Expanded Course Descriptions
The Department of History scheduled these undergraduate courses for SPRING QUARTER 2026. This list and descriptions are subject to change, so please check back often.
Registration appointment times available on Schedule Builder and myucdavis.
- Lower Division
HIS 004B: History of Western Civilization (Europe) - Professor Stuart
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). History of Western Civilization from the Renaissance to the 18th century.
Description: We study European society, politics, and culture from the late Middle Ages through the early modern centuries, from the Black Death to the eve of the French Revolution. From 1348 to 1789 Europe experienced mass pandemics, the spread of world-changing new technologies like gun powder and the printing press, the development of the early modern state, the fracturing of the “universal Christendom” and the emergence of competing religious confessions, religious wars and wars of expansion, the rise of Colonial empires and international trade, the rise of science, the Age of Enlightenment and secularization. These were centuries of enormous contradiction: the “Scientific Revolution” was contemporaneous to the European witch-hunt that led to the execution of tens of thousands for the crime of “harmful magic.” In 1685 the French King Louis XIV outlawed witch-hunting, and yet he continued to practice the “King’s touch,” a miraculous healing ritual in which French and English Kings cured people through the laying on of hands. These are just some of the cross-currents and paradoxes of the early modern centuries that we will explore this quarter.
HIS 004C: History of Western Civilization (Europe) - Professor Zientek
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Development of Western Civilization from the 18th century to the present.
HIS 006: Introduction to the Middle East (Middle East)
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Survey of the major social, economic, political and cultural transformations in the Middle East from the rise of Islam (c.600A.D.) to the present, emphasizing themes in religion and culture, politics and society.
HIS 009A: History of East Asian Civilization (Asia) - Professor Zhang
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Surveys traditional Chinese civilization and its modern transformation. Emphasis is on thought and religion, political and social life, art and literature. Perspectives on contemporary China are provided.
Description: This course is an introduction to the history of China from the Neolithic age to the 21st century. During this time, the Chinese invented and reshaped their cultural identity by moving into new frontiers and creatively incorporating foreign ideas with indigenous practices. Paying attention to China’s interactions with its neighboring countries, this course asks essential questions such as “What is China?” and “Who was Chinese?” in changing historical contexts.Primary sources utilized in this course include individual narratives, such as diaries and travel journals, along with documents that reflect general social conditions, like philosophical works, scroll paintings, law codes, and maps. Working with both primary and secondary sources, you will develop critical reading and academic writing skills by looking into topics such as empire, state-building, gender, and ethnicity in Chinese history.
HIS 011: History of the Jewish People in the Modern World (Europe) - Professor Shanes
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Histories and cultures of the Jews since 1492. Topics include: the making of Jewish diasporas, roots of antisemitism, the Holocaust in images and texts, changing ideas of the self, Jews in America, contemporary visions of the Jewish past.
Description: Histories and cultures of the Jews since 1700. We look at how Jews in different places (Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and America) developed modern religious and political identities in dialogue with majority non-Jewish society. Topics include social, religious, and political change, integration and assimilation, antisemitism, and the Holocaust.
HIS 017A: History of the United States (United States) - Professor St. John
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). The experience of the American people from the Colonial Era to the Civil War.
Description: This class will provide a broad introduction to the history of the territory that is now the United States from the first encounters between Americans and Europeans through the mid-nineteenth century and the crisis of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Don’t let the course title fool you; this is not just a history of the United States (which, of course, did not begin to become a nation until 1776). In addition to focusing on the first century of U.S. history, this course will go back hundreds of years to briefly touch on North America before the arrival of Europeans before exploring how European colonists, Indigenous Americans, and enslaved Africans created a new world together on the continent. We’ll then move on to discuss the founding of the United States and the development, near collapse, and rebuilding of the nation in the years leading up through the Civil War and Reconstruction. The course will introduce students to some of the central themes in American history and how historians have developed this understanding by analyzing primary source material and assembling narratives. Course themes include imperialism and colonization, slavery and labor regimes, trade, resource extraction, and the emergence of capitalism, family and community formation and the evolution of American cultures, the rise of nation-states and the dispossession of Native polities, and politics and the ideology of freedom and democracy.This is a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time, but the class will seek to balance the big picture of American history with the texture of individual experiences and day-to-day life.
In addition to introducing some of the central figures and events in American history, this course is intended to help students hone a range of skills in critical reading and thinking, written and oral communication, and historical analysis and writing.
HIS 017B: History of the United States (United States) - Professor Rauchway
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). The experience of the American people from the Civil War to the end of the Cold War.
Description: This course provides an introduction to the history of the United States since the Civil War. We will explore social, economic, cultural, and political changes on the domestic front as well as the nation’s expansion abroad. Course topics include industrialization, immigration, race relations, the role of the federal government, foreign policy, reform, and social protest movements. As a survey, the course is designed to introduce key themes and events in modern American history, and to develop students’ critical thinking, writing, and reading skills.
HIS 072B: Women & Gender in America, 1865-Present (United States) - Professor Materson
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Development of Western Civilization from the 18th century to the present.
Description: This course examines the ways that diverse groups of women have forged and experienced American culture and democracy. Readings emphasize women's engagement in organized struggles for economic, political and social justice during the twentieth century. The course also explores American women's migration and immigration across regions and borders. Students consider the meaning of migration and immigration to the women who undertook these journeys, as well as the influence of these women's decisions to relocate on American political, economic, and social institutions.
- Undergraduate Seminars
HIS 102G: China to 1800 (Asia) - Professor Zhang
Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper. Designed primarily for history majors. Intensive reading, discussion, research, and writing in selected topics in the various fields of history. China to 1800.
Topic: Law and Society in Imperial China
Description: This course introduces students to law and society in imperial China from the eighth century BCE to the nineteenth century, asking what it means to speak of “law,” “rationality,” and “rule by law” in the Chinese context. Moving chronologically, the course traces the making and enforcement of law in premodern China, with particular attention to slavery, gender, and ethnicity. Topics include early legalist thought, the Tang Code and social hierarchy, forensic science since the Song, women’s property rights in the Mongol Empire, as well as legal pluralism as the Qing empire’s multi-ethnic ruling strategy.Through close readings of legal codes, compiled cases, courtroom fiction, and secondary literature, students will explore whether Chinese law constituted a distinctive legal tradition, how it balanced morality and coercion, and how concepts of rationality traveled—and sometimes failed to travel—across cultures.
HIS 102K: American History to 1787 (United States) - Professor Smolenski
Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper. Designed primarily for history majors. Intensive reading, discussion, research, and writing in selected topics in the various fields of history. American History to 1787.
Topic: Culture and Power in the Atlantic World
Description: Early American historians have in recent years worked to broaden their perspective geographically and thematically, looking at the British American colonies in an Atlantic context. They have come to appreciate that understanding what used to be thought of as “American” history was, in fact, one part of a much wider whole story that took place throughout the Atlantic rim.In this class, we will look at the varieties of ways in which colonial cultures evolved around the Atlantic rim. We will make stops in west Africa, the Caribbean, English America, and New France and cover the period from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. We will also explore the experiences of a wide range of peoples, looking at German soldiers, Danish slave traders, indigenous go-betweens, and African vodon practitioners. At every step we will look how the process of colonialism caused individuals and groups throughout the Atlantic world to see themselves in new ways.
HIS 102M: United States Since 1896 (United States) - Professor Materson
Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper.
Topic: U.S. Feminisms and the “Second Wave”
Description: Students in this course will explore what is often called “second wave” feminism between the 1960s and 1980s in the United States by reading documents produced by activists, as well key books and articles from the rich and growing body of scholarship on women’s activism during that era. Topics covered include debates over the origins of late-twentieth-century feminism, conflicts and solidarities among women activists, and the cultural and political backlashes feminist activists have encountered.
HIS 102R: Muslim Societies (World) - Professor Tezcan
Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper.
Topic: Modern Turkey
Description: This seminar focuses on Turkey in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In the first half of the quarter, we will cover the history of Turkey chronologically, from its imperial past to its present, including such subjects as the demise of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal’s reforms, the democratization of Turkey, and the recent authoritarian turn. In the second half, we will focus on selected themes, such as Turkish nationalism, secularism, women’s rights, and music.HIS 102X: Comparative History (World) - Professor Shanes
Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper. Designed primarily for history majors. Intensive reading, discussion, research, and writing in selected topics in the various fields of history. Comparative History, selected topics in cultural, political, economic, and social history that deal comparatively with more than one geographic field.
Topic: Modern Jewish Politics
Description: Designed primarily for history majors but interested others are welcome. This course explores the rise and development of Jewish political movements in three areas – Europe, Palestine/Israel, and the United States – from the late 19th century until today. We start in Eastern Europe, the source both of modern Jewish political ideologies as well as the Jews themselves, millions of whom emigrated to America and Palestine/Israel a century ago. These movements transformed modern Jewish life while impacting broader society and even international relations. Jewish political movements studied include evolving forms of Zionism and anti-Zionism, Diaspora Jewish Nationalism, Jewish Socialism, Liberalism, and Political Orthodoxy.HIS 102X: Comparative History (World) - Professor Anooshahr
Learning Activities— Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper. Designed primarily for history majors. Intensive reading, discussion, research, and writing in selected topics in the various fields of history. Comparative History, selected topics in cultural, political, economic, and social history that deal comparatively with more than one geographic field.
Topic: The Portuguese Empire in Four Continents
Description: Between the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, the Portuguese established a worldwide empire. This course studies how the empire functioned in five localities: Iberia, Brazil, South Asia, West Africa and China. We will compare and contrast these cases to understand with what specific local conditions the empire had to contend. What were the similarities and differences? The themes include slavery, commerce, religious propagation, and state-building.- Upper Division
HIS 120: World War II (World) - Professor Kelman & Professor Rauchway
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. The Second World War from 1931 to 1945 in all of its theaters. Causes, conduct, and consequences of the war including military, political, economic, social, and cultural factors, with special emphasis on battlefield strategy and mobilization of the home front.
HIS 125: Topics in Early Modern European History (Europe) - Professor Stuart
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Social and cultural history, 1300-1800. Topics such as medieval and Renaissance Italy, early modern Italy, Ancient Regime France, family and sexuality, and material culture and daily life. May be repeated for credit.
Description: About 50,000 people perished in the European witch-hunt, mostly in the century between 1560 and 1660. We explore the particular set of circumstances that encouraged these “burning times” in the era of the baroque. We study earlier prosecutions of heretics and Jews as a kind of model for the witch trials that followed. Prosecutions of Jews focused mostly on men, but most victims of the witch-hunt were older, post-menopausal woman. What were the gender stereotypes that led to this particular construction of the witch? About 15 % of accused witches were men, however. What made these men vulnerable to witchcraft accusations? Did warlocks practice a different, masculine magic? At the same time as thousands of witches were dying at the stake, more and more Europeans believed themselves to be victims of demonic possession. We compare the roles of witches and demoniacs and study rituals of exorcism. Children played a problematic role in the witch-hunts. Witchcraft often served as an explanation for high infant mortality, and children featured prominently among the accusers of witches. But after 1680, children took on a new role: as perpetrators of witchcraft. We will explore the paradox that on the eve of the Enlightenment, the so-called “Age of the Child” that recognized childhood as a special stage of life that needed to be protected and nurtured, children were accused of—and executed—for witchcraft more than ever before. Finally, we ask when, how, and why the witch-hunts ended. People didn’t stop believing in witchcraft—why did they stop burning witches?
HIS 133: European Thought & Culture from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment (Europe) - Professor Stolzenberg
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. History of European thought on politics, society, science, and religion from 1400 to 1800. Cultural impact of printing press, Protestant Reformation, wars, exploration, and empire.
HIS 138C: Russian History: The Rise & Fall of the Soviet Union, 1917 to Present (Europe) - Professor Campbell
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Emergence of the Soviet Union as a socialist system and a Great Power; the decline and collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of independent nation states in its place.
Description: This course traces the emergence of the Soviet Union as a socialist system, its rise to global prominence, and its eventual decline and collapse. We will pay particular attention to the multi-ethnic nature of the Soviet state – taking seriously the changing relationship of the union as a whole with its component republics. Other key topics will include the tension between the ideals and outcomes of the October Revolution; the relationship between Leninism and Stalinism; the extent to which the USSR may be described as a “totalitarian” state; and the legacy of the Soviet era in Russia and other post-Soviet states. The final unit of the course will be devoted to understanding the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and ongoing war there.
HIS 146B: Europe in the 20th Century (Europe) - Professor Dickinson
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Survey of the history of Europe since 1939.
Description: This course will cover the history of Europe in the second part of the twentieth century, from World War II through to the present. Lectures and the course textbook will examine the broad pattern of the evolution of European societies and the European states in these decades, focusing on political, social, and cultural change. The first few weeks of the course will focus on the dramatic events of WWII and its aftermath. The second half of the course will be devoted to the profound processes of transformation that have reshaped European societies since the 1950s, including in economics, politics, culture, and social life. Our readings--in addition to the textbook--will be drawn from primary documents written during the period, and from scholarly articles examining particular aspects of European social and cultural history. The documents will focus on the daily lives of particular Europeans, on key moments of political conflict, and on key ideas that shaped the thinking and expectations of Europeans in this period. These readings will focus on the ways that individual Europeans' lives "fit into" the broader sweep of history and social development, and on ways in which they experienced and thought about moments of crisis in the development of their societies. The articles we will read will present close analysis of particular aspects of the broader trends and grander events discussed in lectures and in the textbook. Readings from the course will include a textbook, scholarly articles by historians, and selections from autobiographies, historical documents related to specific topics, from scholarly monographs, and from a number of works of political and social philosophy. Each student will be asked to write two short essays (6-8 pages), the first counting for 30% and the second for 40% of the course grade; take a midterm test counting for 10% of the grade; and a final test, counting for 20% of the course grade. Each student will also write six ungraded one-page thought papers (which serve as preparation for writing the two essays).
HIS 147A: European Intellectual History: 1800-1870 (Europe) - Professor Saler
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper.
Topic: Modern European Thought, 1780-1870
Description: This course is designed to introduce several of the major themes and figures in 19th-century European Intellectual History. The themes we will examine include: the attempts to explore the interrelations between reason and feeling in the wake of the 18th-century Enlightenment; conceptions of the individual and society in the light of the French and Industrial Revolutions; the subsequent conflicts between science and religion, and the mediating role of art as both "scientific" (Realism and Naturalism) and "religious" (Aestheticism), in response to mid-19th century critiques of traditional religion, particularly Darwinism.Readings include: Goethe, Faust Part One; Brontë, Wuthering Heights; Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling; J.S. Mill, Autoniography; Marx & Engels, The Communist Manifesto; Flaubert, “A Simple Heart”; Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil.
Assignments and Grading: TBA
HIS 168: History of Inter-American Relations (Latin America)
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Diplomatic history of Latin America since independence, intra-Latin American relations, relations with the United States, participation in international organizations, and communism in Latin America.
HIS 170A: Colonial America (United States) - Professor Smolenski
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Colonial society from 1607 to the American Revolution, with emphasis on European expansion, political, social and economic foundations, colonial thought and culture, and imperial rivalry.
Description: This course examines the settlement, growth, and development of European colonial societies in North America from the era of contact and conquest through the Seven Years’ War. Colonial America was a diverse, complex, vibrant, and often violent place; its history contains numerous stories of tragedy and triumph, struggle and survival, cooperation, and coercion. Out of these interactions between Indians, Europeans, and Africans emerged multicultural, creole societies. Over the course of this quarter, we will address many facets of this rich history, exploring such topics as the European “discovery” and conquest of America; the settlement of European colonies; the Indian response to European invasion; the rise of African slavery in the Americas; the evolution of colonial thought and culture; and the rivalry between European imperial powers over the Americas. The course also means to challenge and develop your abilities to think critically about diverse evidence and to argue persuasively in support of your conclusions. You should not undertake this course unless you are willing and able to attend lectures consistently and to perform the considerable reading and writing assignments punctually. The papers will be critically examined for style as well as content.
HIS 171C: Reconstruction, America’s Second Founding (United States) - Professor Downs
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. After the U.S. Civil War, from 1865 to 1876. Emphasis on end of slavery; expansion of civil rights, voting rights, and birthright citizenship; overthrow of biracial Southern governments; segregation and disfranchisement; culture of reconciliation.
Description: Why do many scholars consider the post-Civil War period a Second American Revolution, a civil rights movement full of promise to remake the nation completely? And why did the period end in disappointment and retreat? To answer those questions, this course examines the history of the post-Civil War period known as Reconstruction to examine the re-creation of the United States in the aftermath of the nation's bloodiest conflict and the emancipation of four million formerly enslaved people. In class students will examine the social and economic changes in the South as ex-slaves tried to gain land and independence while planters fought for control; the Constitutional changes as Republicans passed three sweeping amendments that still shape contemporary rights and citizenship; political debates about the future of Reconstruction; and the role of the military in enforcing federal law. But we will also look beyond the former Confederate states to examine the transformation of labor relations, racial ideologies, and the federal government in Chicago urban struggles, in Western battles over Chinese labor, and in debates over annexing the Dominican Republic and Cuba. We close with the retreat from Reconstruction as vigilantes assumed control in the South, anti-democratic movements swept over the North and West, and freed people began looking for new horizons in the West and outside the United States altogether.
HIS 183B: The Frontier Experience: Trans-Mississippi West (United States) - Professor Warren
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Spread of the mining kingdom, the range cattle industry, Indian-military affairs, settlement of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain Regions and political organization of the West.
Description: This course will provide an introduction to the history of the U.S. West from the mid-nineteenth century through the late twentieth century. During this period, the United States completed its conquest of the West’s Native inhabitants and its incorporation of the region’s land, people, and resources into the nation. By the end of the twentieth century, the West remained divided between rural regions still trapped in a colonial relationship to the nation’s power centers and major cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix, and Los Angeles that shaped American political, economic, demographic, and cultural trends. This course will focus on the historical processes that have defined the West and its place within the United States. A vast and varied region stretching from the Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean, the West has both been characterized by its diversity and bound together by a shared regional identity and history. Fights over land, natural resources, federal power, racial and ethnic diversity, growth and economic development, and the public good are central to western history. Using films, monographs, memoirs, letters, and articles, we will explore the struggles for land, resources, identity, and power that have characterized the West and its role in the nation, as well as the relationship between the western past and the myths and stories that have secured the region’s prominent place in the American imagination.
HIS 190D: Middle Eastern History IV: Safavids Iran, 1300-1720 (Middle East) - Professor Anooshahr
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Middle Eastern history focusing on Safavid Empire (present-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, up to Georgia), beginning with the origins of the dynasty as a powerful religious family, to the establishment of the Empire, focusing on Social, Religious, Economic, and Political History.
Description: The Safavid State ruled the area of what today includes the modern countries of Iran and parts of today’s Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Afghanistan. It was one of the most powerful empires of the early modern area. We will look at various themes in order to gauge how much the society changed from the previous “Medieval” Period (fifteenth century) to the early Safavid (sixteenth century), and then to later Safavid (seventeenth and eighteenth centuries). We will also place Safavid history in broader patterns of World History.
HIS 196A: Medieval India (Asia) - Professor Anooshahr
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Survey of history of India in the millennium preceding arrival of British in the 18th century, focusing on interaction of the civilizations of Hinduism and Islam and on the changing nature of the state.
Description: This course offers a chronological survey of South Asian history from circa 1000CE to circa 1750. It discusses the political history of the subcontinent both in South India and the north. It ends with he rise of the Mughal Empire, the second wealthiest state in the early modern world, and ends with the conquest of South Asia by the English East India Company. We will emphasize political, social, religious, and some economic history. The aim is to be acquainted with broad patterns and also begin to think historically: focus on change over time and be critical of sources and interpretations- Graduate Seminars
- HIS 200B: First Year Research Seminar - Professor Zientek
Seminar 3 hour(s), Tutorial 1 hour(s). Preparation for higher degrees in History. Individual research and analysis resulting in a substantial research paper of publishable quality. Completion required of all Ph.D. candidates. HIS 200A and HIS 200B must be taken in continuous sequence, ordinarily during the first year.
HIS 201W: Sources & General Literature of History: Advanced Topics in World History - Professor Sen
Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper. Designed primarily for students preparing for higher degrees in history. Advanced Topics in World History.
HIS 202H: Major Issues in Historical Interpretation: United States - Professor St. John
Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper. Fundamental issues and debates in the study of history. United States. Readings, papers, and class reports.