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Our new programme is based on our passionately held belief in the relevance and fascination of History as a subject. We have built it around the challenges of the modern world. We'll ask you to explore the past through a diverse range of assessments. Here are some suggestions of interesting items you might read to give you a flavour of some of the themes that we will address. Please note that none of these books are required reading for our modules: we will provide all the reading materials you need from September through the library. These are simply suggestions if you wish to read around the subject over the summer.

History of Freedom

What does it mean to be free and how has the answer to this question changed over time? In ancient and medieval times, there were degrees of unfreedom for all. In the age of empire, race determined who could be enslaved.

Equiano

Pankhurst

Rights

The following narrative, 'THE INTERESTING NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF OLAUDAH EQUIANO, OR GUSTAVUS VASSA, THE AFRICAN. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF' was published in 1789. It explores how a former enslaved African valued freedom and is a source we hope to explore on our Freedom module. It is free to access a copy - click here https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15399/15399-h/15399-h.htm

We've selected some highly readable recent books that are inexpensive to purchase. Here's our first suggestion:

Helen Pankhurst, Deeds not words: the story of women's rights - then and now (2018)

The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights is source that encapsulates different rights we hold dear, but which have often been denied in events during the twentieth century. It can be read at the United Nations website: https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

World War Tudors

What idea of Britain is conveyed when TV programmes and computer games focus on a narrow range of stories like Boudicca’s fight against Rome, Henry VIII’s wives or the Battle of Britain? What gets left out of British history in these simplified versions of the past?

Hirsch

Rate It

Reynolds

Afua Hirsch, Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging (2018)

One of the assignments for this module will ask you to critique TV documentaries or historical computer games.

This is one of the innovative ways in which we'll assess you and help you to develop useful skills for the world beyond university.

David Reynolds, Island Stories: Britain and its history in the age of Brexit (2019)

History in the News

Every headline has a history. You will help to shape the course by identifying some of the most pressing and interesting issues of the world today. The decision as to what we should explore together lies in your hands.

Honigsbaum

Digital

Weir et al

Mark Honigsbaum, A History of Global Contagion from the Spanish Flu to Covid-19 (2020)

Each of our modules develops a specific set of skills that build up though the programme. This one promotes digital literacy.

Alison Weir, Kate Williams, Sarah Gristwood and Tracy Borman, The Ring and the Crown: A History of Royal Weddings (2011)

Human Worlds

How have humans shaped their environment, and how has the environment shaped them in return? How has the availability of resources encouraged migration and movement, for example on the trade routes of the Silk Road? How have cities like Paris and St Petersburg grown?

Dartnell

Mapping

Penna

Lewis Dartnell, Origins: How the Earth Shaped Human History (2019)

There are many ways to present and organise historical information. We'll ask you to investigate time and space through digital mapping.

Anthony N. Penna, The Human Footprint: A Global Environmental History (2014)

All Roads Lead from Rome

No matter how modern we think we are, we’re still shaped by the classical past. Using artworks, archaeology and artefacts, this module will explore how the classical world provided a blueprint for the projection of power through imagery and architecture.

Chapoutot

Material Culture

Johann Chapoutot, Greeks, Romans, Germans: how the Nazis usurped Europe's classical past (2016)

Information about the past can be found in objects as well as texts. We'll ask you to compose a succinct museum caption to convey an object's significance.

Revolutions: Continuity and Change

Before the great revolutions in America, France, Haiti and Russia, global history experienced sweeping changes in society, ideas and technology. This module will widen your perspective on ‘revolutions’ from ancient times to the present.

Lepore

Presenting

Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States (2018)

Build your confidence in presenting with a group presentation for one of this modules assessments.