Registration Opens Feb 7 | $175 per Seminar
One Session Per Week for 5 Weeks
25 People Maximum
One Session Per Week for 5 Weeks | 25 People Maximum
$100 with 'historyzooms' promotional code
Film & Masculinity
Wednesdays, April 2-30, 2-3:30
The 2024 election results rested in part on the question of what constitutes a ‘real man’, according to the dictates of our culture at present. Hollywood films, which both mirror and help fashion the myths of masculinity in American society, offer a historical perspective on that question. This seminar will focus on how classical masculinity was framed in five films between World War II and the 1980s: Casablanca (1942), Red River (1948) Dr. Strangelove (1964), Chinatown (1974) and Die Hard (1988).
Why Trump? Ask Freud.
Wednesdays, May 7-June 4, 2-3:30
Still trying to make sense of the 2024 election results? Join me to examine Trump’s continued sway over a segment of American voters through a reading of Civilization and its Discontents, a classic work by modernity’s keenest analyst of human drives, Sigmund Freud.
What is Existentialism?
Wednesdays, July 16-Aug 13, 2-3:30
First broadly disseminated by a set of French writers during and after World War II, the philosophy of existentialism still carries a certain popular mystique. In this seminar we will explore that mystique through short selections from the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Simone De Beauvoir.
Westerns & Anti-Westerns
Wednesdays, Sept 17-Oct 15, 2-3:30
This seminar explores the western through five Hollywood classics—High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Blazing Saddles, and Unforgiven—to examine how each conveys, critiques, or parodies America’s most enduring myth.
Film & History
Wednesdays, Nov 5-Dec 2, 2-3:30
How do historians view films? This seminar will answer that question through a discussion of historical dramas and documentaries such as Jean Renoir’s The Grand Illusion, Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog, and Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln.
TESTIMONIALS
Barry L.
Paul Cohen is one of Lawrence’s master teachers. Do not miss this limited edition, low-pressure opportunity to learn from him in his Emeritus phase.
Stan D.
Paul brings great knowledge to his courses, plus an eye for irony, and an engaging teaching style. Expect to be stimulated, challenged, and educated.
Anne B.
Paul Cohen is a fantastic and thoughtful teacher. He reaches out to the members of his classes to make sure they feel included and able to speak up during class.
The Power of Nationalism
Sept. 18 - Oct. 16, Wednesdays, 2-3:30 pm
Nationalism is the most potent ideology of the modern era. In this seminar, we will investigate the historical origins of nationalism by discussing texts from the French Revolutionary era when mass nationalism first emerged through its apotheosis in World War II. (Above: "Liberty Leading the People" by Eugène Delacroix).
Upcoming In-Person Seminar
Postwar Hollywood Masculinity and its Critics
October 20-25th, 2024
Hollywood films both mirror and help fashion the gender norms at various times in American history. This seminar will focus on how masculinity was constructed in five films between World War II and the 1980s: Casablanca, Red River, Dr. Strangelove, Chinatown, and Die Hard.
Seminars to Come
Nationalism is the most potent ideology of the modern era. At present, a populist strain of it—as represented by the likes of Narendra Modi in India, Victor Orban in Hungary, and Donald Trump in the United States—has become a major force in global politics. In this seminar, we will investigate the historical origins of nationalism by discussing texts from the French Revolutionary era, when mass nationalism first emerged, through its apotheosis in World War II. Readings will include excerpts from the writings of:
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Maximilien Robespierre, the leader of France’s Reign of Terror
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Heinrich von Treitschke the 19th century German nationalist
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Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism
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Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of anticolonial Indian nationalism
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Adolf Hitler, the founder of National Socialism
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Currently the world’s largest religion, Christianity emerged in the first century CE from a small Jewish sect in Judea, which was then part of the Roman Empire. In this seminar, we will explore the historical world of early Christianity by discussing several New Testament texts as well as historical documents that reflect the early Roman view of the Christians. We will discuss:
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The Acts of the Apostles
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Paul’s Letter to the Galatians
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Paul’s Letter to the Romans
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An exchange of letters between the Roman Emperor Trajan and Pliny, one of his provincial governors
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The word ‘Marxist’ has become a common slur in contemporary political discourse. But who was Karl Marx? When and where did Marxism first emerge? This seminar will address those questions by engaging with several of Marx’s early works:
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1844 Manuscripts (selections)
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The Communist Manifesto (1848)
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The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852)
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How does Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine fit into the broader scope of Russian history? This seminar will address Russia’s deep-seated resentment of the West, starting in the mid-19th century and ending with Putin and his anti-western agenda. Among the works we will read and discuss are:
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Theodore Von Laue, Why Lenin, Why Stalin, Why Gorbachev? (1993)
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Joseph Stalin, 1928 speech on the Five Year Plan
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Max Weber, Protestantism and the Spirit of Capitalism (selections)
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Vladimir Putin, Speech to be determined
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‘Feminism’ has been a hot button word since its first use in the 1890s. But what does it mean? This seminar will address the emergence of feminism in 19th and 20th century Europe by engaging with several celebrated works from that era:
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John Stuart Mill, “On the Subjection of Women” (1869)
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Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (1929)
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Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949) (selections)
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First broadly disseminated by a set of French writers during and after World War II, the philosophy of existentialism still carries a certain popular mystique. In this seminar we will explore that mystique by tackling some of the philosophy’s most celebrated works:
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Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942)
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Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit (play, 1944)
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Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism (1945)
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Selections from Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949)
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The war in Gaza has raised anew the urgent question of genocide. But what does the word “genocide” mean? In Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report on the banality of evil (1963), Hannah Arendt, a mid-20th century German-Jewish philosopher, addresses that question by examining the trial of Adolph Eichmann, one of the architects of the Nazi Holocaust. This seminar offers a close reading of Arendt’s brilliant and controversial work.
There has been a lot of talk about fascism recently. Is it the same as authoritarianism or totalitarianism? Is Hungary’s Victor Orban or Donald Trump a fascist? This seminar will address those questions by exploring fascism’s historical origins through some of its foundational documents. We will read—and view:
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Mussolini’s 1931 essay, “Fascism”
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Selections from Hitler’s Mein Kampf
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Leni Riefenstahl’s 1934 Nazi propaganda film, “The Triumph of the Will"
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Selections from Robert Paxton’s The Anatomy of Fascism (2004)
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We live in a time when the question of what constitutes a ‘civilized’ or even ‘civil’ society has emerged with some urgency. Is a society based on common moral precepts even possible to achieve and, if so, it what cost? This seminar will focus on how two of the eminent and controversial thinkers of the modern age, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud, addressed these questions—and how their views of civilization might illuminate the tribulations of our own. We will discuss:
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Selections from Friedrich Nietzsche, A Genealogy of Morals (1887)
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Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents (1930)
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How do historians view films? This seminar will answer that question through a discussion of historical dramas and documentaries. We will also discuss how films reflect the eras in which they were made. The seminar will pose the question of how ‘true’ or accurate a historical film or documentary might be; but we will also ask how such films, inaccuracies notwithstanding, might enhance our understanding of the individuals and events they portray. Possible films include:
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The Third Man (Carrol Reed, 1949)
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Night and Fog (Documentary, Alain Resnais, 1956)
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Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960)
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Little Big Man (Arthur Penn, 1970)
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Danton (Andrzej Wajda, 1983)
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Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2004)
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Hollywood films both mirror and help fashion the gender norms of different eras in American history. This seminar will focus on films representing the era of 'classical masculinity’ (the 1940s and 50s), the counterculture (the 1960s and 70s), the Reagan era (the 1980s), and beyond. Possible films include:
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The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1942)
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Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948)
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Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
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Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
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Die Hard (John McTiernan, (1988)
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Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)
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BJORKLUNDEN
