History 3
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History 3 is entering its first full session. We do not choose a single topic for the year.
Instead we invite group members to suggest something they are interested in and offer an introduction to be followed by discussion. Where appropriate we try to draw on historical sources and historical fiction. Fiction often offers insights into historical
periods which complement history sources.
For session 2023-4 we have identified the following topics:
The history of India in the first half of the 20th Century
Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the Comanches (“Cowboys and Indians”
“Retrospective” by Jean Gabriel Velasques. ("Retrospective" captivates with a portrayal of a family that confronts history in the Spanish Civil War, the advent of television in Colombia, the Cultural Revolution in China, the period of
revolutionary fervour in Colombia, and the country's faltering attempts to reconcile with 70-plus years of auto-destruction. It's a story of how ideals can become convictions, and convictions, disappointment. Amazingly, it is almost entirely true. The characters are real, and the major events that happen to them in the novel did actually occur. Juan Gabriel Vasquez is known for
expertly melding fiction and non-fiction, such that the reader is never quite sure when he's crossed the line between the genres.)
The rise and fall of Napoleon
The French Revolution (Drawing on “Citizens” by Simon Schama and “A place of greater safety” by Hilary Mantel)
The history of ideas, from the classical world to the emergence of Christianity and the enlightenment.
Additional themes will be agreed later in the session.
PB/27 September 2023