Course method :  Lectures, with group discussions and class presentations. All lectures and presentations will be in English.

The main text books (available from the University Bookstore) will be :

An Illustrated History of Britain by David McDowall (Longman, 1989).

Britain In Close-Up by David McDowall (Longman, 2000)

Lots of other resources will be found on the shelves of Loyola Library (go and look in history, British literature, art and music). Otherwise, the Web is there for you. A few useful resources are listed in Brother Anthony's Links to Resources (especially the British Culture links) but there are many others. Click here for a map of Britain, statistics (Basic),(Official UK Government), (USA summary). See also the Norton Topics Online pages.

Grading: The two Reports and the two Exams (midterm and final) will have equal value. Other assignments may be given and will receive additional points.

If you have questions you may write emails to Brother Anthony or visit him in his office (X109)

Page numbers for the first 7 weeks refer to "An Illustrated History of Britain"

Week 1  (no class Friday - Mass) Introduction; Basic Geography

Week 2 (Pages 1 - 33) Early history, Celtic, Roman Britain

Week 3  (Pages 34 - 65)   Medieval England

Week 4  (no class Good Friday) (Pages 67 - 85) Renaissance and Reformation, Tudor England

Week 5  (no class Friday April 5) (Pages 87 - 129) 17th - 18th Century: Revolutions, Romanticism

Week 6  (Pages 131 - 150)  19th-Century Britain : Industry, Empire, Progress

Week 7    (Pages 151 - 184) Modern British History

Week 8   Mid-term Exams

Chapter numbers for the rest of the semester refer to "Britain in Close-Up"

Week 9  (Chapter 1) Britain today

Week 10 (Chapters 2 & 3) The Crown and the State

Week 11 (Chapters 4 & 5) Legal systems and local government

Week 12 (No class Friday) (Chapters 6 & 7) Work and society

Week 13 (Chapters 8 & 9) Culture and regions

Week 14 (Chapters 10 - 12) Foreign relations, education, media

Week 15  (Chapters 13 - 16) Religion, transport, environment, health

Final Exams: June 13 -

Assignments : Each student will prepare two illustrated reports:

The first will be a historical description of the development of one of the following aspects of British society and culture, from the earliest times to the present:
*  Monarchy, aristocracy and Parliament : the exercise of power and political life
*  Town and country : occupations, lifestyles, planning and varieties of housing
*  Education : how schools and universities developed; what was taught to whom and why at different periods
*  Family life : how people lived at home, when they married, the roles of father, mother, how children lived
*  Religion : the buildings and role of the Church(es) at different times. The growth of religious pluralism.
*  The legal and police systems
*  Artistic life : architecture, painting and music, as well as literature
*  Intellectual life : developments in philosophy, science, social thought
(The first report will be due on the first day of the Mid-term Exams)

The second report will cover one important aspect of contemporary Britain:
*  Political life
*  Economics of life in the United Kingdom today
*  The United Kingdom and Europe
*  The growth of and challenges facing multicultural Britain
*  The Welfare State
*  Education
*  Religion
*  The arts in Britain : drama, music, literature, cinema
*  The role of sport in British society
*  Major social issues today
            For this report each student will keep track of news developments about their chosen topic throughout the semester.  This will require students to read the news from Britain almost every day, using the BBC News, the Times, the Guardian, and the Yahoo UK headlines.
(The second report will be submitted on the day of the Final Exam)