About Topic Overviews
Topic Overviews are essay-length introductions to historical events, themes, and texts. Written by subject experts, they are an ideal starting point for students approaching a historical topic.
Currently, the Topic Overviews section includes books from the Very Short Introductions series published by Oxford University Press, and KnowledgeNotesTM History Guides, available exclusively in History Study Center.
Very Short Introductions
Oxford University Press's Very Short Introductions series provides concise summaries of a wide range of topics. Written by subject experts, frequently at the forefront of academic research, each VSI offers an analysis of central issues in the relevant field which is original and challenging while remaining balanced and complete.
There are currently 10 titles from this series, selected for their relevance to historical study, available in History Study Center.
More information about the authors of these volumes is available below.
KnowledgeNotesTM History Guides
KnowledgeNotesTM History Guides are a unique collection of text-based student guides, which provide those studying history with a firm introduction to historical topics and texts. They are high-quality academic resources designed specifically for history students, complementing the reading and guidance provided by lecturers and seminar teachers. Each guide combines detailed analysis of a topic or text with introductory and contextual material and suggestions for further reading.
The guides are written by scholars with graduate-level expertise in the relevant area, working closely with a dedicated team of specialist editors. Far more than being simple summaries of events or a synopsis of key texts and documents, these guides challenge the reader to consider the wider context, highlighting important themes and provoking further thought and enquiry with their discussion points. View more information about the editorial team and authors of the History Guides.
There are two types of History Guides available in History Study Center, topic-based guides and text-based guides. Below are outlines of the content and features of each kind of guide.
Topic Guides
The guides on historical topics cover significant trends and events in history, ranging from themes such as witchcraft in early modern Europe, to definable events such as the Vietnam War. Each begins with an Introduction, which provides on overview of the topic, highlights the main themes and introduces the historical arguments. This is followed by Causes, which discusses why it took place and Effects, which sets out the consequences. The Key People/Places section discusses the key historical figures and places mentioned in the text, whilst the Timeline lays out the time frame of events and helps to place the topic in a wider historical context. The Themes section provides a detailed exploration of the topic, highlighting the significant points and discussing the arguments. The Discussion Points further distil the arguments and point students towards areas of possible further study and research. The Glossary picks out any terms which may be unfamiliar, and the guide finishes with Works Consulted and Other Recommended Works which direct users to sources of further study and which also serves as an example of correct scholarly citation.
Text Guides
The text guides deal with two different types of text, key historical documents and important works of historiography. The document guides cover key primary sources like the Magna Carta, whilst the historiography guides concern themselves with influential history books such as Richard Evans's In Defense of History. Every history guide combines a sound summary with analysis and discussion of the themes, and suggestions for further reading.
Historical Documents
The guides dealing with documents are designed to help students understand and interpret complex and unfamiliar primary source material. These guides begin with the section Historical Context, which gives an overview of the period in which the text was written. This is followed by an Author section, which discusses the author's motives for writing and includes biographical material. The Key Figures section provides short descriptions of people who are mentioned in the text, or who have influenced it in some way. The Summary gives a short synopsis of the text, emphasizing the main points, and the Critical Context addresses how the text was received and what effect it has had historically. Style discusses the language of the document and Themes and Motifs picks out the significant points in the document. The Highlights section provides a detailed reading of the text broken down into chapters, or into sections where applicable.
Six learning devices are used to enhance the students understanding of the text and to draw their attention to significant points within it; Take Home Points signal key elements in the text, Exploration Points direct students towards areas of possible further study and research, and Theme Alerts highlight the emergence of significant themes. Quotables identify and interpret frequently quoted passages, Search Tips suggest areas of further study in History Study Center, and Context Points are references to the historical and critical context of the document.
Each guide ends with a selection of the Works Consulted, which direct users to sources of further study, and a Glossary of terms that may be unfamiliar to the reader.
Historiographical Texts
The guides dealing with works of historiography retain most of the same categories, but are structured slightly differently. Each one begins with an Overview that sets out the main premise of the text. Next is Historical Context, which describes the academic and world trends that influenced the text, and the Critical Context, which details the main theories and arguments surrounding it. This is followed by Author information, which includes a Selected Bibliography of their work, before sections resume in the same order as in the document guides.
Citing KnowledgeNotes™ History Guides
Below are examples of how to cite KnowledgeNotes History Guides. They are based on the guidelines provided by The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th edition (Washington DC: American Psychological Association, 2001) and the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5th ed. (New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1999). It would also be advisable to consult the style guide of your institution when citing the History Guides.
Mescallado, Ray. The Great Cat Massacre by Robert Darnton. KnowledgeNotes History Guide. Retrieved October 28, 2002, from History Study Centre. Regional Community Coll. Lib., Little Rock. <http://historyonline.chadwyck.co.uk/hsc>
Durkin, Andrew. Introduction to the Vietnam War. KnowledgeNotes History Guide. Retrieved October 28 2002, from History Study Centre. Regional Community Coll. Lib., Little Rock. <http://historyonline.chadwyck.co.uk/hsc>
Editorial Contributors
Andrew Durkin,
Editor
Mr. Durkin is studying for his PhD in English at the University
of Southern California, where he also completed his MA in English
and received Outstanding Teaching Assistant and Outstanding Service
and Leadership awards. He earned his BA from Drew University summa
cum laude with special honors in English and a History minor.
Mr. Durkin has served as course coordinator and assistant lecturer
for the USC Writing Program, and as a teaching assistant in the
USC English Department.
Elizabeth
M. Durst, Editor
Ms. Durst received a PhD in Russian Literature and Culture
from the University of Southern California, where she also earned
her MA in Russian Literature. Her BA in Russian Languages and
Literature and German is from Northwestern University. She has
also studied in Berlin and Moscow and has conducted extensive
research in Russia. Her professional experience includes teaching
in the Writing Program at USC, working at the Getty Research Institute
in Los Angeles, and a range of editorial projects, including translation
and research for exhibition catalogs and an interactive CD-ROM.
She has published articles and presented lectures on several topics,
most recently on women's fashion in early-twentieth-century Russia.
Patrick T.
Gorman, Project Manager
Mr. Gorman earned his MFA from the University of Southern
California School of Professional Writing and his BA from the
University of Southern California's School of Theatre. An acclaimed
playwright, Mr. Gorman's work has been performed across the world
from Los Angeles to Nebraska to Paris, and his play The Star
Wars Trilogy in 30 Minutes is an annual critical and audience
favorite of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival ever since its premiere
in 1996. Various media outlets from the Sunday London Times,
BBC, Associated Press, and Reuters have done pieces on Mr. Gorman
and his work. Mr. Gorman is the author of a variety of plays,
screenplays, and fiction and has worked in various roles for such
esteemed multimedia companies as CreativEngine and Synthesis3.
Sarah Shute,
Managing Editor
Ms. Shute earned an MA in English from the University of
Southern California, an MFA in Fiction Writing from Brooklyn College,
and a BA in Literature and Society with Honors from Brown University.
She won the Edward R. Moses Award in Fiction Writing from USC.
She was fiction editor of the Brooklyn Review, and has
taught expository writing at the college level for four years
as well as ninth through twelfth grade composition. An independent
filmmaker, her short films have won numerous awards and are marketed
internationally. She has been Managing Editor of KnowledgeNotes
since May of 2000.
Mary Beth Tegan,
Editor
Ms. Tegan is studying for her PhD in English at the University
of Southern California, where she is also assistant lecturer in
the Thematic Option Honors General Education Program and in the
Freshman Writing Program, instructional coordinator, and editor/writer
of the Writing 140 Course Book, and recipient of the
Middleton Dissertation Fellowship. Her MA in English, Rhetoric,
and Composition is from California State University at Northridge,
and her BS in Business Administration and Marketing is from California
State University at Chico. She works as a grant writer for Covenant
House California. At CSU Northridge, she lectured in the Department
of English and Department of Chicana/o Studies, and was Instructor
of Record in the Freshman Composition Program, writing consultant
in the Learning Resource Center, editor and writer for the CSUN
Guide to Writing, and a peer tutor.
Author Biographies
Sharon Arnoult
was awarded a PhD in History in 1997 from the University of Texas
at Austin, where her dissertation dealt with religious identity
during the English Reformation. While at UT, she won two competitive
grants, and upon graduation was made a Junior Fellow of the Faculty
Seminar on British Studies. In addition to published articles
and reviews, she has presented numerous papers at academic conferences.
She has taught at Austin Community College and Southwest Texas
State University, and is currently on the faculty of Midwestern
State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.
View editorial contributors
Amanda Wood
Aucoin received her PhD in History from the University
of Arkansas in 2001. Her primary fields of study were Russia,
England, and Modern Europe. She was awarded a dissertation fellowship
from Phi Alpha Theta, the international history honors society,
as well as a research grant from the College of Fulbright at the
University of Arkansas to pursue dissertation research in the
former Soviet Union in 1998/1999. Dr. Aucoin's research interests
include twentieth-century Europe and Soviet-American cultural
relations in the post-war years. She presents papers in the history
field's professional societies and will soon begin a term on the
membership board of the European History Section of the Southern
Historical Association. Dr. Aucoin is currently working on a book
manuscript dealing with Soviet responses to American information
activity in the Khrushchev years.
View editorial contributors
Cynthia Story
Bisson received her PhD in History from The Ohio State
University in 1989. Currently, she is an Adjunct Associate Professor
of History at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Her
areas of specialization are France since 1815, Early Modern France,
Modern Japan, and Modern European Military and Diplomatic History.
At Belmont, Professor Bisson has taught classes on World History,
the French Revolution and Napoleon, and France Since 1870. As
a lecturer in History at Vanderbilt University, she taught courses
on Early Modern Europe. Professor Bisson is the author of academic
papers, brief articles, and several book reviews for The Historian.
A Fulbright Scholar, Professor Bisson did her research on crime
and criminal justice in nineteenth-century rural France. She is
currently working on projects concerning domestic violence and
infanticide in nineteenth-century rural France.
View editorial contributors
Charlotte
Brooks is completing her PhD in U.S. History at Northwestern
University, where she also received her MA in 1997. During her
graduate career, she earned a Social Science Research Council
International Migration Program Dissertation Fellowship and several
research grants. She also taught Asian American History and Chinese
History for several years at Northwestern and has published articles
and book reviews in academic journals and encyclopedias. She earned
her BA in history at Yale University.
View editorial contributors
James Burns,
Assistant Professor of History at Clemson University and a specialist
in African history, recently published his book, Flickering Shadows:
Cinema and Identity in Colonial Zimbabwe. He is also the author
of many shorter pieces on the changing colonial and postcolonial
landscape in Africa, including forthcoming essays on North Rhodesia,
Roy Welensky, and the policies of Federation. Recipient of numerous
academic prizes, including a Fulbright Award in 1997-98, Burns
received his doctoral degree from U.C. Santa Barbara the same
year, passing his examinations on African History, North African
History, British History and African Archaeology with distinction.
In addition to his graduate work at U.C. Santa Barbara, he received
a Graduate Diploma in History from Cambridge University. He has
taught courses in Western Civilization, the History of Britain
and of Africa, and is responsible for the development of two new
university courses at Clemson: the History of South Africa and
African Film and Politics.
View editorial contributors
John Crain is an expert
in Latin American history who lives and works in Louisiana. He divides his time
between teaching and research, but has also published numerous articles in various
historical journals.
View editorial contributors
Cara Delay is Assistant Professor of History at the University
of Delaware. She received her B.A. from Boston College and her
Ph.D. in Comparative History from Brandeis University. She has
taught modern European social history and the history of women
and gender. Her research focuses on modern Irish history, and
she is currently completing a book manuscript on Catholicism and
community life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
View editorial contributors
Shantanu
DuttaAhmed received his PhD in English from the University
of Southern California with an emphasis in post-colonial literatures,
race theory, and contemporary popular culture. He was awarded
the Marta Fuchtwanger Dissertation Fellowship for his work on
”politics and the novel” during his tenure at USC. His BA, which
is also in English, is from the University of California at Santa
Cruz. His articles, essays, and book reviews have appeared in
several academic journals. At many academic conferences, he has
presented on his varied interests, particularly popular culture
and the figuration of the queer figure in it. He is currently
at work on two book-length projects.
View editorial contributors
Douglas M. Edwards
earned a PhD in American History from the University of Maryland.
Specializing in the history of the Trans-Mississippi West, he
has published various articles and essays that examine the efforts
of turn-of-the-century boosters to hasten regional development
and integration. He has taught at universities in the United States
and Germany, and currently works as a freelance writer and teacher
in Berlin, Germany.
View editorial contributors
Robert J. Flynn
is an Assistant Professor of History at Georgia Perimeter College.
He earned his PhD at the University of Kentucky, where he also
earned an MA. Dr. Flynn has conducted extensive research on American
foreign relations with Southeast Asia, and is presently writing
an article on urban mass transportation. His articles, book reviews,
and essays have appeared in a number of academic journals and
compilations.
View editorial contributors
Ramlah Frediani
received an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of
Iowa, where she also attended literature courses at the prestigious
Writer's Workshop. She received numerous grants and awards over
the course of her studies and was selected to teach as an associate
professor upon graduation. She has studied Literature at the University
of California at Berkeley and at her alma mater, the University
of California at Santa Cruz, where her emphasis was on Shakespeare
studies and classical theatre.
View editorial contributors
Sarah
Jane Gillam is a freelance editor and writer living and
working in London. She recently completed an MA degree with a
distinction in Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University
of London. Her dissertation was on the contemporary Australian
Aboriginal art movement. She has previously studied at the University
of Notre Dame, Indiana, and has a BA degree in Philosophy, Politics,
and Economics from Oxford University. She has published poetry
and is currently working on an idea for a novel.
View editorial contributors
Brenda
Townsend Hall holds a BA degree from the University of
London and a PhD from the University of Southampton. Her specialist
area is medieval literature. She has taught in further and higher
education in the UK and has also worked for many years in the
field of language training. She now divides her time between the
UK and France, working part-time as a writer and editor in the
field of rural development and using her spare time to pursue
her literary and linguistic interests.
View editorial contributors
Dawn Marie Hayes
is Assistant Professor of History at the Borough of Manhattan
Community College of the City University of New York. She received
her PhD in Medieval European History from New York University
in 1998. Dr. Hayes is the recipient of an NEH Summer Seminar Fellowship,
the American Historical Association's Bernadotte E. Schmitt Grant,
and a number of teaching awards. She is the author of the forthcoming
Body and Sacred Place in Medieval Europe, 1100-1389 and
is at work on a second book, Medieval Maternity: Pregnancy
and Childbirth in Medieval Europe.
View editorial contributors
Colleen Hobbs
received her PhD from Rutgers University; her undergraduate degrees
were in English and Journalism from the University of Texas at
Austin. She has taught literature and composition at the college
level and has worked as an editor for the textbook publisher Holt,
Rinehart, and Winston. She has published articles and book reviews
on Victorian women writers. Her book Florence Nightingale,
part of the Twayne English Authors Series, focuses on Nightingale's
writing, including her travel letters and spiritual autobiography.
View editorial contributors
Brian Kassof
received his PhD in Modern European History from the University
of California, Berkeley, with an emphasis on modern Russian history.
He was a recipient of a Woodrow Wilson Foundation Post-Doctoral
Fellowship in the Humanities, and has taught history and media
studies at the University of Virginia. He has published numerous
book reviews and presented papers at numerous academic conferences.
He is currently at work on a book-length project on book publishing
and the politics of knowledge in the Soviet Union.
View editorial contributors
Erika Kuhlman
is a Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Utah State
University. She earned her PhD from Washington State University
in American Studies in 1995. Her dissertation was published as
Petticoats and White Feathers: Gender, Race, the Progressive
Peace Movement, and the Debate over War, 1895-1919 by Greenwood
Press in 1997. Facts on File Inc. published her book A to
Z: Women in World History in August 2002.
View editorial contributors
Moira Maguire
has a PhD in European History from American University (2000)
and currently holds a Government of Ireland Post-Doctoral Fellowship
with the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. She has held
contract teaching positions at American University and NUI Maynooth,
and will again be lecturing at NUIM beginning in January 2003.
She has published articles on adoption and infanticide and is
completing the manuscript for her book, The Myth of Catholic
Ireland: Unmarried Motherhood, Infanticide, and Legitimacy in
the Twentieth Century.
View editorial contributors
Scott A.
Merriman is a doctoral candidate in Modern American History
at the University of Kentucky. He received the Dissertation Enhancement
Award for his text, which is on the Espionage and Sedition Acts
in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. His MA was from the University
of Cincinnati, and his BA was from the College of Wooster in Ohio.
He has published articles, essays, web site reviews, and book
reviews in over a dozen academic journals. In addition to his
past work as an adjunct professor, instructor, and guest lecturer,
Scott has presented conference papers on legal history, the interaction
of history and computing, and America during World War I at a
variety of academic conferences. After transforming his dissertation
into a book manuscript, Scott plans to work on another book project.
View editorial contributors
Ray Mescallado
is completing his PhD in English at the University of Iowa, where
he also received his MA. He earned a BA in English at the State
University of New York at Albany. He taught Rhetoric and English
for five years in Iowa, and also served as president of the University
of Iowa Asian American Coalition. Mr. Mescallado is an internationally
published expert on the American comic book industry. He has written
for such venues as The Comics Journal and Spain's
U, El Hijo de Urich, and was editor-in-chief at ComicsOne
Inc.
View editorial contributors
Timothy
Messer-Kruse , Associate Professor of Labor History at
the University of Toledo, received his doctorate from the University
of Wisconsin in 1994. He has published articles in The Wisconsin
Magazine of History, Labor History, Timeline,
and other publications. His study of nineteenth-century radicalism
and reform, The Yankee International: Marxism and the American
Reform Tradition, 1848-1876, was published by the University
of North Carolina Press. He is director of the Toledo's Attic
Virtual Museum, an Internet archive of local history resources
and information.
View editorial contributors
Colin D. Pearce
has a PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto
and has taught at Guelph, Wilfrid Laurier, Vermont, Bond, and
York universities as well as at Humber and Georgian Colleges.
He has published in the Canadian Journal of Political Science,
The Journal of the History of Ideas, Interpretation,
Clio, The Explicator, Quadrant, and
The Journal of Indo-Canadian Studies. His research interests
include philosophy, literature, politics, and history.
View editorial contributors
Nicolas Rosenthal
is a doctoral candidate in American history at the University
of California, Los Angeles. He received an MA and BA in history
from the University of Oregon, where his work focused on United
States, American Western, and American Indian history. Mr. Rosenthal
has taught, published, and presented on a number of historical
topics, especially pertaining to the experiences of ethnic minorities
in the United States. He is currently at work on a twentieth-century
history of American Indians in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
View editorial contributors
Kathleen
Ruppert holds a Master's degree in Modern European History
from the Catholic University of America. She is currently writing
her doctoral dissertation on the role of religion in the formation
of British imperial identity. Ms. Ruppert's major fields of study
include Modern Britain and Ireland, Modern European Intellectual
History, and Early Modern Europe.
View editorial contributors
Stephen A. Smoot, Professor of History at the University of Rio
Grande, has written on a wide range of topics, from a forty-page
work on habeas corpus focusing upon two American cases to the
impact of twentieth century philosophy on Nazi Germany. He has
also served as a correspondent for the Rising Sun Herald in Maryland,
contributing articles on various historical events. Educated at
Marshall University (M.A. in History) and the University of Delaware
(B.A. in History), he continues to work as a freelance writer
while teaching.
View editorial contributors
Larry A. Valero
is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, and
King's College, University of London. He received his doctorate
in the history of international relations from St. Catharine's
College, University of Cambridge. Dr. Valero is now Lecturer in
Intelligence and International History at the University of Salford,
Manchester, England.
View editorial contributors
James P. Weeks
is a Scholar in Residence at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum
Commission. He teaches history at Penn State, where he earned
his PhD in History. His book Gettysburg: Memory, Market, and
an American Shrine will be published in 2003 by Princeton
University Press. His articles on a variety of social and cultural
history topics have appeared in Pennsylvania History,
Pittsburgh History, Journal of American Culture,
Civil War Chronicles, American Heritage, Encyclopedia
of the Civil War, Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure
in America, and others. He has presented papers at national
and state historical association conferences, and served as a
Pennsylvania Humanities Council speaker from 1998 to 2002. James
began his career in history as an archivist at Case Western Reserve
University after earning an MLS degree at the University of Pittsburgh.
At present, he is revising an article for Civil War History:
A Journal of the Middle Period and conducting research for
another cultural study of the Civil War.
View editorial contributors
Gloria-Yvonne
is currently a PhD candidate in History at the University
of Illinois at Chicago Illinois. Her fields are African-American
History, West African History, U.S. History, and Women's Studies.
The title of her working dissertation is "Gendered Boundaries
and Race Leadership: Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) and the New
Deal."
View editorial contributors
Very Short Introductions - Author Profiles
John Arnold teaches history at the University of East Anglia, specializing in the medieval period and the philosophy of history.
Bernard Crick is Emeritus Professor of Politics, Birkbeck College, London. He is author of In Defence of Politics--hailed as a modern classic and in print since 1962. He is also author of the prize-winning George Orwell: A Life and of Essays on Citizenship, and, more recently, Crossing Borders. He was adviser on citizenship to the Department of Education from 1998 to 2001.
William Doyle has been Professor of Historical Studies at the University of Bristol since 1986, and is a Fellow of the British Academy. He is author of Origins of the French Revolution (3rd edition, 1999), The Oxford History of the French Revolution (1989), Venality. The Sale of Offices in eighteenth century France (1996), and Jansenism (2000).
Stephen Howe is Tutor in Politics at Ruskin College, Oxford. He is the author of numerous books and articles, and regularly contributes to the New Statesman and Independent.
Robert J. McMahon is Professor of History at the University of Florida, and President of the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations. Among his many acclaimed books are The Cold War on the Periphery: the United States, India, and Pakistan (1994), and The Limits of Empire: the US and Southeast Asia since World War II (1999). He has held visiting professorships in Britain and Ireland as well as in Asia and around the US. He received the Bernath article prize from SHAFR in 1989 and the Bernath lectureship in 1991.
Kevin Passmore is Lecturer in History at the University of Wales, Cardiff. His books include From Liberalism to Fascism: The Right in a French Province, Writing National Histories: Western Europe Since 1800, The French Right: A History, and Women, Gender and the Extreme Right in Europe, 1919-1945.
Ian Shaw is Lecturer in Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Liverpool. He is currently involved in fieldwork at the Gebel el-Asr gneiss quarrying region in Upper Egypt. His books include The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, and Exploring Ancient Egypt.
Harry Sidebottom is Lecturer in Ancient History at Merton College, Oxford, and part-time lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick. He has written for and contributed to many publications, including Classical Review, Journal of Roman Studies, and War and Society in the Roman World.
Stephen Smith is Professor of History at the University of Essex. He works on the social history of the Russian and Chinese revoltuions and is author of Red Petrograd: Revolution in the Factories, 1917-1918 (1983), and A Road is Made: Communism in Shanghai, 1920-27 (2000).
Charles Townshend is Professor of International History at Keele University. He has held fellowships at the National Humanities Centre and the Woodrow Wilson International Centre He is the author of The British Campaign in Ireland 1919-1921 (1975), Political Violence in Ireland (1983), Britain's Civil Wars: Counterinsurgency in the Twentieth Century (1986), Making the Peace: Public Order and Public Security in Modern Britain (1993), and Ireland: The Twentieth Century (1999).
