MBW Courses

HIST 21 Final Exam Review Topics

Requirements for the Essay on Song of Roland (PDF).

Text below the jump here if you can’t open the pdf. Continue reading…

Now that everyone’s taken the midterm exam, I can finally post this:

Midterm Post-Review (PDF)

Here are two of the readings for the second part of the semester that aren’t in Bishop. The PDFs are here, or you can use the books themselves if you happen to locate a copy.

The third reading, for the last class on explorers, will be posted later.

For Thu 4/22, “The Spread of Islam”:
Goddard, Hugh. A History of Christian-Muslim Relations. Chicago, Ill: New Amsterdam Books, 2000. pages 34-48
Reading from Goddard

For Thu 5/13, “Reinventing the Ancients”:
King, Margaret. The Renaissance in Europe. London: Laurence King, 2003. pages 65-67, 71-72, 80-95, 98
Reading from King

HIST 21 – Midterm Review Topics

Here is the assignment for Essay #1 (on Gilgamesh).

Essay #1 (PDF)

The full text is also below, if you can’t open the PDF.
Continue reading…

Here is the sample proposal.
Sample Proposal (PDF)

Here are the main handouts for HIST 21.

You’ll need four books for HIST 21: Two books that cover the history, and two very short works of fiction. For the fiction books, you can use either the version I recommend, or some other version. But you’ll need to get the stories in some form — the fiction books are required.

In choosing books for this course, I did make an effort to keep the overall cost down; the new versions aren’t very pricey, and used versions are available online (see the links at the bottom of the post).

(1) The Ancient History Book:
Robin W. Winks and Susan P. Mattern-Parkes
The Ancient Mediterranean World
Oxford, 2004, ISBN: 978-0-19-515563-1

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(2) The Medieval History Book:
Morris Bishop
The Middle Ages
Mariner, 2001, ISBN: 978-0-618-05703-0

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(3) Gilgamesh:
Andrew George, trans.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Penguin, 1999
ISBN: 978-0-140-44919-8

• Version notes: Penguin has more than one Gilgamesh. I recommend the Andrew George edition because he translated directly from the source. It also has a useful intro. If you get another edition, make sure it uses the Standard Version.
• Although summaries of various sources of Gilgamesh exist online, there isn’t a trustworthy translation of the Standard Version on the web. Since the Penguin edition is only about $12, I suggest you use that.

(4) The Song of Roland:
Glyn Burgess, trans.
The Song of Roland
Penguin, 1990, ISBN: 978-0-140-44532-9

• Version notes: This is a good edition, but most published versions of The Song of Roland will do.
• There are numerous translations of The Song of Roland online, including at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/391

Availability

• All four books are available from Brooklyn College Bookstore, either on person or via their website: http://whywaitforbooks.com
• All four are also available from Amazon and other online retailers—use the ISBNs to search. Also available from the publishers’ web sites. If you order online, make sure you do so enough in advance that you’ll receive the books in time for the assignments.
• Amazon links:
  • The Ancient Mediterranean World: From the Stone Age to A.D. 600
  • The Middle Ages
  • The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Classics)
  • The Song of Roland (Penguin Classics)