History 4B: Modern Western Civilization 

Spring  2026 Course Sections: 

CRN: 30132 SEC 961: (Syllabus is under construction) Hybrid. This person is online with two required in-person meetings (midterm and final). Please see the course section details online in the class schedule for the dates, times, and location of the midterm and the final. 

 Welcome!

Studying modern Western civilization is exciting because it traces how ideas and institutions reshaped human life. The Scientific Revolution liberated inquiry from ancient authority, establishing experiment, mathematics, and empirical methods that transformed how humans understood the world and defined truth. Technological revolutions—from medicine and industry to communications—transforming lifespan, productivity, and our understanding of the cosmos. The Enlightenment translated scientific confidence into political and moral imagination: reason, individual rights, secular governance, and legal equality inspired revolutions, constitutions, and modern democracies. These intellectual shifts remade social structures—feudal hierarchies gave way to mobile societies, merit-based professions, public education, and expanding civil liberties—creating unprecedented prosperity and human autonomy. Yet this progress coexisted with catastrophic conflict. Two world wars revealed industrialized violence and mass mobilization, while the nuclear age introduced existential risk: humanity gained unmatched destructive power alongside tools for cooperation, deterrence, and arms-control diplomacy. Studying this period matters because it explains the roots of our institutions, technology, and ethical dilemmas. It equips us to defend democratic values, steward scientific advances responsibly, and learn from past failures to mitigate threats like authoritarianism, inequality, and nuclear escalation. Understanding modern Western civilization illuminates both the sources of our achievements and the responsibilities they impose. And once you know, you take on the global responsibility to make wiser choices for our shared future.  Are you ready? 

How to Enroll

Enrolling Before Class Begins

If you would like to take this course, and there are still available seats, register for this class online. If the class is full but there are seats available on the waitlist, put your name on the waitlist. Waitlisted students will receive first priority to add the class as seats become available. If the waitlist is full, students need to find an alternate section of the course.

Enrolling After the First Day of Class

If you would like to take this course and the course has already started, you need to request an authorization online. After you request an authorization online, I will receive a notification of your request and either approve it or deny it depending on the number of students already enrolled. If I approve your request, you will receive an email in your CCSF student email. This email will provide instructions for how to add the class online. You will then be enrolled.  All students who add the course after the first day of class will be expected to immediately catch up on all coursework already assigned.