The History Section of Eastern Michigan University welcomes students to the 2007-08 academic year.  This is an exciting time for the section as it welcomes new faculty members, introduces new courses, and continues its tradition of academic excellence.  We invite students and prospective students to learn more about the History Section and to direct any questions or comments to the Department of History and Philosophy.    

Please contact us at:
Department of History and Philosophy
701 Pray-Harrold, Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Phone: (734) 487-1018
Fax: (734) 487-6835

Department Head: Dr. Kate Mehuron
History Section Chair: Dr. James Egge

New Faculty

This fall the Section welcomes our new historian of the Middle East, John Knight.  John recently completed his Ph.D. at Oxford University, where he wrote a dissertation on Palestine during the British period (1917-48).  In the fall semester, John is teaching a section of HIST 110: World History from 1500 and a section of HIST 341: History of the Middle East, 1798-Present.  In the winter, he will be teaching HIST 339: The Arab-Israeli Conflict. 

John is married to Tatiana who is from Berkeley, California. They have lived in Thailand, Jordan and Turkey and have traveled extensively in the Middle East and Asia.  John reports that he is very excited about working with the students at EMU to explore the history of the Middle East.  John has a website and is keen to develop online resources on the Middle East. 

General Education Program

This fall, the History Section joins the rest of Eastern Michigan University in implementing the new General Education Program.  This innovative approach to learning will help prepare students for life in the twenty-first century through the acquisition of effective communication, quantitative reasoning, perspectives on a diverse world, and knowledge of the disciplines.  The History Section has created two new courses and revised several courses to correspond to the new curriculum.

The History Section is offering four classes in both fall and winter as part of Area III: Perspectives on a Diverse World.  Either HIST 103: Twentieth Century Civilization or HIST 110: World History since 1500 fulfill the Global Awareness (GA) requirement.   Several sections of both classes are being offered.  Either HIST 115: Making American Society: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Historical Perspective or HIST 116 Introduction to American Indian History can fulfill the US Diversity (US) requirement.  Both of these are new classes, designed to help student to better place modern-day controversies in their historical context. 

For Area IV: Knowledge of the Disciplines, HIST 100: The Comparative Study of Religion, HIST 101: Western Civilization to 1648, and HIST 102 Western Civilization 1648 to WWI each qualify as a course in the Humanities (KH).  HIST 123: The US to 1877 and HIST 124: The US 1877-Present each qualify as a course in the Social Sciences (KS). 

Special Topics Courses

The History Section is offering four special topics courses this fall (HIST 379 and 479).  Special topics courses present an opportunity to study a topic of particular interest to the instructor and students.  Marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first successful English settlement in the New World, Professor McCurdy will uncover the beginnings of America in the class Jamestown, 1607-2007.  Professor Citino will trace the development of warfare in the 20th century in Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm.  In Early Judaism, Professor Schmitz and his students will examine the history and literature of Judaism during the formative period of 550 BCE to about 200 CE.  Finally, Professor Moss will explore the intellectual and political Background to the Russian Revolution from Decembrist revolt of 1825 to the 1917 revolution. 

New Faculty Publications

• Victorio, Apache Warrior and Chief by Professor Kathleen Chamberlain is a biography of the last leader of the Warm Springs Apaches of New Mexico.  The rapid influx of white ranchers, farmers, and miners into the Southwest after the Civil War threatened Victorio's land and way of life.  Americans demanded that Apaches be exterminated, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora paid bounties for Apache scalps.  In response, the U.S. government adopted a weak reservation policy that crammed Victorio's people onto a too-small piece of rattlesnake-infested land in Arizona that the army dubbed “Hell’s Forty Acres.”  He and his people bolted and were pursued by U.S. and Mexican forces, miltias, and Texas Rangers for an entire year before facing slaughter in October 1880.  This biography places Victorio at the center of his story and focuses primarily on Apache culture and Apache responses to U.S. policy.
  
  Although there is little documentation of Victorio’s life outside military records, Chamberlain draws on ethnographic sources to surmise his childhood and adolescence and to depict traditional Warm Springs Apache social, religious, and economic life. Reconstructing Victorio’s life beyond the military conflicts that have since come to define him, she interprets his character and actions not only as whites viewed them but also as the logical outcome of his upbringing and worldview.  Victorio will be published this October by the University of Oklahoma Press. 
  
  
• For Hitler and the German military, 1942 was a key turning point of World War II, as an overstretched but still lethal Wehrmacht replaced brilliant victories and huge territorial gains with stalemates and strategic retreats. In Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns of 1942, Professor Robert Citino shows that the German army’s emerging woes were rooted as much in its addiction to the “war of movement”—attempts to smash the enemy in “short and lively” campaigns—as they were in Hitler’s deeply flawed management of the war. 
  
  From the overwhelming operational victories at Kerch and Kharkov in May to the catastrophic defeats at El Alamein and Stalingrad, Death of the Wehrmacht offers an eye-opening new view of that decisive year. Building upon his widely respected critique in The German Way of War, Citino shows how the campaigns of 1942 fit within the centuries-old patterns of Prussian/German warmaking and ultimately doomed Hitler’s expansionist ambitions. He examines every major campaign and battle in the Russian and North African theaters throughout the year to assess how a military geared to quick and decisive victories coped when the tide turned against it.  Death of the Wehrmacht will be published in October by the University Press of Kansas. 

Changes in Asian Religion Classes

This year the History Section introduces two new classes on the history of Asian religions: HIST 306: Hinduism and HIST 307: Buddhism.  Professor Egge plans to offer Hinduism every fall semester and Buddhism every winter.  These classes replace 301: Religions of South and East Asia, which will not be offered on campus on a regular basis.  The History Section made this change to allow for study of these two major religious traditions in greater depth.  Students interested in Confucianism, Daoism, and other Chinese traditions should consider taking PHIL 291 Introduction to Asian Philosophy and PHIL 391 The Philosophy of Early China, both offered by Professor Bruya in the Philosophy Section.