Lecture 1: History and Mythistory

The lecture provides a working definition of History and a rationale for its study. It also lays out a model, or interpretation, for application to subjects studied throughout the course. Warning: students often tend to disregard introductory lectures such as this because they are heavy on theory and light on facts. Don’t make this mistake. Ideas and terms from this lecture will be used and tested.

Outline of Lecture
Introduction	Most people say they hated History in school, but public interest in History is abundant and growing.
What Is History?	We’re dealing here with History as a subject, as an academic discipline. It is one of those disciplines called the humanities. The Humanities study the human condition through texts, or documents. In History we try to understand human events by examining their origins.
What Is History Good for?	History, simply put, is experience. Experience, History is important first as a tool for making decisions, for judgment. It has another important purpose, too: identity. History tells us who we are.
Themes for the Course	What is an American? In this course we look for the origins of American nationhood. They lie in the American people(s), the American environment, and the American constitution.

Assignments
Tocqueville	Introductions to Tocqueville’s Democracy in America—learn how the book came to be and why it is considered important
WWW	Uses and Applications of History, Prof. Isern’s page, which ties closely to lecture content

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