All Courses

In this course, Professor Diane Purkiss (University of Oxford) explores the historical context around the witches in Shakespeare’s plays, especially Macbeth (1606). In the first module, we consider why Shakespeare might have written witches into...

In this course, Professor Ray Kiely (Queen Mary, University of London) explores the concept of globalisation. In the first module, we think about what ‘globalisation’ actually means, before introducing three different perspectives on globalisation...

In this course, Dr Hugh Doherty (University of East Anglia) explores the reign of Henry II, 1154-89. We being by considering the nature of evidence for Henry's reign, focusing in particular on the later accounts of his reign, but also...

In this course, Dr Joe Street (Northumbria University) explores the Black Panther Party, the Black Power political organisation established by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton on October 1966 in Oakland, California. In the first module, we think...

In this course we explore Book 1 of Tacitus’ Annals, in which Tacitus describes the death of Augustus, the accession of Tiberius and the mutinies of the army in Pannonia and Germania. We consider not just what happened in those...

In this course, Dr Nicholas Morton (Nottingham Trent University) considers four questions related the Second Crusade, 1147-49: (i) How did the Crusader States survive and grow in the decades following the First Crusade?; (ii) Why did the ...

In this course, Professor Lisa Hopkins (Sheffield Hallam University) explores Christopher Marlowe's final play, Edward II. We begin by thinking about the theme of homosexuality in the play, arguing that while the relationship between Edward and...

In this course, Professor Edward Harris (University of Durham) explores the development and operation of Athenian democracy in the fifth century BC. In the first module, we think about the kind of society that existed in Attica in the sixth...

In this course, Professor John Holmwood (University of Nottingham) explores functionalism as an approach within sociology. In the first lecture, we think about the emergence of functionalist ideas in the work of Émile Durkheim and their influence...

In this course, Professor John Morrill (University of Cambridge) examines the life of Oliver Cromwell from obscure beginnings in Cambridgeshire to his election as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1653. In the ...

In this course Dr Maisha Wester (University of Sheffield) explores Gothic literature through the lens of race. In the first module, we provide an introduction to the concepts of the gothic and the grotesque in literature and the arts, before...

War has always been a feature of human history. It is reviled as one of the great evils of which we are capable as a species, but often also commemorated and recounted as honourable and just. War raises many difficult...

In this course, Professor Nik Wachsmann (Birkbeck, University of London) explores the history of the Nazi concentration camps. We begin with a general introduction to the Nazi concentration camp system in module one. The second module considers ...

In this course, Professor Mark Atwood Lawrence (University of Texas at Austin) explores the American experience in Vietnam. We start by introducing the Vietnam War and explaining its significance for the United States. In the following modules we...