Honors Section
REQUIRED BOOKS FOR HIST 1112, SPRING 2009 (see this link for the Honors section):
Textbook: Bulliet et al., The Earth and its Peoples: A Global History (cited below as “Bulliet”), FOURTH EDITION.
Discussion books: You are required both to read the assignments in these book and to bring them with you on discussion days. This list is in alphabetical order, not in order of assignment. See below for the assignments before you purchase the books, since they are divided into two options—everyone is required to read a group of five, not all ten, and not five of his/her choice.
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart.
Dickens, Charles. Hard Times.
Endo, Shusaku. Silence.
Gourevitch, Philip. We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families.
Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost.
Las Casas, Bartolome de. The Devastation of the Indies.
Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz.
Leon-Portilla, Miguel. The Broken Spears.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein.
Spence, Jonathan. The Question of Hu.
Completing the assigned readings is fundamental to your academic success. As you surely heard in your FYE or GSU 1210 class and during orientation, every student should spend at least two hours of preparation and studying for every one hour in the classroom. For this class, that means a total of nine hours per week (3 in class, 6 outside class).
CALENDAR/SCALE: You are allowed to choose between Option 1 and Option 2; the choice must be made by the first discussion date, and is irreversible. Anyone who chooses Option A will not be allowed to switch to Option B, or vice versa.
OPTION 1: Read the following books for discussion:
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart.
Endo, Shusaku. Silence.
Gourevitch, Philip. We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families.
Leon-Portilla, Miguel. The Broken Spears.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein.
OPTION 2: Read the following books for discussion:
Dickens, Charles. Hard Times.
Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost.
Las Casas, Bartolome de. The Devastation of the Indies.
Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz.
Spence, Jonathan. The Question of Hu.
FOR BOTH OPTION 1 AND OPTION 2:
3 UNIT EXAMS, EACH: 20% (TOTAL 60%)
FINAL EXAM: 20%
Class performance (see below for explanation) 20%TOTAL 100%
Class Performance:
Each of the books will have a brief study guide, distributed one week in advance of the discussion. Students are required to submit typed, 10- or 12-point, 2-page summaries of EACH book, based on the study guide and in essay form. These will account for at total of 5% of your “Class Performance” grade. The remaining 15% are divided according to your preparedness and activity in class on the five discussion days (10%) and your compare/contrast sessions (5%).
In order to earn the full 10% for “preparedness and activity,” you must demonstrate evidence of having read and understood each book in each session. This means answering and asking questions; making connections to lecture and to other readings; and being able to reach conclusions about the meanings of the assigned books.
In order to earn the full 5% for “compare/contrast sessions,” you must be able to answer and ask questions about the similarities and differences between the two books assigned for each topic: Colonial Americas, 17th-Century Japanese/European relations, Industrialization and Society, The Scramble for Africa, and 20th-Century Genocide. Four of these are assigned on the same day; the final one will have the compare/contrast after the second assignment.