Thursday, March 27, 2008

Advice to Women: Be Independent

How do you explain the differences between this approach to the role of women and the one found in the selection by Elizabeth Sanford in the last chapter? What is the role, if any, of the artist in changing societal norms? What developments in the social, political, and cultural histories of Europe in the period between the two documents may explain the differences you detect within them? Would Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, have been controversial when first performed, and if so, why? (page 694)

Monday, March 10, 2008

“Darwin and the Descent of Man”

What is Darwin's basic argument in The Descent of Man? Why did so many object to it when first published in 1871? In your opinion, were those objections justified? Was Darwin a product of his own times? If so, how? In your opinion, what forces in nineteenth-century European society conjoined to stimulate Darwin's thinking and publication on this subject? (page 643)

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Extra Credit Post: “Bismarck ‘Goads’ France into War”


What did Bismarck do the Ems telegraph? Were his editorial changes significant? If so, how? Why has it been almost universally claimed that Bismarck’s Ems dispatch changed the course of history? What does this affair tell us about Bismarck's motives and his concept of politics? (page 630)