courses will meet for either 2hrs or 2hrs45min per week Graduate Students should consult the Graduate Program Administrator (bertwell@fas.harvard.edu) if they have any questions.Fall 2025 Graduate Proseminars CoursesHist 1800 A Critical Introduction to the Study of the Middle EastDr. Jesse Howell ~ Mondays 12:00-2:45 + Discussion SectionThis course introduces students to the medieval and modern history of the Middle East while exploring diverse theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and critical debates in the field of Middle East studies. Beginning with the idea of "the Middle East" itself, various aspects of the field will be scrutinized from the perspective of different disciplines and methodologies. Readings and discussions will also focus on key categories of analysis such as orientalism, modernity, capitalism, gender, (post)colonialism, nationalism, anthropocene.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 2271 The Soviet Union: ProseminarProf. Terry Martin ~ Thursdays 3:00-5:45Introduction to major debates in the historiography of the Soviet Union and late imperial Russia.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 2442 19th-Century United States History: ProseminarProf. Walter Johnson ~ Tuesdays 9:45-11:45

The second in the sequence of three proseminars required of all graduate students in American history and open to graduate students in other history fields and other departments as space permits.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 2638 Readings in 20th-Century Chinese HistoryProf. Arunabh Ghosh ~ Mondays 3:00-5:00This Pro-Seminar will examine developments in the field of modern Chinese history, with a particular focus on the twentieth century. Our principal goal is to gain some familiarity with the historical debates and methodological approaches that have given shaped to the field. Readings will aim to achieve a balance between classics in the field and contemporary scholarship. Topics covered include empire and semi-colonialism, rebellion and revolution, nationalism, civil society and public sphere, economic development, war, science and technology, foreign relations, and foreign relations.This Pro-Seminar is particularly recommended for students planning an examination field in modern Chinese history. Reading knowledge of Chinese is recommended but not a required; students must have some prior coursework in Chinese history.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 2968 History and Economics: ProseminarProf. Emma Rothschild ~ Thursdays 3:45-4:45Examines approaches to the interplay of history and economics, with a focus on how economists use history and how historians use economic ideas. The class will explore methods and topics, including the political economy of empire, poverty, environment, energy, and information. There will be readings, discussion and guest lectures.--Emma Rothschild, with the participation of Abhijit Banerjee, Ian Kumekawa, and Jacob Moscona.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll Now

Graduate Seminars CoursesThese courses are listed in the 2000-2999 range and are seminar-style courses for graduate students.These courses will meet for either 2hrs or 2hrs45min per week Fall 2025 Graduate Seminar CoursesHist 2055 Early Medieval HistoryProf. Michael McCormick ~ Mondays 3:00-5:45Joint philological analysis of Latin texts, archaeological and scientific evidence illuminating the fall of Rome and the origins of medieval Europe, culminating in a research paper.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 2444 U.S. Politics and the Late in the Twentieth Century: SeminarProf. Lisa McGirr ~ Thursdays 3:00-5:00Examines approaches to U.S. politics and state-building across the twentieth century. The course looks at seminal debates about the changing character of the American state and American political developments in what has been called by some the “American century.” Students will be expected to hone a research question and to write an article length paper on a topic of their choosing. Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 2446 History of Civil LibertiesProf. Laura Weinrib ~ Wednesdays 3:45-5:45This seminar examines changing understandings of civil liberties in American legal history. It emphasizes legal and ideological contests over the meaning of free speech, religious freedom, civil rights, and reproductive rights during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Readings explore the intersection between legal struggles and broader developments in social, cultural, and political history, with a focus on social movement advocacy.

Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 2492A: Warren Center Seminar: Labor and the Political Economy in U.S. HistoryProfs. Sven Beckert & Joel Suarez ~ Thursday 12:45-2:45 (Year-Long Course)This seminar explores new currents in US labor history and political economy. As part of the Warren Center’s faculty fellowship, participants will read new and often unpublished research on labor and working-class life and debate histories and theories of such topics as social reproduction, finance and money, unemployment and informal markets, the environment and the care economy, migration, gender and racism, and the welfare state. In addition to discussing original research, students will also engage with classic and recent cutting-edge labor histories that explore proletarianization, industrialization, deindustrialization, and class formation from the colonial period to the present with an eye towards their transnational dimensions. Students will be guided to write a research paper on any aspect of American labor history.Students must complete both terms of this course (Part A & B) in the same academic year to receive credit.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 2693 Modern South Asian and Indian Ocean History and HistoriographyProf. Sugata Bose ~ Mondays 9:45-11:45This seminar is designed as a graduate level examination of trends and debates in historical research and writing on modern South Asia and the Indian Ocean. Topics include different modes of representing the past, culture and power in colonial and nationalist history and historiography, methods and schools of history, the inter-regional and global connections of the subcontinent, and varieties of post-colonial historical writing. Readings include major historical works in this field.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 2950A Approaches to Global History Prof. Sven Beckert ~ Mondays 3:45-5:45 (Year-Long Course)Approaches to global history, including economic and labor systems, cultural transfer, imperial frameworks, migration, and environmental challenges. Students will prepare and present a research paper as well cover common readings.

Students must complete both terms of this course (parts A and B) within the same academic year in order to receive credit.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll Now

Graduate Practica & Independent Study Courses are listed in the 3000-3999 range and are seminar-style or independent-study courses for graduate students.These courses will meet for either 2hrs or 2hrs45min per week Fall 2025 Graduate PracticaHist 3900: Writing HistoryProf. Mary Lewis ~ Tuesdays 12:00-2:45Required of and limited to first-year doctoral students in History, HMES, and HEAL.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 3920A: Teaching PracticumProf. Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof ~ Fridays 12:00-2:45Required of and open only to all third-year history department graduate students. Students must complete both terms of this course (parts A and B) within the same academic year in order to receive credit.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 3940: The Academic Job Market for Historians: Skills and StrategiesProf. Phil Deloria ~ TBAThe academic job search can be a harrowing experience in the best of times. In this workshop-like seminar, students currently on the academic job market will assemble a full dossier for the job market, take mock zoom interviews with faculty with recent experience either as job candidates or on job search committees, and learn about applying to different kinds of institutions. Class participants are expected to attend mock job talks organized for their peers who are preparing for campus visits.Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll Now

Fall 2025 Independent StudyHist 91R: Supervised Reading and Research for UndergraduatesProf. Mary Lewis ~ TBAAdd to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 3000: Direction of Doctoral DissertationsVarious Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 3001: TeachingVarious Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 3002: ResearchVarious Add to Crimson Cart/ Enroll NowHist 3010: Reading and ResearchVarious ~ TBAAdd to Crimson Cart/ Enroll Now

Tentative Courses in Spring 2026LecturesHist 12: Conspiracy! A possible History of U.S. Politics and Culture ~ Dr. Aaron JacobsHist 14: The First World War ~ Prof. Jamie MartinHist 21: Labor, Liberty, and Conflict in American History ~ Prof. Joel SuarezHist 32A: The Ottomans and the World ~Prof. Cemal KafadarHist 33: The Holocaust ~Prof. Jules RiegelHist 38: Modern China ~Prof. Arunabh GhoshHist 46: Life after Hitler: How Decolonization and Global Cold War Shaped Germany after WW2 ~Prof. David SpreenHist 47: The Cold War ~Prof. Serhii PlokhiiHist 57: Empire, Nation, Partition: Modern South Asia in Global Perspective ~Prof. Sugata BoseHist 63: Afro-Indigenous Intersections in Early America ~Prof. Tiya MilesHist 68: The 20th Centujry United States: Politics, Society, Culture ~Prof. Lisa McGirrHist 70: The History of Sub-Saharan Africa to 1860 ~Prof. Emmanuel Akyeampong Hist 88: How Harvard became HARVARD (an advanced lecture course) ~Prof. Julie ReubenHist 89: Critical Theory ~Prof. Peter GordonUndergraduate Seminars

Hist 116: Why Do Native People Matter?: History and the Politics of Making It ~ Kabl WilkersonHist 118: The Empirics of Empire: Counting Community, Gender, and Race ~ Dr. Urvi KhaitanHist 123: Immigrant Justice Lab Seminar ~Prof. Jesse Hoffnung-GarskofHist 161: Harvard and Native Lands ~Prof. Phil DeloriaHist 162: Oral Histories of Asian America: Migration, Memory, Method ~ Will SackHist 163: The Civil War and Reconstruction in History and Memory ~ Dr. Aaron JacobsHist 166: Modern Vietnam: A History through its Cities ~Prof. Uyen NguyenHist 174: Power and Protest in the Long 1960s ~Prof. Lisa McGirrTutorialsHist 97B: What is Intellectual History? ~Prof. Ann BlairHist 97S: What is Microhistory? ~Prof. Mary LewisHist 97M: What is International History? ~Prof. Erez ManelaHist 97G: What is Legal History? ~Prof. Miysha EatmonHist 97V: What is Borderlands History? ~Prof. David GlovskyHist 99B: Senior Thesis Tutorial ~Dr. Carla HeelanConference CoursesHist 1901: Nationalism, Political Independence, and Economic Development in Africa ~Prof. Emmanuel Akyeampong Hist 1926: Decolonization: an Unfinished History ~Prof. Stuart James Ward

Hist 1935: Political Debates in the Empire of New Rome ~Prof. Dimiter AngelovHist 1945: Slavery and Public History ~Prof. Tiya MilesHist 1962: The Legalities of Everyday Life: From the Future to the Past ~Prof. Tamar HerzogHist 1964: The Social Life of Science in East Asia ~Prof. Ian MillerHist 1968: Abolition, Then and Now ~Prof. Walter JohnsonHist 1973: Re-Wilding Harvard ~Prof. Joyce ChaplinHist 1979: Topics in Modern American History ~Prof. Walter JohnsonHist 1980: The Soviet Empire ~Prof. Terry MartinHist 1984B: Book history before the modern age ~Prof. Ann BlairHist 1990: American Legal History ~Prof. Laura WeinribGraduate SeminarsHist 2039: History from Things ~Dr. Gabriel PizzornoHist 2080: Medieval Law ~Prof. Charles DonahueHist 2265: Topics on Modern Europe ~Prof. David SpreenHist 2277: Eastern Europe: Peoples and Empires ~Prof. Serhi PlokhiiHist 2412: Topics in Atlantic Slave History ~Prof. Vinvent BrownHist 2492B: Warren Center Seminar: Labor and Political Economy in U.S. History ~Profs. Sven Beckert & Joel SuarezHist 2651: Japanese History: Seminar ~Prof. Andrew GordonHist 2885: Topics in Ottoman Social and Cultural History: Seminar ~Prof. Cemal KafadarHist 2950B: Approaches to Global History ~Prof. Sven Beckert

Hist 2957: Law, Social Difference, and the Sustenance of Health ~Prof. George AumoitheHist 2973: History's Environmental Turn ~Prof. Ian MillerIndependent Study & PracticaHist 91R: Supervised Reading and Research for Undergraduates ~ Prof. Mary Lewis Hist 3000: Direction of Doctoral Dissertations ~ VariousHist 3001: Teaching ~ VariousHist 3002: Research ~ VariousHist 3010: Reading and Research ~ VariousHist 3920B: Teaching Practicum ~ Prof. Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof Cross-Listed CoursesAFRAMER 11: Introduction to African Studies ~ Prof. Daniel AgbiboaAFRAMER 66: History of Sport in Africa ~ Prof. David GlovskyAFRAMER 191X: African American Lives and the Law ~ Prof. Evelyn Brooks HigginbothamAFRAMER 219B: Race and Ethnicity in Latin America ~ Profs. Alejandro de la Fuente & Paulina AlbertoAFRAMER 223: Storied Lives: Methods in Oral History ~ Prof. Amber HenryCHNSHIS 230R: Reading Local Documents for Ming-Qing History ~ Prof. Michael SzonyiCLS-STDY 97B: Introduction to the Ancient Roman World ~ Prof. Irene Soto MarinFOLKMYTH 120: Folklore in Appalachia ~ Prof. Sarah Craycraft

FOLKMYTH 125: Introduction to the Indigenous Oral Literatures of the Northwest Coast of North America ~ Prof. Daniel FrimGENED 1017: America as Occupiers and Nation Builders ~ Profs. Andrew Gordon & Erez ManelaGENED 1019: Moctezuma’s Mexico Then and Now ~ Prof. David CarrascoGENED 1068: The United States and China ~ Prof. William KirbyGENED 1088: The Crusades and the Making of East and West ~ Prof. Dimiter AngelovGENED 1099: Pyramid Schemes ~ Prof. Peter ManuelianGENED 1159: American Capitalism ~ Prof. Sven BeckertGENED 1160: Harvard Get’s Medieval ~ Prof. Daniel Lord SmailGENED 1206: Asian Americans as an American Paradox~ Profs. Ju Yon Kim, Erika Lee, & Taeku LeeHAA 73: Money Matters ~ Prof. Evridiki GeorganteliHIST-LIT 90FK: Europe After the Cold War ~ Dr. Matthew SohmHIST-LIT 90GP: Race & Ethnicity in Twentieth-Century American Thought ~ Dr. Nicholas BloomJAPNHIST 260R: Topics in Japanese Cultural History ~ Prof. Shigehisa KuriyamaMEDVLSTD 117: English Legal History, 600-1600 ~ Prof. Liz Papp Kamali