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Kenyon College professor, Timothy B. Shutt delivers a course that will examine the foundations of Western Civilization. Through literature that has survived the ages, this course will look at the culture of the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, and likewise look at how these cultures interacted with each other.

New York University professor, Lawrence Schiffman, discusses the Dead Sea Scrolls, the most important collection of Jewish texts from the centuries before the rise of Christianity. Only through efforts to understand what the scrolls can teach us about the history of Judaism is it possible for us to learn what they have to teach us about the history of Christianity, because Christianity came into being only after these texts were composed and copied.

James M. McPherson explores how Abraham Lincoln--struggling with feckless generals, fickle masses, and his own fearful demons--expanded the role of Commander in Chief amidst a war that defined him.

Historians Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green paint a portrait of the infamous Trail of Tears. Despite protests from statesmen like Davy Crockett, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay, a dubious 1838 treaty drives 17,000 mostly Christian Cherokee from their lush Appalachian homeland to barren plains beyond the Mississippi. For 4,000, this brutal forced march leads only to their death.

In this course, New York University professor Peter Meineck discusses the historical, social, political and cultural context of ancient Greek drama, concentrating on the four playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripedes, and Aristophanes.

Ostler recounts the Lakota Sioux's loss of their spiritual homeland and their remarkable legal battle to regain it. Moving from battlefields to reservations to Supreme Court chambers, Ostler captures the strength that bore the Lakotas through the worst times and kept alive the dream of reclaiming their cherished lands.

In this course, Yeshiva University history professor Ellen Schrecker investigates the early years of the Cold War and the anticommunist witch hunt that we now call McCarthyism as it swept through Americna society.

Beginning with New York City's first ever New Year's ball drop, 1908 got off to a spectacular start. As the year went on, America witnessed President Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet sailing around the globe, Henry Ford's unveiling of the Model T, and the Wright Brothers' year-end, history making longest recorded flight. Sandwiched between these events, great social changes were also occurring, as race relations deteriorated in the South and the Great War loomed over in Europe.

Combines an account of Robert Louis Stevenson's experiences as he traveled from New York to California by train in 1879 and a description of the building and operation of railroads in nineteenth-century America.

Who is the German-born Joseph Ratzinger? Tobin sheds light on every chapter of the new Pope's life, from his childhood to his seminary education and through the career that led him to the papacy. Tobin also provides an insider's look at the conclave that captivated the entire world while electing Ratzinger as the new Pope. And finally, Tobin discusses the significant issues facing today's Church while offering insightful observations on how Benedict XVI is likely to react to these concerns.