Few myths about the United States have had as much traction as the belief in the supposed insularity and anti-intellectualism of its national culture, and with...

Ideas in Motion: The International Dimensions of Postwar American Thought and Culture (HIST0833)

Few myths about the United States have had as much traction as the belief in the supposed insularity and anti-intellectualism of its national culture, and with so little basis in fact. This course seeks to challenge both claims: firstly, by exploring the way canonical texts of postwar American thought were a product of interactions with cosmopolitan, and especially transatlantic, intellectual traditions; and, secondly, by seeing the broad influence that public intellectuals had on US culture and society in the second half of the twentieth century.

In our seminars we will examine the exchange of ideas between European (and, occasionally, extra-European) thinkers and US public intellectuals, then explore the ways their arguments, ideas and insights fed into the wider conflicts and collaborations of everyday life in the postwar United States relating to questions such as the relationship between the individual and society, humans, technology and nature, ethics, and freedom.

Through this, students should expect not only to gain a better understanding of US intellectual history but also to situate that within a broader global context.

Untold Stories: Constructing Lives, Narratives and Experiences in Wartime East Asia (Dissertation) (HIST0617)

HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT|INTELLECTUAL HISTORY

This is the compulsory module for students on the MA History of Political Thought and Intellectual History degree programme.

Method and Practice in the History of Political Thought and Intellectual History (HIST0465)

This Special Subject explores the tension between order and disorder in the great cities of the late medieval Mediterranean world – Cairo and Milan,...

Between Order and Disorder: Cities in the Late Medieval Mediterranean World (Dissertation) (HIST0320)