Overview
Course start date: TBC
Course end date: TBC
Price: £150
Tutor: Lynne Thompson
Course Code: HIST056
Level: Non-accredited, non-credit bearing
Assessments/Exams: None. Throughout the course you will be given ideas and questions to respond to in the online discussion area. Participation in online discussion is encouraged, but not compulsory.
Duration: 10 weeks
Estimated Student Study Time: 5 – 8 hours per week are recommended, but time spent is flexible and at your discretion.
Fee: £150.00
Pre-Requisites: No academic qualifications or other experience of studying history is required – only a strong enthusiasm for this subject.
Delivery: Online Distance Learning
Late Entrants: If this course is not full by the start date then late entrants will be accepted for up to two weeks after the start of the course. As a late entrant you can choose to catch up on the material you have missed or you can skip the missed weeks and concentrate on the material at the point where you join the course, but unfortunately we cannot offer fee reductions or course extensions for late entrants.
Recommended Reading**: Texts will be recommended within the course.
Required Reading**: There are no required texts for this course.
**Please note: All courses are subject to sufficient numbers of students registering before they are confirmed as running. Therefore, after booking your place you are advised not to purchase any texts until you have received confirmation that the course is running.
Summary
Winston Churchill had an American mother and an English father, one of the reasons why he chose to write his account of the ‘English Speaking Peoples’ and their shared history. He began writing during his ‘wilderness years’ during the 1930s but did not complete the final volume until the mid 1950s, during which time he had first-hand experience of momentous events in world affairs. Based on specific historic events examined from both US and British perspectives beginning in the seventeenth century, this course explores what the British and American people have in common other than a language; what distinguishes them from each other and how far they can be described as having a ‘special’ relationship. A variety of materials will be used in illustration of this rich heritage, such as film, music and literature, all of which offer many opportunities for discussion and debate
Syllabus Plan
Week 01. Founding America: Religious zeal or economic desire?
Week 02. Letters from home: accounts of Irish migration
Week 03. The peculiar institution: slavery and abolition
Week 04. The making of the working class in Britain and the USA
Week 05. Frontiers, exploration and expansion
Week 06. European conflict and an American peace
Week 07. Responses to the Great Depression
Week 08. Superpowers and special relationships
Week 09. The 1960s
Week 10. A shared history and future?
Learning Outcomes
This course will help students to acquire:
- Knowledge of aspects of the English speaking peoples;
- An awareness of the underlying concepts and debates relating to this subject area;
- Experience of analysing primary source material