Week I: Introduction

Sep 6: How do we view Modern Britain and the British?
Sep 8: British society at the beginning of the nineteenth century

Reading:
Matthew, 1-38

Week II: Peace Restored; Empire and Reform

Sep 11: Peace restored and the making of the Second British Empire
Sep 13: Reform and revolution, 1815-1848
Sep 15: Discussion

Reading:
Matthew, 85-160

Documents:
The People's Petition (1838)
Samuel Bamford, "Passages in the Life of a Radical" (1819)
T.B. Macauley, Speech on the Reform Bill of 1832

Week III: Industry, Economy, and Social Upheaval

Sep 18: The industrial economy and the working classes
Sep 20: Ireland: politics, famine, and emigration
Sep 22: Discussion

Reading:
Arnstein, 154-168
Matthew, 41-82
Porter, 1-74

Documents:
Daniel O'Connell, "Justice for Ireland" (speech to the House Commons) (1836)
"Summer of Sorrows" from Gerald Keegan's Diary (1847)
William Bennett, "Narrative of a recent journey in Ireland" (1847)
Parliamentary Proceedings, "The state of famine and disease in Ireland" (1846)
Cork Reporter, "The apprehended scarcity" (1846)
Times of London, "The Irish question" (1846)

Music:
Sinéad O'Connor, "Skibbereen"

Week IV: The Victorian Age, Part I: Order and Society

Sep 25: Victoria and her realm: the social order examined
Sep 27: Inside the Victorian underworld: crime, policing, and prisons
Sep 29: Discussion

Reading:
Simon Schama, "The Queen and the Hive" and "Wives, Daughters, Widows" (Chs. 3-4 in History of Britain, Vol III) [on reserve]

Documents:
The Ripper Files (from the records of the Metropolitan Police)
"Jack the Ripper", Letters and Postcards (1888-90)

Visual:
Queen Victoria: Images of her World

Suggested films: The Elephant Man (1980), Mrs. Brown (1997), From Hell (2001)

Week V: The Victorian Age, Part II: Faith, Intellect, and Creativity

Oct 2: Science and religion: Darwinism and the Evangelical and Catholic revivals
Oct 4: The Victorian style: architecture, literature, and music
Oct 6: Discussion

Reading:
Arnstein, 197-222
Matthew, 195-291

Music:
Edward Elgar, "Enigma Variations" (1899), "Pageant of Empire" (1924), "Imperial March, op. 32" (1924)
Gilbert and Sullivan, "He is an Englishman!" [from HMS Pinafore] (1878)

Suggested films: Wilde (1997), Topsy-Turvy (2000)

Week VI: The Victorian Age, Part III: Government and Empire

Oct 9: Gladstone, Disraeli, and the origins of mass politics
Oct 11: Empire and the British national identity, 1885-1914
Oct 13: FALL BREAK (NO CLASS)

Reading:
Arnstein, 223-236, 263-287
Porter, 74-238

Suggested films: Mountains of the Moon (1990), Khartoum (1966)
Zulu (1964), The Chess Players (1977)

Week VII: A Place at the Table

Oct 16: Trouble next door: The Irish question
Oct 18: The Suffragettes and the emancipation of women
Oct 20: NO CLASS

Reading:
Arnstein, 169-196, 243-261
Matthew, 163-193, 293-299

Week VIII: The Edwardian Interlude

Oct 23: The South African War at home and abroad, 1899-1902
Oct 25: The fall of the Liberals and the rise of Labour
Oct 27: MIDTERM EXAMINATION

Reading:
Robbins, 1-73
Porter, 239-264

Suggested films: Breaker Morant (1980), The Shooting Party (1985), The Lost Prince (2003)

Week IX: Britain in the Great War

Oct 30: The Western Front and the Home Front, 1914-1918
Nov 1: Counting the cost: War and British society
Nov 3: Discussion

Reading:
Arnstein, 289-330
Orwell, Coming Up for Air (first half)

Document:
Proclamation of the Irish Republic (1916)

Music:
Cecil Spring-Rice "I Vow to Thee, My Country"
Brian Warfield, "A Soldier's Return"
Eric Bogle, "No Man's Land / Willie McBride"

Memorials:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Somme Heritage Centre of Northern Ireland
ANZAC Commemorative Site (Goverment of Australia)

Suggested films: Gallipoli (1981), Behind the Lines (1998), Michael Collins (1996)
The Last September (1999), The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)

Week X: The Crisis Years

Nov 6: The highs and lows of interwar Britain, 1919-1939
Nov 8: Diplomacy, appeasement, and rearmament
Nov 10: Discussion: Orwell, Coming Up for Air

Reading:
Arnstein, 331-351, 354-376
Porter, 265-307
Robbins, 163-196
Orwell, Coming Up for Air (second half)

Suggested films: Liam (2000), Brideshead Revisited (1981), Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981)
Chariots of Fire (1981), Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1981), A Handful of Dust (1988)

Week XI: Britain's Dark Days

Nov 13: "Their Finest Hour" Britain at war, 1939-1945
Nov 14: Film: The Remains of the Day: 7-10 PM, Miller 102
Nov 15: Britain's postwar crises, 1945-1951
Nov 17: Discussion

Reading:
Arnstein, 376-378, 382-386
Robbins, 73-162, 197-234
Porter, 308-325

Music:
Benjamin Britten, War Requiem (selections) (1962)
Vera Lynn, "We'll Meet Again" (1939), "There'll Always be an England" (1941),
"The White Cliffs of Dover" (1942), "When the Lights Go On Again" (1942)

Images: British Wartime Propaganda Posters

Suggested films: Hope and Glory (1987), Battle of Britain (1969), The Cazalets (2001)
In Which We Serve (1942), Brief Encounter (1945), The Dam Busters (1954)
Dark Blue World (2001), Island at War (2004), Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy (1984)

Week XII: The Challenges of Postwar Britain

Nov 20: The "New Jerusalem": building the welfare state
Nov 22: Dismantling the British Empire
Nov 24: THANKSGIVING (NO CLASS)

Reading:
Arnstein, 351-353, 379-381, 387-403, 411-425
Burk, 1-18, 63-126, 157-186
Porter, 325-347

Video and Audio:
BBC Film Archive, Lord Mountbatten reads address by King George VI on Indian independence (1947)
BBC Radio Archive, Jawaharlal Nehru's speech "A tryst with destiny" (1947)
BBC Radio Archive, Muhammad Ali Jinnah's address on Pakistan's independence (1947)

Suggested films: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1961), The Jewel in the Crown (1984)
84 Charing Cross Road (1987), Cambridge Spies (2003), Vera Drake (2004)
The War Game (1965), Shadowlands (1993), Room at the Top (1959)

Week XIII: The Transformation of British Politics

Nov 27: Nationalism, regionalism, and conflict: Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland
Nov 29: Thatcherism, "New Labour," and the new British politics
Dec 1: Discussion

Reading:
Arstein, 427-444
Burk, 19-62, 187-228
Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years, 3-59 [on reserve]

Documents:
BBC Panorama TV interview with Tony Blair (1997)
BBC "in Depth", Statistics for the Thatcher Years

Video:
UKTV History, Bobby Sands elected MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone (1981)
BBC Panorama, Falklands War Outbreak (1982)
Margaret Thatcher, Speech to the House of Commons on the European Council (1990)
Tony Blair, Final Statement as Prime Minister (2007)

Suggested films: House of Cards (1990), Bloody Sunday (2003), Some Mother's Son (1996)
The Boxer (1998), Omagh (2004), In the Name of the Father (1993), Ratcatcher (1998)
Four Days in July (1985), Riff Raff (1990), Hidden Agenda (1990)

Week XIV: The Transformation of British Society

Dec 4: Popular culture, immigration, and the making of multicultural Britain
Dec 6: The Windsors: family, monarchy, and nation
Dec 8: Discussion

Reading:
Arnstein, 403-411
Burk, 127-156
Salman Rushdie, "The New Empire within Britain" in Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism [on reserve]
David Cannadine, "The Context, Performance and Meaning of Ritual: The British Monarchy and the 'Invention of Tradition,' c.1820-1977" in Hobsbawm and Ranger (eds), The Invention of Tradition [on reserve]
David Cannadine, "Diana, Princess of Wales" in History in Our Time [on reserve]

Music:
The Beatles, "Penny Lane" (1966)
The Kinks, "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" (1966), "Shangri-La" (1969)
The Sex Pistols, "God Save the Queen" (1977), "Anarchy in the UK" (1976)
The Clash, "London Calling" (1979), "The Guns of Brixton" (1979)

Video:
First Edition (TV): The Battle for Brixton (1981)
Queen Elizabeth II, Statement on the Death of Princess Diana (1997)

Suggested films: Scandal (1989), A Hard Day's Night (1964), My Son the Fanatic (1997)
Made in Britain (1982), Trainspotting (1996), Ae Fond Kiss (2004), The Jury (2003)
A Clockwork Orange (1971), Dirty Pretty Things (2002), The Queen (2006)

Week XV: Britain: Present and Future

Dec 11: Conclusion: The future of Britain and the British

Reading:
Burk, 229-234
Porter, 348-374
Peter David, "Undoing Britain?" in The Economist, 4 Nov 1999