Fall 2026 Courses

CHECK OUT THESE FALL COURSES!

Below is a partial list of courses. For the semester's complete offerings, see the Registrar's iGPS site. The IUB Course Bulletin also has full list of History Department courses past, present, and future.

100-Level History Courses

The World in the Twentieth Century I

HIST-H101 with Professor Guardino

The momentous changes that took place in the first half of the century affected people all over the world and laid the groundwork for much of the human experience today. We will consider themes like industrialism, gender, colonialism, racism, nationalism, fascism, socialism and war. Analyzing these subjects and their impact on everyday life will help us understand how the world we live in today came to be, and examining the experiences of people from the past will help us understand our own humanity. The course is based on active lectures that incorporate film clips and other visual materials as well as the discussion of issues and documents.

MW 10:25 AM-11:15 AM
Fulfills GenEd S&H, WC; COLL CASE GCC

The Making of Modern Russia

HIST-D103 with Professor Bruno

How did Russia go from an outpost of traditionalist conservativism to radical socialism and back again from the middle of the 1800s to today? Exploring the history of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation, we will consider issues of politics, society, nationality, class, culture, gender, international relations, economy, and environment. The course will chart watershed moments such as the transformations of late imperial Russia, the revolutions of the early twentieth century, Stalinism, World War II, efforts at reform and revival during the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the rise of authoritarianism since the 1990s.

TR 11:10 AM–12:25 PM
Fulfills GenEd S&H, WC; COLL CASE S&H, GCC

American History I

HIST-H105 with Professor Dierks

Has it ever been possible in American history to imagine equality without at the same time excluding some people? We will explore cultural tensions between equality and inequality, freedom and unfreedom, and prosperity and poverty in American history from the era of Columbus’s exploration of the New World, up through the era of the American Civil War.

TR 9:35 AM–10:50 AM
Fulfills GenEd S&H; COLL CASE S&H

American History I

HIST-H105 with Professor Myers

TR 3:55 PM–5:10 PM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H; Coll CASE S&H

American History II

HIST-H106 with Professor Ortega

Amid the debates on what constitutes U.S. history and what should be taught--students, instructors, and learning institutions--have grappled with the social, cultural, political, and economic events that have shaped U.S. history since the late nineteenth century. As this course engages contemporary events, I invite students to approach history as a dynamic relationship between the past and the present. The central purpose of this course is to encourage informed, thoughtful, and critical perspectives on the U.S. experience as encountered by various groups of people.

TR 12:45 PM–2:00 PM
Fulfills GenEd S&H, WC; COLL CASE GCC

200-Level History Courses

Population in World History

HIST-W200 with Professor Ipsen

Sex. Death. Abortion. Migration. We will cover all these topics and more in the History of World Population. Students will acquire basic tools of demographic analysis and apply them to population dynamics (fertility, mortality, migration) throughout the millennia. From the expansion of hominids out of Africa to agricultural societies to the expansion of cities, plus wars, and the movements of peoples, forced and voluntary through the ages.

TR 3:55 PM-5:10 PM
Fulfills GenED S&H, WC; COLL CASE S&H

Global Pop Culture

HIST-W200 with Professor McGraw

TR 12:45 PM-2:00 PM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H, WC; COLL CASE S&H

Global Slaveries (2nd 8‑Week Course)

HIST-W201 with Professor Machado

A variety of forms of slavery and unfreedom have marked the human experience across a range of time periods and places. We will look in detail at the development of the Atlantic world's plantation slavery but also move beyond it to explore very different forms of slavery and unfreedoms that existed in the global Indian Ocean and Pacific worlds, and that predated the Common Era. In doing so, we'll challenge the view of slavery as defined by chattel/free and gain new perspectives on slavery as a multilayered and complex process with a global and connected past.

MW 3:10 PM-5:40 PM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H, WC; COLL CASE S&H, GCC

World War I: Global War

HIST-W203 with Professor Hsia

World War I is not only the Ur‑catastrophe for twentieth‑century Europe, but also a shattering and revolutionary moment around the globe. We examine battles on land and sea worldwide and consider the experiences of soldiers, laborers, and non‑combatants on the front and at home within and beyond Europe.

TR 12:45 PM–2:00 PM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H, WC; COLL CASE S&H, GCC

Medieval Heroes

HIST-B204 with Professor Shopkow

Yesterday’s heroes sometimes are today’s villains (I’m sure you can think of some). Sometimes they’re just forgotten (so who was Walter of Aquitaine anyway?) And someone you regard as a villain may be someone else’s hero. (Attila the Hun is a national hero in Hungary). We’ll explore how context makes someone a hero (or a villain), looking at three medieval heroes or types of heroes, Charlemagne, Saladin and Richard the Lionheart, and the female hero.

MW 3:10 PM-4:00 PM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H, WC; COLL CASE S&H, GCC

Introduction to Native American History

HIST-A207 with Professor Black

History-A 207 will explore stories of the Americas with a focus on the United States from time immemorial to European colonization and into the present and future of Indigenous resistance. Through lectures and discussions, primary source readings and short analytical essays, students will gain a deeper understanding of Native North America's past, present, and future.

TR 12:45 PM–2:00 PM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H; COLL CASE S&H, DUS

Ancient Leaders and Leadership

HIST-C220 with Professor Elliott

We investigate the lives and leadership of a diverse group of ancient Mediterranean leaders. How did these individuals rise to preeminence? Which ethical and cultural values shaped their choices? How did they change their world? Our subjects include Artemisia, Pericles, Socrates, Demosthenes, Alexander the Great, the Gracchi brothers, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Agrippina, Marcus Aurelius, Perpetua, Hypatia and Justinian the Great, among others. In addition to such leaders, Ancient Greek and Roman societies left behind compelling studies of leadership itself--a skill as valuable then as it is now. Leadership is fundamental to being human, and to cultivate leadership is to cultivate the best in humanity. Students should expect to attend weekly lectures and discussion sections, read around 30-60 pages of primary sources on ancient leaders, write around 8 short papers and complete a final essay which evaluates the leadership qualities of an ancient leader.

MW 10:25 AM-11:15 AM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H, WC; COLL CASE S&H, GCC

American Military History

HIST-H220 with Professor Cullather

MW 11:10 AM-12:25 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H

Law in America

HIST-A222 with Professor Gregg

Using legal cases to examine history, this course surveys the US Supreme Court’s rulings on critical issues over the centuries. Students will explore how law affects American politics, economics, and society, gaining greater insight into the changes that resulted from legal arguments and decisions. Skills including critical reading, engaged and civil discussion, and analytical writing will be refined as we investigate federal jurisprudence as a means to better understand historical causality and the evolution of the nation-state and its legal system.

TR 9:35 AM-10:50 AM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H; COLL CASE S&H

The Mafia and other Italian Mysteries

HIST-B226 with Professor Ipsen

An offer you can’t refuse: 15 weeks of murder, corruption, drug dealing, and occasional successes against organized crime. This course will focus primarily on the Sicilian mafia. While we will look at links to the US mafia, our focus will be Italy. In addition to the mafia, we will look at related areas of Italian 'deep politics' (or Italy’s mysteries) including: Salvatore Giuliano, right and left-wing terror and the strategy of tension, the Vatican banking scandal, and the Tangentopoli scandal and Clean Hands investigation.

MW 3:55 PM-5:10 PM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H, WC; COLL CASE S&H, GCC

Blood and Guts

HIST-H239 with Professor Griffin

Would you like a nice warming bowl of soup for that cold, or some medicine that smells like drain cleaner? Humans have always tried to make themselves feel better but how they have tried has been very different. In this course we will look at how medicine and healing has changed over time, and how what we think about our bodies tells us a lot about how we think about the world.

MW 11:10 AM-12:25 PM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H, WC; COLL CASE S&H, GCC

Introduction to Jewish History

HIST-H251 with Professor Lockwood

This course is designed to broaden our thinking about the meaning of history through a perusal of Jewish history in its early periods. Starting from the standpoint that the ancient Israelites as historical actors are a distinct topic from the use of Biblical narratives in later times and other places by Jews and others, and that the rabbinic voices of the Talmudic era and early modernity exist both as historical figures and as vibrant sources of wisdom that continue to act in the lives of contemporary Jewish people, we will try to gather something from looking at the past that yields knowledge both about ancient lives and our own. Beyond the “main characters” that are highlighted in canonical texts, we will read between the lines to seek out perspectives from those whose stories are obscured by male-dominated literatures, seeking evidence about the lives of women and the co-construction of histories and culture between elite and non-elite actors.

TR 11:10 AM-12:25 PM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H, WC; COLL CASE S&H, GCC

What is History?

HIST-H270 with Professor Ransford

In 'What Is History?', we will explore vital questions of the process of history-writing: the choices historians make, and the influence their own society and times have on these choices. We'll delve into the ideas, practices, and joys of history common to the study of all places, time periods, and themes. We'll develop the skills historians use in our research and writing, including locating and interpreting sources, using scholarly resources, and arguing persuasively. Finally, we will ask what we mean by the term 'facts' and why only some facts, but not others, become part of the historical record. For all students regardless of their major or primary areas of interest, we will engage with stories that offer a fascinating way to think about past worlds, as well as our own.

MW 9:35 AM-10:50 AM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H; COLL CASE S&H

What is History?

HIST-H270 with Professor McGraw

TR 9:35 AM-10:50 AM
Fulfills Gen Ed S&H; COLL CASE S&H

300-Level History Courses

Debating Growth and Degrowth

HIST-J300 with Professor Bruno

Is continual economic growth possible on a finite planet? Or have we already so overshot the planet’s sustaining systems that it would be best to shrink the global economy as part of a path toward sustainability? In this course we will consider the history and heated debates around the relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability, including the potential viability of a program of degrowth being proposed as a response to our current predicament. Students will also dig into these questions themselves in a written research project.

R 4:20 PM–6:50 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H, WI

Making a Living in Native America

HIST-J300 with Professor Nichols

1492 initiated not the discovery of a New World, but the colonization of a very old world, where tens of millions of people had been making their livings for thousands of years. Focusing on North America, HIST J 300 will examine how Indigenous Americans subsisted and prospered before 1492, and how they changed their economic cultures in the aftermath of the deadly European encounter. Among other subjects, we will study regional subsistence practices (fishing, hunting, agriculture), pre‑Columbian trade, wealth redistribution, the impact of disease and land loss, and Indigenous peoples’ adaptation to commercial debt and wage labor.

TR 8:00 AM–9:15 AM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H, WI

Early Medieval England

HIST-J300 with Professor Deliyannis

When the Roman legions pulled out of Britain in the early fifth century, the island entered a “dark age,” during which groups of people from outside the island became its rulers. In this course, we will read and write about the history and culture of England from 400–1066, including the conversion to Christianity, the Viking invasions, and the Norman Conquest.

TR 3:55 PM–5:10 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H, WI

The Notorious 1960s

HIST-J300 with Professor Inouye

Why have the 1960s become known as one of the most turbulent decades in American history? What historical factors led to this designation? Examining landmark moments–the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., the Moon landing, Woodstock, and the marches from Selma to Montgomery–this course investigates the impact of that decade and its place in the American imagination. In addition, students get the chance to learn how to write a 20-page research paper.

W 3:10 PM–5:40 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H, WI

Legacies of WWI in Europe

HIST-J300 with Professor Roos

The First World War was the first traumatic rupture of the twentieth century. This class is NOT a course in military history. Instead, its primary focus is on the social, economic, cultural, and political legacies of World War I for 1920s and 1930s Europe. The war caused major upheavals in established class relations and gender roles. It led to the downfall of empires and spurred revolutionary uprisings in many European countries. The 1920s brought important democratic advances, yet the period also witnessed the rise of fascism.

W 9:10 AM–11:40 AM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H, WI

Decolonizing the Museum

HIST-W300 with Professor Foray

What is decolonization, and what does it have to do with museums? How has imperialism shaped our interactions with museums, artifacts, and historic sites, and how can we (re)imagine current and future exhibitions in the wake of decolonization? We will answer these questions by examining topics and case studies ranging from the world’s fairs, colonial expositions, and human zoos of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to more contemporary developments, like the toppling of imperialist-era statues and demands for the return of stolen artifacts and the ethical handling of human remains. By working with local institutions and collections, students will also have the opportunity to put into practice the ideas and policies covered in class readings and discussions.

MW 2:20 PM–3:35 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H

Colonial America

HIST-A301 with Professor Irvin

Little more than five hundred years ago, western Europeans ventured into the Atlantic. In the Caribbean islands and on the American mainlands, they built forts and claimed the surrounding lands in the names of their kings and queens. They proselytized to and made war with Indigenous peoples. They established trading posts, plantations, and mines, and they carried African captives across the Atlantic to labor as slaves. This course will focus primarily on the efforts of Spanish, French, and British colonizers to subjugate North America; on the struggles of Indigenous peoples to preserve their autonomy; and on the endeavors of forcibly imported Africans to create lives and families within the violent institution of slavery.

TR 9:35 AM–10:50 AM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H

Empire of the Tsars

HIST-D308 with Professor Saburova

Learn about one of the largest empires and its history in the “long” nineteenth century to understand the role of imperial legacy in current Russian politics. Can you compare Russian serfdom with American slavery? We will learn how the Great Reforms changed society, explore the revolutionary movement and the origins of terrorism, examine daily life of the Russian nobility and peasants, the “woman question,” and debates about socialism and Russia’s role in the world. We will also study Russia’s foreign policy from the Napoleonic Wars through World War I, including the Crimean War, the conquest of the Caucasus and Central Asia, and how the Russian Empire ruled by the tsars became a “Gendarme of Europe” before collapsing in 1917.

MW 11:10 AM–12:25 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H, GCC

Histories of the Cold War

HIST-D312 with Professor Saburova

Is it a New Cold War now? Do you know who started and ended the Cold War, what the Iron Curtain and Red Scare mean, and why “duck-and-cover” drills were important? In this class we will examine the origins and major episodes of the Cold War but go beyond traditional political and international relations history to discuss visual culture and media, technological competition and its impact on science and education, daily life and material culture, as well as sport and music. We will analyze recently declassified documents and watch films of the Cold War.

MW 2:20 PM–3:35 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H, GCC

The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic

HIST-C320 with Professor Elliott

Nearly eight centuries after Rome was founded by outcasts, Julius Caesar was violently murdered by members of the Senate. Rome’s massive Mediterranean empire had become a prize worth killing for. We investigate the chain of events by which Rome ascended to superpower status and subsequently abandoned its Republican constitution in favor of autocracy.

MW 2:20 PM–3:35 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H, GCC

Civil War and Reconstruction

HIST-A348 with Professor Andrews

The Civil War marked one of the great transition points in U.S. history. Those four years of conflict saw the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans, the end of slavery, and a reorganization of U.S. politics, economy, and society. The war birthed new visions of the future of the nation and the continent, new demands for civil rights, and new expectations about the role of the federal government.

TR 9:35 AM–10:50 AM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H

Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages

HIST-B351 with Professor Deliyannis

What happened after the “Fall of Rome”? Barbarians, monks, Islam, Charlemagne, and Vikings are just a few of the topics discussed in this course. We will examine how Roman, Germanic, Christian, and Islamic traditions interacted between AD 500 and 1000, producing political and cultural identities that have lasted down to the present.

TR 11:10 AM–12:25 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H, GCC

Modern Japan

HIST-G369 with Professor O’Bryan

While we hear much these days about the rising influence of China and India, Japan remains an Asian nation with a particular power to fascinate Americans. Despite the rise of other East Asian and South Asian rivals, Japan continues as a significant force on the world stage: its economy is still the third largest in the world after that of the United States and China. While in earlier parts of the modern period Americans often found Japan’s rising place in the world alarming, its cultural products now boast the kind of cool cachet once associated solely with Hollywood and the culture industries of the United States. This course traces the history of modern Japan from the beginning of the nineteenth century, through the Meiji Restoration, to the present.

MW 3:55 PM–5:10 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H

Discipline and Surveillance

HIST-A379 with Professor Seigel

Surveillance, the state-sanctioned practice of vigilance, watch, or observation over a subject population, is nothing new, though people today may feel it keenly. Placing this practice in historical and cultural context in the United States during and after the formative institution of chattel slavery, the course explores the racial dynamics of surveillance, changes in the practice with the evolution of technology, and the possibility of sousveillance, the reversal of the surveillant gaze. Through reading, writing, encounter, discussion, and collaborative projects, students will ponder the origins, growth, purpose, and function of surveillance, discipline, and incarceration; the sources of crime; myths and realities of life in prison; and possibilities for reform and transformation.

MW 11:10 AM–12:25 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H

Decline and Fall of Rome

HIST-C390 with Professor Caner

Decline and Fall, or Fall and Decline? What “fell,” and what remained the same? And who were those barbarians anyway?

MW 9:35 AM–10:50 AM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H, GCC

Wenches, Witches, Welfare Queens

HIST-A394 with Professor Myers

Engaging with secondary scholarship, travel literature, ads, music, poetry, film, and more, we will examine when, where, how, and why particular stereotypes about Black women were created and by whom. We will also discuss how Black women have grappled with race, class, gender, and sexuality, struggling to create lives and images that reflect their own understanding of liberty, power, equality, rights, citizenship, and self. Instead of attempting to understand all of Black women’s history or every image that exists in the U.S. context, we will focus on interrogating certain images more closely than others. This class is thus organized thematically, not chronologically, and is not meant to be an exhaustive examination of Black women’s history.

TR 12:45 PM–2:00 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H, DUS

Disability in the United States

HIST-A398 with Professor Irvin

Disability is a nearly universal condition. Everyone becomes disabled if they live long enough. Yet, not until recently have historians recognized that disability changes over time and in relation to the specific societies in which it is experienced. In this reading‑intensive seminar, we will explore disability as it has pertained to a variety of institutions, eras, and events in U.S. history, including slavery and emancipation, immigration, the Progressive Era, World Wars I and II, and the Great Depression. We will also examine several phenomena that have particularly defined or shaped disability in the United States, including the birth of the asylum, the rise and fall of eugenic science, and modern campaigns for veterans’ health care.

MW 9:35 AM–10:50 AM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H, DUS

400-Level History Courses

The Social History of War

HIST-J400 with Professor Guardino

In this course students will explore the ways in which the experience of war both grows from different societies and cultures and in turn changes those societies and cultures. More importantly, students will learn how to produce a serious research paper. We will work through the different steps in that process together, and students may focus on any aspect of any war in human history. Since war is unfortunately one of the most universal human experiences, students can choose from a wide variety of topics. We will have some common reading at the beginning of the semester, but the vast bulk of each student’s reading will consist of materials related to their individual research.

M 3:10 PM–5:40 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H

Explorers and Exploration

HIST-J400 with Professor Saburova

We will examine the history of exploration by following expeditions around the world that aimed to “discover” new lands, collect flora and fauna, map and name territories, and incorporate them into empires through cartography, science, and political power. The course engages travelogues, expeditionary reports, maps, and images, and discusses “great explorers” and their role in history while using methods from spatial and digital humanities.

M 4:20 PM–6:50 PM
Fulfills COLL CASE S&H

History Capstone Seminar

HIST-J425 with Professor Diaz

This History Capstone Seminar is an opportunity to work on an original, primary-source-based research project that is both personally compelling and relevant to future career plans. The course provides a comprehensive research experience and helps students formulate research questions, analyze information, generate new knowledge based on evidence, and effectively present their work in written, visual, and oral formats. These essential skills will be valuable in almost any profession.

M 12:45 PM–3:15 PM

History Capstone Seminar

HIST-J425 with Professor Cullather

This History Capstone Seminar is your opportunity to work on an original, primary‑source‑based research project that you are curious and passionate about and that is relevant and usefully related to your future career plans. This class will provide a comprehensive research experience and help enhance your ability to formulate research questions, analyze information, generate new knowledge based on evidence, and effectively present your work in written, visual, and oral formats. All of these essential skills will be helpful in almost any job you hold in the future.

TR 12:45 PM–2:00 PM

History at Work (First 8-Week Course)

HIST-X444 with Professor Andrei

This class enables History students to learn about career planning, development, and best practices, while also training them to communicate their experiences, skills, and education effectively to potential employers as well as professional and graduate school programs. Students will develop and workshop job-search materials such as resumes, cover letters, and other materials necessary for career preparation and applications to professional and graduate programs.

W 5:00 PM–7:00 PM
Fulfills CASE Career Readiness 2

Fall 2026 Courses

CHECK OUT THESE FALL COURSES!

100-Level History Courses

The World in the Twentieth Century I

The Making of Modern Russia

American History I

American History I

American History II

200-Level History Courses

Population in World History

Global Pop Culture

Global Slaveries (2nd 8‑Week Course)

World War I: Global War

Medieval Heroes

Introduction to Native American History

Ancient Leaders and Leadership

American Military History

Law in America

The Mafia and other Italian Mysteries

Blood and Guts

Introduction to Jewish History

What is History?

What is History?

300-Level History Courses

Debating Growth and Degrowth

Making a Living in Native America

Early Medieval England

The Notorious 1960s

Legacies of WWI in Europe

Decolonizing the Museum

Colonial America

Empire of the Tsars

Histories of the Cold War

The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic

Civil War and Reconstruction

Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages

Modern Japan

Discipline and Surveillance

Decline and Fall of Rome

Wenches, Witches, Welfare Queens

Disability in the United States

400-Level History Courses

The Social History of War

Explorers and Exploration

History Capstone Seminar

History Capstone Seminar

History at Work (First 8-Week Course)

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