Introduction to the Study of History
Hist. 301, Section 1
Offered by the Department of History, University of Arizona
Spring 2025
Tuesday and Thursday, 3:30-4:45pm
Location: Chavez 303
Instructor:
David N. Gibbs, Professor of History, dgibbs@arizona.edu
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 9-10:45am
Chavez 338
** Class Announcements **
Students should check the above site regularly.
This class will focus on the use of logical argument and propaganda as methods of understanding history. The course will have five components: First, it will examine the role of propaganda in totalitarian regimes, notably in the Soviet Union. Second, we will examine more "modern" forms of propaganda, as it appears in political advertising, speeches, and newspapers in the United States and other western democracies. Third, students will learn how to distinguish propaganda from logical argument in the context of evaluating the reliability of historical sources. Fourth, this course aims to improve basic skills, especially the incorporation of logical thought and analysis into reading texts and writing papers. Finally students will learn how to find historical documents for use as primary sources.
Students with Disabilities
I am happy to arrange the exams in any reasonable way that is consistent with a student's needs, in cooperation with the UA Disability Resource Center. It is the student's responsibility to find out what the Center requires, to fill out the forms, and to undertake the necessary "foot work" for special arrangements. The student is responsible to make sure that all deadlines are met.
Exams
There will be three midterm exams and a final. The grades are apportioned as follows:
Midterm 1: 25 percent;
Midterm 2: 25 percent;
Midterm 3: 25 percent;
Optional final paper: 25 percent.
Students must take the exams on the scheduled dates. Please look at the syllabus and make sure that the exam dates are open for you. If you have an engagement scheduled for one of the required dates -- if you have a wedding or a sports event, for example -- then you should take another class. The following circumstances constitute legitimate reasons to miss an exam: illness, death in family, religious holiday, or mandatory military service. Students who present such reasons must be prepared to present documentation, such as a note from a doctor, clergy, or commanding officer.
Attendance
Note that I do not take attendance, and students are free to miss classes if they wish (they may not miss exams). However, I can guarantee that missing classes repeatedly will significantly lower your grade. Students who miss classes for any reason should ask other students for relevant notes, relating to materials covered on the missed days.
Readings
The following readings are required and are available electronically:
David Hackett Fischer, Historians' Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. For full text, click here.
George Orwell, 1984. New York: Signet, 1950. Full text, click here.
Several articles listed are available through electronic databases, as indicated below. Other materials are available through D2L.
I may make small changes in the reading list -- with advance notice -- during the course of the semester.
January 16
Introduction to class
Edward H. Herman and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. New York: Pantheon, 1988, chap. 1. For full text, click here.
Week of January 20
Logical Reasoning: What is an Argument?
Fischer, Historians' Fallacies, chap. XI.
Week of January 27
Logical Fallacies I
Fischer, Historians' Fallacies, chap. VI.
Week of February 3
Logical Fallacies II
Fischer, Historians' Fallacies, chaps. VIII, IX.
Week of February 10
Logical Fallacies III
February 13: First Midterm
Week of February 17
Review of Fallacies
Fischer, Historians' Fallacies, chap. X.
Week of February 24
Manipulative Language
"Spying, Secrecy, and the University: The CIA is Back on Campus," Counterpunch, April 7, 2003. For full text, click here.
Week of March 3
Propaganda in the United States
"Some ABCs of Propaganda Analysis," Propaganda Analysis, December 1937. Available through D2L.
How to Detect Propaganda," Propaganda Analysis, November 1937. Available through D2L.
Bertrand Russell, "Free Thought and Official Propaganda," 1922 [excerpt from book]. For full text, click here.
March 6: Second midterm
Week of March 10
No class, Spring Recess.
Week of March 17
The Russian Revolution
Orwell, 1984, click here. Read the whole book.
Week of March 24
The End of Communism and the Breakup of the Soviet Union
Svetlana Savranskaya and Tom Blanton, "NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard," National Security Archive, December 12, 2017. For full text, click here.
Recommended:
Glenn Greenwald, "The Censorship Campaign against NATO's Ukraine Policy is Extreme," Scheerpost, April 13, 2022, full text click here.
Week of March 31
No class.
Week of April 7
Russia and the Ukraine War
John J. Mearsheimer, "Why the Ukraine Crisis is the West's Fault," Foreign Affairs, September/October, 2014. For full text, click here.
Week of April 14
Finding Secondary Source Materials
"High Rank: Admiral Gene Carroll," in Studs Terkel, The Good War: An Oral History of World War II. New York: New Press, 1997. Available through D2L.
Week of April 21
Research with Declassified Documents
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, “Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba,” March 13, 1962, recently declassified. For full text, click here.
David N. Gibbs, Guide to Using Declassified Documents and Archival Materials on US Foreign Policy, electronic guide. Click here for full text.
April 24, Third Midterm
Week of April 28
Research with Newspapers and the Mass Media
Carl Bernstein, "The CIA and the Media," Rolling Stone, October 20, 1977. For full text, click here.
"How to Analyze Newspapers," Propaganda Analysis, January 1938. Available through D2L.
May 6
Writing Essays
George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," in George Orwell: A Collection of Essays (Garden City, NY: Doubleday-Anchor, 1954). For full text, click here.
Optional Final Paper discussed; due 5pm, May 14.
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REQUIRED BOILERPLATE
Course Objectives:
Understand more clearly issues of social status, and the effects of major institutions on individual experiences, especially with respect to the study of history.
Demonstrate knowledge of the formal and informal structures and processes that make social systems, governments, and economies work in historical context.
Have an informed opinion about socio-cultural problems and issues, which can be expressed orally or in writing, and based on knowledge about social, political, economic, and philosophical theory.
Demonstrate a well-developed critical faculty for distinguishing among the various theoretical and ideological interpretations of world events as they are presented in the media and historical documents.
Expected outcomes from the course:
Understand more clearly issues of social status, and the effects of major institutions on individual experiences, especially with respect to political history, as measured in exams.
Demonstrate knowledge of the formal and informal structures and processes that make social systems, governments, and economies work.
Have an informed opinion about socio-cultural problems and issues, which can be expressed orally or in writing, and based on knowledge about social, political, economic, and philosophical theory, in historical context.
Demonstrate a well-developed critical faculty for distinguishing among the various theoretical and ideological interpretations of world events as they are presented in the media and historical documents.
Analyze primary source material related to political history in light of the historical context, audience, and author's intent.
Write clear, well organized prose.
Recognize and evaluate competing interpretations of history.
The UA’s policy concerning Class Attendance, Participation, and Administrative Drops is available at: https://archive.catalog.arizona.edu/2021-22/policy/class-attendance-participation-and-administrative-drop.html.
The UA policy regarding absences for any sincerely held religious belief, observance or practice will be accommodated where reasonable, http://policy.arizona.edu/human-resources/religious-accommodation-policy.
Absences pre-approved by the UA Dean of Students (or Dean Designee) will be honored. See: https://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/policies/attendance-policies-and-practices.
University policy regarding grades and grading systems is available at https://policy.arizona.edu/student-life-and-education/grading-examinations-and-academic-standing.
Classroom behavior policy: Students are expected to behave themselves at all times.
Information contained in the course syllabus, other than the grade and absence policy, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.
The University is committed to creating and maintaining an environment free of discrimination; see https://policy.arizona.edu/employment-human-resources/nondiscrimination-and-anti-harassment-policy.
Students are encouraged to share intellectual views and discuss freely the principles and applications of course materials. However, graded work/exercises must be the product of independent effort unless otherwise instructed. Students are expected to adhere to the UA Code of Academic Integrity as described in the UA General Catalog. See: https://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/policies/code-academic-integrity.
The UA Threatening Behavior by Students Policy prohibits threats of physical harm to any member of the University community, including to oneself. See http://policy.arizona.edu/education-and-student-affairs/threatening-beh…