This program studies European exploration and conquest, beginning in the late Middle Ages and leading up to the emergence of the major colonial powers. Byzantium's fall in 1453 sets the narrative stage for Henry the Navigator's massive initiative to find new trade routes into Asia. Henry's nautical school at Sagres is described in detail, along with the voyages of Columbus, Gil Eannes, Vasco da Gama, and contemporaneous Arabian and Chinese adventurers....

Few areas of study offer more insight into American culture than competitive sports. The games played throughout this nation's history dramatically illuminate social, economic, and cultural developments, from the balance of power in world affairs to changing conceptions of race, gender, and sexuality. This book provides strategies for incorporating sports into any U.S. history curriculum. Drawing upon their own classroom experiences, the authors suggest...

Using interviews, personal accounts, and archival footage, this program investigates the major events in the history of American trade unions, from the formation of the first "friendly societies" in the 18th century, to the challenges posed by new technologies in the 1980s and 90s. Important issues such as minimum wages, health and safety conditions, discrimination, benefits, job security, and strikes are addressed. Veterans of labor struggles, labor...

"Interdisciplinary work across the humanities and social sciences is moving beyond analysis of any one nation in isolation and instead placing urgent questions in the larger matrix of the Americas as a hemisphere. But little attention has been given to the overarching methodological, institutional, and pedagogical issues resulting from the growth of inter-American, or American hemispheric studies. Teaching and Studying the Americas is designed to...