Historic Beacon Hill as seen from Cambridge, MA, with Boston's financial district in the background. (Image by Daniel Bersak.)
Instructor(s)
Prof. Mary Fuller
MIT Course Number
21L.002
As Taught In
Fall 2002
Level
Undergraduate
Translated Versions
Course Description
Course Features
Course Description
Complementary to 21L.001. A broad survey of texts - literary, philosophical, and sociological - studied to trace the growth of secular humanism, the loss of a supernatural perspective upon human events, and changing conceptions of individual, social, and communal purpose. Stresses appreciation and analysis of texts that came to represent the common cultural possession of our time. Enrollment limited. HASS-D, CI.
Readings this semester ranging from political theory and oratory to autobiography, poetry, and science fiction reflect on war, motives for war, reconciliation and memory. The readings are largely organized around three historical moments: the Renaissance and first contacts between Europe and America (Machiavelli, Cortés, Sahagún); the European age of revolutions (Voltaire, Blake, Williams); the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery (Stowe, Whitman, Lincoln). Readings from the twentieth-century include poetry by Lowell and Walcott and fiction by Ondaatje and O.S. Card.
Other Versions
Other OCW Versions
OCW has published multiple versions of this subject. 