History 203 Dimensions of History Roger Williams University Fall, Semester, 2001

Michael R. H. Swanson, Ph. D. Office:  Feinstein 110 Hours:  M, T, Th, F  9:00-10:00 Phone 401 254 3230

After the Fact:  The Art of Historical Detection James Davidson and Mark Lytle New York:  McGraw-Hill, 2000

Week of October 9 - 11, 2001

For Tuesday, October 9 In honor of Leif Erikson, who really discovered America, and all Norsemen then and since, (including the forgetful ones who forgot the discovery, and your Swedish-American instructor who enjoys teasing the Italians and Spanish who make such a big deal over Christopher Columbus, TUESDAY WILL BE ABOLISHED!  Monday will happen on Tuesday.  This edict applies only in the domain known as Roger Williams University.

The great Viking expansion occupied centuries of the middle ages.  You are aware, through your reading of Rutherfurd's London that Scandinavians played a significant role in Saxon England.  Clicking on the image below will lead to a Viking Timeline, itself linked to many sites with details about the Viking story.

The drama of the Viking saga has created great interest among those who enjoy historic recreation as a hobby.  After all, it is more exciting to be a warrior than a herring fisherman or farmer.  Compare these two recreations of Viking longships to the image in the Bayeaux Tapestry, above.

For Thursday, October 11           Read, in Davidson,                     4. "Jackson's Frontier --and Turner's:  History and Grand Theory"  pp. 71-95

Our first task will be to make sure we understand the distinction between "theory" in the sense of  a "hypothesis" and what Davideson calls a grand theory.  For this purpose the section "The Significance of Theory" (72 ff.) is crucial.  We're also going to have to distinguish between applying theories borrowed from other disciplines (the sort of thing we observed in chapter 3) and creating a theory to apply to a variety of historical circumstances.  Frederick Jackson Turner may be the first American historian to create a theoretical framework for the specific purpose of explaining American national character.  We will discuss what he did, and how what he did illustrates Davidson's statement "grand theory is usually part of a historian's mental baggage before he or she is immersed in a particular topic".  In other words, how does Turner's own experience lead him to formulate his grand theory?  Do similar forces help to explain why Arthur M. Schlesinger's theories are markedly different?

Frederick Jackson Turner (Left) and Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.  (Right).  The Frontier continues to captivate the American Imagination.  Click on Turner's image to visit a website produced as a companion to a Publich Broadcasting System series on the West. Arthur Schlesinger Jr. acted as advisor and friend to President John F. Kennedy and other prominent Democratic politicians.  Click on his image to read an interview with him published in the New York Times