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

Michael R. H. Swanson, Ph. D. Office:  Feinstein 111 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

For Tuesday, September 18 We'll Continue our discussion of some of aspects of the philosophy of history.  Click on the icon to the right, which will take you to the appropriate section of the Internet Medieval source Book.  From there, locate the article on moral judgements in history by Lord Acton, and Download and print it, adding it to the two you have already done.  Bring all three with you to class.

Assignments for the week of September 18, 2001

For Thursday, September 20 Read, in Davidson     Introduction, pp. xiii - xv                                                   Prologue:  The Strange Death of Silas Deane, xvii - xxxiii

This purpose of the Silas Deane chapter is outlined in the second and third paragraphs of the first page.  You will succeed with it if you understand the difference between what the "man on the street" thinks history does and what historians actually do (or "between 'what happened in the past' and what history really is.".  Be aware that your authors are using this "strange death" to illustrate principles larger than those concerning the story of Silas Deane.  Each chapter in the book will follow a similar format, so make sure you understand the difference between the theses of the authors of this book and the illustrations they use to prove their points. A descendant of Silas Deane has compiled an extensive website related to him and the controversies which swirled around his career.  Visit it by clicking on his image, above.

"Professor {Gertrude} Himmelfarb (left) taught for twenty-three years at Brooklyn College and the Graduate School of City University of New York, where she was named Distinguished Professor of History in 1978. Professor Himmelfarb's research has focused on, among other topics, morality and its effects on economics. Her previous books include Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics, On Liberty and Liberalism, and Poverty and Compassion: The Moral Imagination of the Late Victorians. "  She revisits Lord Acton in an interview linked to Acton's picture at the right.   For an interview in which she discusses learning from Victorian Virtue, Click on her photograph.