Tag Archives: Reading

Welcome Class of 2020

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IMPORTANT: Buy your books NOW! They get more expensive as September nears. Buy ALL BOOKS now so you have them available when you need them – not having the first two when class begins will hurt you. NOTE: the Gay&Webb text is much cheaper right now at Abe Books rather than from Amazon

SUMMER WORK (should be completed by the first day of class)

  • Buy the required books for the course (see below)
  • Read the Prologue and Introduction to Modern Europe by Gay&Webb, about 50 pages in all. (See required books below).
  • Read the following documents, which are found in DOCUMENTS folder on the header, under the section titled ‘Advice’:
    •  A Sense of History
    • Reading Advice for Great Books

Also, we jump into things quickly at the start of the course and will be reading What is History? by E.H. Carr during the first weeks. Sometimes this can be a hectic time. You may wish to get a head start by reading Carr, or the first few chapters, during the summer when you have more free time so you don’t feel overwhelmed during the first couple of weeks.

In an effort to save your parents the outrageous cost of the standard textbooks (and to save you from the tedium of reading them), I have chosen only serious books that may be purchased online at a significant discount (used of course). The Gay&Webb book provides an engaging and well-written narrative without the inherent flaws of standard textbooks.

You should acquire each of the six listed below.

  1. What Is History? by Edward Hallett Carr
  2. Modern Europe by Gay & Webb. This is the primary narrative for the year – BUY A COPY NOW! Bookfinder.com is a great help in tracking down copies of Gay&Webb. You have the option of purchasing the single edition, or both  Modern Europe to 1815 and Modern Europe Since 1815, by Peter Gay and R.K. Webb. Start here AbeBooks –  I suggest purchasing the single volume. DO NOT PAY OVER $60 for the single book. [I have a few copies of the first volume available that I could sell to you ($15) – first come, first served.]
  3. The Prince by N. Machiavelli (Norton Critical edition if possible). There are many editions of this work; I suggest Norton Critical or Oxford.
  4. Utopia by Thomas More (Norton Critical edition if possible).
  5. The Communist Manifesto (Norton Critical edition if possible, but there are many other good ones). Also available online.
  6. I ask you also to invest in a moleskine-style notebook  to use as a reading journal – READING journal, not simply class notes, though it can certainly be used for both. (IMPORTANT: there are many sizes; you want the large or extra-large.)

More info about summer reading, COURSE INFO, and REQUIRED BOOKS can be found on the header above.

More Summer Reading Suggestions

Some preliminary reading is important especially if you have little or no knowledge of the Middle Ages. Reading even one of these will help you quickly transition to the pace of the course in September:

  • The Making of the Middle Ages by R. Southren [only $4 at AbeBooks]
  • The Civilization of the Middle Ages by Norman F. Cantor
  • Medieval Europe by Hollister and Bennett
  • A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman (focus is on the 14th century which is where we pick up the thread in September)
  • The Waning of the Middle Ages by Johan Huizinga (a classic!)

However, reading any narrative history of Europe during the years c.400-1300 will be a boon to your study of modern Europe. (Former students even suggest pre-reading Gay&Webb)

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