History
297H
CLUSTERS
COURSE
Philip Jenkins, 407 Weaver Building
Class meets Tues/Thurs 9.45-11.00
The course
This course examines the concept of "revolution", with
particular reference to three eras of dramatic social and political change
throughout much of the western world, and often beyond. These eras are the
decades of the 1680s, the 1790s, and the 1920s.
There is an influential and well-known literature on the ways in
which change occurs in science as a result of revolutionary shifts in the
fundamental paradigms by which knowledge is organized and understood. Such revolutionary breakthroughs
include Newtonian and Einsteinian physics; the atomic theory; and Darwinian
evolution. The historians of science best known in this context would include
Kuhn and Popper. It can also be argued - though more speculatively - that such
revolutionary shifts in the sciences often coincide with eras of rapid,
dramatic change in culture and the arts. The different movements may or may not
be related to each other, and the nature of causation is very uncertain; but it
can at least be suggested that such intellectual transformations do indeed
reflect wider changes in society and politics. This cluster of courses is intended
to deepen the students' understanding of the ways in which change occurs in
both science and the humanities, and the possible relationships between those
apparently separate fields. In addition, they will appreciate the social and
political dimensions of change. Finally - and more speculatively - the courses
will explore possible influences and interrelationships between the worlds of
science, politics and literature.
Specifically, the courses will examine three eras which in their
very different ways can be described as "revolutionary" in terms of
science, culture, and politics; the 1680s, the 1790s and the 1920s. Each period
marks or immediately follows a great political revolution - respectively, the
English, French and Russian; and political theories were in much ferment. Each
marked major literary development, and the two later decades at least were
marked by radical experimentation with forms and topics. Thirdly, each was an
age of remarkable scientific discovery: Newton's Principia of 1687 ushered
in a true revolution in physics and mathematics; Laplace, Priestley and
Lavoisier profoundly affected the thought of the 1790s; and the natural
sciences of the 1920s were utterly transformed by the insights of Einstein,
Bohr and the quantum physicists.
Obviously, decades are terms of convenience where political events
are concerned, and the three decades to be addressed here would more properly
be described by the limits 1679-1690; 1789-1799; and 1917-1929. In each decade,
we will consider the influence of the new political theories on Western
intellectuals, and intellectuals as activists in revolutionary politics. These
themes will be addressed comparatively in each era, but there will also be a
chronological discussion of the events involved.
Grading
The grade
for the course will be based on four components, as follows:
1. 35% - comprehensive examination, to be held in finals period
2. 35% - paper on a topic arising from the course, details to be
provided later
3. 20% - Midterm examination
4. 10% - class atendance and participation
All exams will follow the essay format.
Deadlines are strictly enforced, and missing an examination
without prior permission will result in a grade of F. Acceptable excuses
include medical emergencies and the like, appropriately documented.
Texts
1. Crane Brinton, Anatomy of Revolution, New York: Random
House, 0-394-70044-9
2. J. P. Kenyon, Stuart England Penguin
3. Simon Schama, Citizens, New York: Vintage Books, 1989.
ISBN: 0-679-72610-1
4. Raymond J. Sontag, A Broken World 1919-1939, New York:
Harper Torchbook, 0-06-131651-2
Syllabus
1. January 11.
Introduction of themes. Definition; concept of revolution, Issues
of cause and consequence; the influence of ideology on political
transformation.
Read: Brinton, Anatomy of Revolution
2. January 13.
Can we speak of a seventeenth century revolution?
Crisis in Europe 1550-1640 - Continental absolutism and the
background to the controversies of the 1680s. The context of early modern
society and politics 1660-1800
3. January 18.
Revolution and Counter-revolution in Stuart England. The Civil War
and its aftermath. Religious alignments.
Read: Kenyon, Stuart England, especially chapters on
1640s and afterwards
4. January 20.
Developing the idea of a right of resistance or revolution.
Contract theories: Locke, Tyrrell and the Whig/Liberal theory of resistance.
5. January 25.
The Constitutional crisis over Exclusion
6. January 27.
The "Glorious Revolution" and the Convention; the
constitutional settlement and the English Bill of Rights.
7. February 1.
Revolutions in Scotland and Ireland
I need to know your paper topics today
8. February 3.
America 1675-1692
9. February 8.
The religious heritage of the 1680s.
10. February 10.
Salem and the crisis in witch-belief
11. February 15.
The meaning of the
Enlightenment
Read: Schama, Citizens
12. February 17.
Enlightenment political theory, and the political heritage of
Europe in the 1790s.
13. February 22.
The French Revolution - theories and debates
14. February 24.
The events of the French Revolution
15. March 1.
Extreme social and political radicalism; the sexual
revolutionaries.
16. March 3. midterm
examination
17. March 15.
Britain and Ireland in the 1790s
18. March 17.
America from the Constitution to the election of Jefferson.
19. March 22.
Europe and the wider world in the 1790s. Slavery in America and
the Caribbean; the revolution in Haiti
20. March 24.
Industrialization and war 1789-1815
21. March 29.
Intellectual trends 1880-1920: the impact of Darwin and Freud
Read: Sontag, Broken World
22. March 31
The impact of Marx and Lenin
23. April 5.
Russia in revolution
24. April 7.
Europe in the 1920s
25. April 12.
The economic context in Europe and America
26. April 14.
The social and cultural world of 1920s Europe and America
27. April 19.
Fascism and the great reaction
Drafts of your term papers are due today
28. April 21.
North America in the 1920s.
29. April 26.
The challenge to Western empires through new third world nationalist
movements
30. April 28.
Summary and discussion of themes
Some Suggested Readings
1680s
Andrews, Charles McLean (1959) Narratives of the Insurrections
1675-1690 New York: Barnes and Noble
Chenevix-Trench, Charles (1969) The Western Rising, London:
Longman
Demos, John (1982) Entertaining Satan Oxford University
Press
Haley, K.H (1985) Politics in the Reign of James II,
Oxford: Blackwell
Jones, J.R., (1969) The First Whigs London: Macmillan
Jones, J.R., ed., (1979) The Restored Monarchy 1660-1688
London
Jones, J.R., (1978) Country and Court: England 1658-1714,
Harvard University Press
Kenyon, J.P. (1974) The Popish Plot London: Pelican
Plumb, J.H. (1967) The Growth of Political Stability in England
1675-1725 London: Macmillan
Webb, Stephen Saunders (1984) 1676: the End of American
Independence New York: Knopf
Western, J.R. (1972) Monarchy and Revolution London:
Blandford
Texts
Pelican Classics over the years has published editions of books
like the Complete Works of the Marquess of Halifax, edited by J. P.
Kenyon.
Peter Laslett's edition of Two Treatises by Locke
(Cambridge 1960), especially the fine introduction.
John Bunyan's works also fit nicely here, especially as
interpreted through Christopher Hill's recent biography, A Tinker and a Poor
Man.
1790s
Commager, Henry Steele (1978) The Empire of Reason New
York: Doubleday Anchor.
Crowe, Michael J (1986) The Extraterrestrial Life Debate
1750-1900 Cambridge University Press
Darnton, Robert, (1982) The Literary Underground of the Old
Regime Harvard University Press
Erdman, David (1977). Blake - Prophet Against Empire, third
edition, Princeton University Press
Harris, R.W. (1969) Romanticism and the Social Order 1780-1830
London: Blandford
Hobsbawm, E.J. (1962). The Age of Revolution London:
Weidenfeld and Nicolson
Hone, J. Anne (1982), For the Cause of Truth: Radicalism in
London 1796-1821 Oxford Univ Press.
Jacob, Margaret (1976), The Newtonians and the English
Revolution 1689-1720
Jacob, Margaret (1981), The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists,
Freemasons and Republicans
Jacob, Margaret (1988) The Cultural Meaning of the Scientific
Revolution
Jacob, Margaret (1991) Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry
and Politics in Eighteenth Century Europe
James, C.L.R. (1963) The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and
the San Domingo Revolution New
York: Vintage
Johnson, Douglas, ed., (1976). French Society and the
Revolution Cambridge University Press
Kramnick, Isaac (1990), Republicanism and Bourgeois Radicalism
- Political Ideology in Late Eighteenth Century England and America Cornell
University Press
McCalman, Iain, Radical Underworld: Prophets, Revolutionaries
and Pornographers in London 1795-1840, Cambridge Univ Press
Palmer, R.R. (1964) The Age of the Democratic Revolution,
two volumes, Princeton University Press
Schama, Simon (1977) Patriots and Liberators New York:
Knopf
Schama, Simon (1989) Citizens New York: Vintage
Thompson, E.P. (1968). The Making of the English Working Class
London: Pelican
Williams, Gwyn A. (1969) Artisans and Sans-Culottes New
York: Norton
Williams, Merryn (1971). Revolutions 1775-1830 London:
Penguin
Wills, Garry (1979) Inventing America New York: Vintage
Texts
Pelican Classics over the years has published nice editions of
some key texts including:
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France,
edited by Conor Cruise O'Brien
(1790)
William Godwin, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice,
edited by Isaac Kramnick (1798)
Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, edited by Henry Collins
(1791-2)
The Industrial Revolution
Ashton, T.S. (1973) Industrial Revolution Oxford University
Press
Clarkson, L.A. (1990) The Industrial Revolution - A Compendium
Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press International
Deane, Phyllis (1979)
The First Industrial Revolution Cambridge University Press.
Mathias, P. (1979) The Transformation of England, Columbia
University Press
1920s
As there is a really vast range of sources to draw on, this period
poses particular problems. Some possibilities include:
Several books by E. H. Carr, such as Socialism in One Country,
The Bolshevik Revolution, etc. Also The Russian Revolution from Lenin
to Stalin (New York Free Press 1979)
F. L. Carsten (1980) The Rise of Fascism, second edition,
London: Methuen
Peter Gay, Weimar Culture London: Pelican
James Weinstein (1984) The Decline of Socialism in America
Rutgers University Press
Books on Reserve in Pattee Library
Call number Author Title
D424.C3 1980 Carsten The Rise of Fascism
DC133.3.D37 1982 Darnton The
Literary Underground of the Old Regime
HC254.5.D3 1979 Deane The First Industrial Revolution
BF1576.D42 Demos Entertaining Satan
DD239.G38 1981 Gay Weimar Culture
DA445.H15 1985 Haley Politics in the Reign of James
II
PR3331.H55 1989 Hill A Tinker and a
Poor Man
HN398.L7H65 Hone For the Cause of Truth:
Radicalism in London 1796-1821
CB411.J33 1981 Jacob The Radical Enlightenment
Q175.5.J3 1988b Jacob The Cultural Meaning of
the Scientific Revolution
HS416.J33 1991 Jacob Living the Enlightenment
DC142.F7 Johnson French
Society and the Revolution
DA435.J66 Jones,
J.R. Country
and Court: England 1658-1714
JA84. G7K73 1990 Kramnick Republicanism
and Bourgeois Radicalism
JC153.L8 1967a Laslett Two Treatises by Locke
HN400.R3M34 1988 McCalman Radical
Underworld
320.8P16b Paine
Basic Writings
DJ202.S32 1977 Schama Patriots and Liberators
331.0942T372m Thompson Making
of the English Working Class
F229.W36 1984 Webb 1676: the End of American
Independence
HD8395.W48 Williams Artisans
and Sans-Culottes
JK155.W54 Wills Explaining America
E221.W64 Wills Inventing America