Sommerville, Fall 2004
Office: 218 Keene-Flint., hours M 10:30-12 and W & F 10:30-11:30, and by appointment
jsommerv@history.ufl.edu)
www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jsommerv/

Attendance Policy:

Please drop this course if you will be unable to attend regularly. Others want to add it. Past experience shows that if you miss 4 times you cannot get an A, miss 8 times you cannot get a B, etc. Don't test these odds. This course exists in the lectures and class discussions, NOT IN ANY TEXTBOOK, because of the way textbooks are written (I'll explain). That is why you need to be here every day. Someone else's notes will remind them of what I said, they won't remind you of anything.

Topics for lecture and discussion:

• Britain and the French Revolution
• Romanticism
• Utilitarianism
• Industrialization
• Pragmatic Reform
• Liberalism
• Activism
• Irish Failure
• Stability
• Victorianism
• Two-Party Stability
• Darwinism versus Culture
• Irish Issue in British Politics
• Britain's Zenith
• Socialism versus Unions
• Socialism goes Liberal
• Imperialism
• Drift
• The Great War
• Failure of Capitalism and Socialism
• The Threat of Cultural Democracy
• The Collapse of Britain
• The Success of Britain
• Britain's Afterlife

W. Arnstein, Britain; Yesterday and Today
D. Bebbington, William Ewart Gladstone

There is also a book printed as a coursepack available at TIS Bookstore (13th & University):
Peirs Brendon, Winston Churchill: A Biography

A paper will be due on Monday, December 6, based on the Bebbington and Brendon books, dealing with some theme that they both touch on.  The paper must draw on both books and should be about 2,000 words. You should discuss your topic with the instructor before you get too deeply into it.

Grading:

30% on a mid-term exam, on Friday, Oct. 15.
30% on the paper described above, due Monday, Dec. 6.
40% on a final exam, Friday, Dec. 17, 12:30-2:30.

The exams will be essay type, with some allowance for choice of questions. We will discuss how to prepare for the essay exams a week ahead of each exam.

*IMPORTANT*

Make-ups MUST be taken BEFORE the exam is scheduled.  Even doctors' excuses do not change this.

The class adheres to the University honesty policy regarding cheating and the use of copyrighted material.

Students needing accommodation for disabilities must register with the Dean of students Office, to receive the documentation to bring to the instructor when requesting accommodation.

Course objectives:

• To help students place themselves in their own historical context and tradition--socially, politically, and intellectually.
• To teach them to read discriminatingly.
• To give them practice in answering historical questions of their own formulation.
• To familiarize them with the concepts historians use in interpreting this period of England's history.
• To familiarize them with the general outline of England's development in this period.

• The paper should be about 2,000 words long.
• It should have a title which indicates the theme.
• The opening paragraph should indicate where you intend to go with your theme.
• Each paragraph should have some internal coherence.
• You should spell and punctuate carefully.
• Develop your comparisons and/or contrasts throughout the paper; do not leave them all to the end. That is, avoid offering two book summaries, with a few comparisons at the end. That is too simple.
• Do not pick too many topics, for fear you will not get beyond very general statements.
• The paper is not to be a comparison of the books themselves or of the authors' approaches, but of some subject within the books.
• Footnotes are only needed if you quote directly or if you think I may be suspicious of your statement and you want to prove it to me. If so, simply use a parenthesis in the text giving author and page, for example (Brendon, 297).
• You do not need a bibliography, unless you use other books than those assigned. Using other books is neither encouraged nor discouraged.
• Do not use material off the Internet.
• Do not submit the paper electronically, as an attachment.  Hard copy only.
• Again, you should discuss your paper topic with me BEFORE you begin writing.