HIST 217 The Age of Extremes: European Culture and Society in the Twentieth Century

Major Requirement: History of Europe

By focusing on the experiences of ordinary people and significant shifts in their values, we will study how Europe evolved through what one historian has called an “age of extremes” in the twentieth century. Central issues will include the experience and legacies of “total war,” daily life under Nazi rule and in the Communist countries of Eastern Europe, the psychological impact of the Great Depression, and the various ways in which people struggled to redefine themselves as Europe faded from a position of world dominance.