The Quiet American & The Ugly American The Quiet American & The Ugly American
In this course we will read two of the most highly influential political novels of the 20th century: The Quiet American and The Ugly American. These prescient novels examine the early years of the U.S...
The Roots of War: Historical and Cultural Causes of Russian Aggression in Ukraine The Roots of War: Historical and Cultural Causes of Russian Aggression in Ukraine
Since the beginning of Russia's war on Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and his entourage have created false historical constructions that serve as the basis for their aggressive policy. The main question of...
The Tone Poem and Musical Pictoralism The Tone Poem and Musical Pictoralism
How does music paint pictures and inspire emotion? Is it the power of suggestion from program notes, or is there really a musical language? This class examines the program music of Berlioz, Liszt...
Three Misanthropes Three Misanthropes
This course covers three plays focused on misanthropes: two by Shakespeare that are more tragic in tone (Timon of Athens and Coriolanus) and one comedy by Moliere (The Misanthrope). What makes these...
Three Rival Theories of Ethics Three Rival Theories of Ethics
What is the ultimate standard of morality? Is it the best possible outcome for the most people? Is it dutiful and self-sacrificial adherence to absolute rules? Or should ethics aim at cultivating...
Three Visions of International Politics Three Visions of International Politics
In the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, three eminent U.S. scholars offered competing views of how the post-Cold War world would work. In the early 1990s, Francis Fukuyama, Samuel...
Truth, Disinformation, and the Media in this Year’s Election Truth, Disinformation, and the Media in this Year’s Election
How does anyone know what’s true any more? This year, voters are being asked to choose new leaders in the midst of a chaotic, polarized and radically disrupted news environment. Getting to the truth...
Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Waves Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Waves
In this course we’ll read three of Virginia Woolf’s great novels: Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and The Waves, all published between 1925 and 1931. Woolf is an exquisite prose stylist, psychologist...
War and Freedom in the Mississippi Valley War and Freedom in the Mississippi Valley
This course is an introduction to emancipation in the Mississippi Valley, which will include the State of Illinois and the critical town of Cairo in the South. Students will be exposed to a variety of...
What are Islands for, in Novels? What are Islands for, in Novels?
This course covers classic and more recent ‘island novels’ with a view to asking what the island affords the novel. Not what the island means, but rather what kinds of stories the island enables the...