Summer Academy 2021 - History 20: 20th Century World History

This class is an introduction to the events that marked 20th century history. This is an introductory survey course which should give you a sense of the course of events, and a basic understanding of why they are still relevant today. The course cannot go into deep detail because there is not enough time for this - but hopefully the course can ignite interest in other history classes that do go into detail of specific events, places or people you will discover over the course of the next 10 weeks.

This course takes it as a given that no one can know everything about the 20th century, but that there are some things that everyone should know. The weekly readings and quizzes constitute part of that commitment - if you do the weekly readings and complete the quizzes, you will know what any college student in any department should know about the 20th century (for ex the dates of the world wars, the meaning of cold war, what the European union is, when the Berlin wall was built, and when it fell).

History is also highly personal, and this course builds in significant room for students to develop a personal research agenda. The weekly writing assignment is structured to give each student room to explore the 20th century history from many different perspectives.

Last but not least, the history is story-telling, it is a narrative - and for that skill to develop, you need to practice it. Every week you will listen to Professor Levy's podcasts, which focus on specific events in each decade and on her family's history in those decades. You will be asked to comment each week on those podcasts. You will also tell a story yourself every week, either by writing it, or telling it, or drawing or filming it. There are many ways to tell a story and many ways to write history.