HIS 100-03 - Introduction to Historical Inquiry

4 credits (Fall)

The Conservation Movement in America. This course provides an introduction to issues of historical causation, argumentation, and evidence by exploring the rise of the Conservation movement in America during the Progressive Era (c. 1870-1920). More than just an effort to create national parks, or preserve wilderness, the Conservation movement aimed to address the interconnected problems of environmental sustainability, economic inequality, the vast concentration of corporate power, the social ills accompanying rapid urbanization and industrialization, and outdated conceptions of democracy or the role of the state. We will spend the semester exploring not only the origins, character, and impact of this movement, but also why different historians have developed such different ways of understanding what the movement entailed, whose voices or ideas really mattered, and what lessons we should ultimately learn from it.

Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Guenther