U.S. History in Transnational & Global Perspective 1
America and the World until 1898
New York University Abu Dhabi, Spring 2013 (HIST-AD 167)
History – Regional Course: Atlantic World
Sunday/Wednesday, 11.20-12.35
DTC, N-107
Rethinking the traditional narratives of U.S. history, this course explores America’s past from a transnational and global perspective. Chronologically, it covers America’s interaction with the wider world from the earliest European settlements to the Spanish-American War of 1898, examining the Colonial Period, the Revolutionary War, the founding of the republic, the War of 1812, westward expansion, as well as the Civil War, the abolition of slavery, and Reconstruction.
Readings and classroom discussions focus on the major political, economic, and cultural forces that shaped the process of American nation-building, reevaluating the allegedly “exceptional” elements of U.S. history in relation to networks, identities, and events that transcended the nation-state.