LINKS TO RELATED HISTORY TOPICS ONLINE

-- LAUNCHES SITES IN NEW BROWSER WINDOW

1. Textbook Resources -- Western Civilization.

2. Schedule of GMU Lecture TV Broadcasts -- TV Schedule

3. History 100 Blog-City Site --  Blog Essays

4. Marcus Aurelius -- Meditations. Browse through this book-length document. Read and take notes on the following sections: Book II, para. 16; Book III, para. 12; Book IV, last part of para. 3; Book IV, paras. 10, 32, 33 and 48.

5. St. Augustine's -- Confessions. Read as much of this as you have time for, especially Books 4, 5 and 6 in which he describes his youth and his search for God. How does this book differ from the other documents we have looked at so far?

6.  St. Augustine --City of God (excerpts)

6.  St. Benedict -- The Rule of Benedict, Explanation, and Rule. Read the story of St. Benedict's rule and look over the various ways monks (and nuns) were (and are) supposed to live in monasteries and convents.

7.  Machiavelli -- The Prince, Chapter XVIII.  Read and decide whether it is better to be loved or feared.

8.   Hobbes, Leviathan, Chap. XIII on the Equality of Men

9.  Rousseau, Emile, Look at the "Author's Preface" and Book I.  Take notes on what Rousseau is saying.  Be prepared to discuss his ideas on education and to give your opinion on the question of whether man is naturally good and has been made bad by society, as Rousseau argues.

10.  Read Malthus's Essay on Population (Preface and Chapters 1 and 2) and take notes.  What is Malthus's thesis?  Do you think he was right?  What evidence does he give to prove his thesis?

11.  Marx, Manifesto of the Communists (1848).  Read the first two chapters of this work: 1.  Bourgeois and Proletarians and II. Proletarians and Communists.  What is the tone of this work?  Make notes on some of the many assertions that Marx makes.  Is what he says true?  What is true and what is (or turns out to be) false?

12.  Smiles, Self Help (1882)  This is a book-length reading.  Scan some of the chapters and see what you think.  What is Smiles writing about?  What examples does he use to make his point?  Do you think this form of literature is a good response to Karl Marx and the Communists?  Why or why not?

13.  Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Chap. 11.  In this Chapter of his autobiography and political testament, Hitler compares the Jews and the "Aryans."  What does he have to say about these two "races?"  How does his thinking presage his eventual determination to destroy the Jewish people?  Read Mussolini's "What is Fascism?"  What does Mussonlini think fascism is?  How do his ideas compare with those of Hitler?