History in Summer

Instructor: Paul Grant

Dates: June 15, 2026 – July 12, 2026 (4 weeks)

Online, asynchronous | More Info

Description: You are invited! This course is about the entire world throughout all of history. If that isn’t ambitious enough, we will do the whole thing in four weeks. Each week, then, will cover vast stretches of human experience. To make this intelligible, we focus on how global encounters will shape your career.

Your instructor: Dr. Paul Grant. I am a specialist in cross-cultural and cross-religious encounters, especially in West Africa. But in this course, I love listening to you as you figure out how you fit in the story of world history.

Your textbook: J. R. McNeill, The Webs of Humankind: A World History (Volume 2, Seagull edition, 2nd edition) (W. W. Norton, 2024), including access to quizzes.

Typical Topics/Schedule:

Week 1: Global Commerce (from roughly the years 1000 to 1700)

Week 2: An Atomized World (from 1700 to 1900)

Week 3: The Amorality of Technology (from 1900 to 1990)

Week 4: A Shrinking World (from 1945 to the present)

Class Format: Asynchronous. Each week will include four pre-produced video lectures, and a number of readings (primarily in the textbook, with reading quizzes), along with response assignments some by video, most written.

Instructor: JJ Reynolds-Strange

Dates: June 15, 2026 – July 12, 2026 (4 weeks)

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Description: The study of living things was of great importance to every civilization, and some of the oldest science texts in Europe involved investigating the very stuff of life. And yet, the word biology was not used to describe a field of scientific study until the 1840s. This four-week course explores the rapid evolution of the definition of life and its categories from the 1700s until the present. From this course, you will discover not only how religion, imperial power, and institutions shaped our understanding of biology but also why biology seems to use chemistry, physics, and math at every turn. While we are learning about biology’s past, this course will ask you to think critically about our biological present: who benefits most from the production of biological knowledge, and who is harmed by it? Do the biological sciences have to work this way? How can the history of biology make us better thinkers, scientists, and global citizens?

Instructor: Michael Kaelin

Dates: May 26, 2026 – July 19, 2026 (8 weeks)

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Description: This course explores how sport has shaped and been shaped by major trends in American cultural, political, and economic history. Students will engage with serious historical debates about sport’s relationship to American capitalism, social movements, and urban development. Readings also provide exposure to often-overlooked perspectives on the politics of race, gender, and class in American sport. Non- sports fans are welcome!  Please note: this class will not focus on recounting statistics, records, or other team and individual achievements except as they relate to broader trends and events in society.

Instructor: Joe Dennis

Dates: June 15, 2026 – July 12, 2026 (4 weeks)

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Description: After the first Opium War concluded in 1842, Shanghai was a focal point of encounters between China and the outside world and became famous for its cosmopolitan culture. Using extensive English-language, online archival materials on Shanghai, especially the Shanghai Municipal Police Files and expatriate newspapers, we will explore this cosmopolitan city and develop your research, analysis, and writing skills. If you can read Chinese, Japanese, German, Russian, or French, there are also many historical sources in those languages that you can use in your research, but doing so is not required.

Class Format: This course is taught online and is asynchronous. Professor Dennis will hold live office hours online at different times of the day to answer questions and help with research projects. You will also be assigned to a small group so that you have other students to turn to for support or questions you would prefer to ask of another student, however no group work will be required. No textbooks are required; everything will be available online.

Typical Topics/Schedule:

There will be 15 modules spread over the session. There will be deadlines each week to keep people on track, but when you do the work during the week is up to you. After several introductory readings and lectures, we will use archival materials to learn how to ask historical questions, find and evaluate sources, and develop and present historical arguments. There will be write-ups of research assignments, and two oral presentations (recorded and uploaded to the course website). There are quizzes on readings, but no examinations.

Module One. Basic Background on Chinese Language, Geography, and History.

Module Two. Development of Shanghai and the Treaty Ports.

Module Three. Communism and How to Ask Good Historical Questions.

Part Two: Life in Shanghai

Module Four. Daily Life in Shanghai.

Module Five. Education Part 1.

Module Six. Education Part 2.

Module Seven. Religion.

Part Three: Law and Crime in Shanghai

Module 8. The legal system in late Qing and Republican periods.

Module 9. Crime, Part 1: Prostitution.

Module 10. Crime Part 2. Drugs, Gambling, etc.

Part Four: Final Project (This is typically an oral presentation with preliminary written work. But if you need a research paper of a certain length to meet a requirement, such as the one for the Medical School, that can be worked out in advance with Professor Dennis).

Module 11. Final project primary source research.

Module 12. Final Project Secondary Sources.

Module 13. Final Project Annotated Bibliography.

Module 14. Final project Sentence Outline for your Presentation.

Module 15. Final project Completion.

Instructor: Berke Çetinkaya

Dates: May 26, 2026 – June 21, 2026 (4 weeks)

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Description: The course examines major transformations in the Middle East from Late Antiquity to the early modern period, with particular attention to the rise of Islam and the formation of Muslim societies and empires. We will begin with the religious and cultural landscape before Islam, then trace the rapid Arab-Muslim conquests that, within a century, expanded a small polity in western Arabia into an empire stretching from Iberia to the Indian subcontinent. Rather than providing a simple political survey, the course focuses on how large-scale changes affected everyday life. Topics include the development of Islamic law and its implications for women and religious minorities, the influence of Greco-Roman thought on medieval Muslim intellectual life, Jewish merchant networks, Muslim responses to the Crusades, and Latin Christian perceptions of Muslims and Islam. We will also cover competing caliphates, the Crusader states, and the impact of Turkic and Mongol expansions to the regions, concluding with the rise of the Ottoman Empire and the take over of Constantinople. Throughout, we will approach the Middle East and Islam as a dynamic, diverse, and interconnected world shaped by interaction, conflict, and exchange.

Instructor: Kyle Miron

Dates: May 26, 2026 – July 5, 2026 (6 weeks)

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Description: This course is an introduction to global medical history that addresses events from 400 BCE through the present. It will ask: what has it meant to be sick over time and what has it meant to get better? We will compare definitions of health and illness at different points in time and ask how different ideas about bodies and disease have impacted the experiences of sick people. We will also interrogate whose job it has been to address illness at different points in time, exploring the relationship between clinical healers, patients, and activists. Because medicine is practiced by *people* in *societies,* we will ask about the social, cultural, and political events that have shaped medical theory and practice. This course will ask how the modern American healthcare system came to be, analyzing how events as different as the Scientific Revolution, the Atlantic slave trade, and the presidency of Ronald Reagan transformed the experiences of unwell people and healers.

Instructor: Chris Hulshof

Dates: May 26, 2026 – June 21, 2026 (4 weeks)

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Description: Never before in the history of mankind has a nation given as much access to the operations of its covert intelligence apparatus than the United States of America. Through mandatory declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, scholars have pried open the shadowy history of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to uncover the details of secret wars around the world, assassinations, military coup d’ tats, propaganda campaigns, torture, and drug smuggling operations. This course focuses on the history of the Agency itself from the infancy of the CIA following World War II to its expansion during the Cold War and its central role in the history of societies targeted by covert operations that profoundly shaped regional and international history.

Instructor: Tiffany Van Winkoop

Dates: June 15, 2026 – August 9, 2026 (8 weeks)

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Description: This class explores the palace structures which shaped premodern history across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Starting in the Palaces of Sumer and the emergence of cities, and continuing into the premodern world, we will traverse centuries to explore how palaces were built and established as symbols of wealth and power across time and space. Students will confront questions such as: what actually is a “palace ? How do palaces reflect the core values of each specific society? Who enters palaces? How are social relationships constructed or hindered by palace structures? How do palaces impact modern life and imagination today? This multidisciplinary course will examine history, art history, and archeology of each of the 12 case studies and will serve as an excellent travel guide for any summer adventures or future adventures!

Instructor: Patrick Eickman

Dates: June 15, 2026 – August 9, 2026 (8 weeks)

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Description: From the Battle of Agincourt (1415) to the first day on the Somme (1916), soldiers have had to navigate the horrors of war while attempting to obey orders and stay alive. This course studies a series of battles from the ground-up, centering on the experience of combatants to not only understand what happened in these battles, but to grasp the impact society and culture has had on warfare. Emphasis is placed not only on but on traditional matters of military history such as tactics, operations, and technology, but also broader topics such as class, gender, religion, and race. Students will not only have the opportunity to learn about past conflicts but conduct their own study on a battle of their own choosing. In short, this course attempts to humanize past soldiers to understand why they fought and died.

Instructor: Jillian Jacklin

Dates: May 26, 2026 – June 21, 2026 (4 weeks)

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Description: This interdisciplinary course offers a comparative and cross-border approach to understanding the history of Chicanx/e and Latina/x working-class communities. We will investigate the ways in which race, gender, sexuality, class, and region have shaped the everyday lives of individuals as well as the experiences of Chicanx/es and Latinx/es as community members. Some of the questions we will address are: How do power relations inform the construction of historical memory? Why do particular stories become part of a national narrative? What strategies have Chicanx/es and Latinx/es drawn upon to tell their stories? How do these perspectives challenge or disrupt dominant narratives about Chicanx/es and Latinx/es worldwide? In what ways does an interrogation of the politics of space (place, location, landscape, architecture, environment, neighborhood, home, city, region, and territory) help us to understand Chicanx/e and Latinx/e lives? Finally, how can we draw on Chicanx/e and Latinx/e histories to build cultures of solidarity across differences of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and class? Our explorations will introduce us to the world of work and sites of working-class leisure and recreation. We will look not only at paid and unpaid labor but also at the work and play of fashion, music, art, film, movement, and literature. Our overall goals are to make an original contribution to the historiography of Chicanx/e and Latinx/e working-class life and gain a better understanding of how systemic inequalities influence the everyday experiences of those who reside permanently in the U.S., as well as others who live transnational lives.

Class Format:

Writing Exercises: This course seeks to cultivate not only critical reading skills but also an opportunity to reflect on what you are learning. For example, I will ask for reactions to course readings, films, and discussions. These will contribute to conversations and your own knowledge of course materials. They are not private; your instructor will read and assess them. So take them seriously, and I hope that you find ways to enjoy the process.

Critical Analysis: Write a 2-page paper discussing a central theme from Vicki L. Ruiz’s study, From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in 20th Century America. Explain the scholar’s argument regarding this theme and how it relates to our understanding of Chicana and Latina history. Does she persuade you? How and why? Be sure to have a clear thesis and use examples from the text as evidence to support your claims. You may decide to use your findings in your final paper as well.

Re/Constructing Latina Historical Memory Project: Jacquelyn Dowd Hall writes that “only certain people, and usually the victors and people who have access to publicity, have power over historical memory. Personal narratives, she tells us, capture voices that we would otherwise lose. You will write a 1,500 2,100 word paper (approximately 5-7 pages) that focuses on one or more Latinx personal narratives, provides a historical context for the narrative/s, and examines how the narrative/s expands our understanding of U.S. history. You must include a discussion of primary as well as secondary course materials. Your critical analysis paper may come in handy here for choosing a theme to focus on; but I also want you to explore at least one primary document that you find at the Wisconsin Historical Society or online and incorporate your findings into your paper. This way, you will get a sense of how historians conduct research for their scholarship and craft historical arguments.

Instructor: John Tobin

Dates: June 15, 2026 – August 9, 2026 (4 weeks)

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Description: What is East Asia? Why are China, Korea, and Japan often viewed as a region distinct from their Southeast and Central Asian neighbors? In this course, we will follow the concept of East Asia throughout time, seeing both its limits and its possibilities. As a summer online course, we will not meet in person, but the instructor will upload lectures in the form of videos. The content of the course is not different from the in-person version.

Instructor: Alex Scheepens

Dates: May 26, 2026 – July 19, 2026 (4 weeks)

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Description: World War II was not only the most important global event of the twentieth century, but it also marked a crucial turning point in history. Never before had humankind experienced such a profound level of destruction, fueled by radical violence, industrial killing, and atomic weaponry. Between 1939 and 1945, the destruction caused by total war and genocide spread far beyond the well-known battlefields of Stalingrad and Normandy. It claimed the lives of non-combatants at their homes, on their streets, and in their fields, resulting in the death of tens of millions of men, women, and children. Brutal Nazi ideology drove the murder of six million European Jews and the persecution of millions of other so-called “racial outsiders” and “political enemies” of the Third Reich. People who were fortunate enough to survive found themselves stateless or homeless, or both, and endured the lasting impacts of war and genocide in every corner of their personal lives for decades. This course offers a window into the battlefield, the home front, and the histories and memories of Europeans and Americans to this day. It will focus on important leaders like Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt, while also emphasizing the myriad experiences of individuals, soldiers, civilians, and victims of wartime violence. Through lectures, film, secondary readings, and engagement with primary source documents, you will emerge from this course with a better understanding of the political, social, military, and ideological developments of the Second World War.

Instructor: Karl Shoemaker

Dates: June 13, 2026 – August 9, 2026 (8 weeks)

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Description: Among the most evocative aspects of human history is the way we have fined, shamed, exiled, imprisoned, pained, maimed, dismembered or killed those deemed to be in violation of the laws of gods and humans. This course examines punishment across a vast range of historical traditions, examining how wrongdoing and punishment have been figured in law, literature, art and philosophy.

Instructor: Nicolás Rueda Rey

Dates: May 26, 2026 – July 19, 2026 (4 weeks)

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Description: This course explores the history of environmental transformations in North America from the first human migrations to colonial expansion, the consolidation of nation-states, and the emergence of contemporary environmental politics and movements. Drawing on environmental history, the course examines how human histories unfold within broader ecological processes and how interactions between societies, landscapes, and ecological systems have shaped historical change. Particular attention is given to changing relationships between people and environments, including shifts in landscapes, resource management, and ecological systems across North American history. Land, water, plants, animals, and climate are placed at the center of human and more-than-human relationships to understand how environmental change has shaped societies, economies, power relations, and political struggles across the region.

During the semester, we will study how different communities (Indigenous peoples, colonial settlers, rural communities, corporations, and environmental activists) have understood, used, and contested the environments they inhabited. We will explore how early human migrations, colonial expansion, plantation economies, industrial development, conservation movements, and modern environmental politics have reshaped human communities, ecosystems, and relationships with more-than-human worlds. Attention will also be given to how environmental transformations intersect with questions of race, labor, gender, globalization, and regional differences.

In addition to examining major themes in the field, the course introduces students to the methods of environmental historians. Through the analysis of primary sources, engagement with historiographical debates, and the development of an original interactive project, students will learn to interpret landscapes and environmental change as historical evidence. By the end of the course, students will be able to situate contemporary environmental challenges within longer historical processes of human and more-than-human interactions.