American Politics: Political Science 130

When: Tues 11:00 -12:00 (Seminar Room M20)

American Politics: Political Science 130

When: Tues 12:00 - 1:00 (Seminar Room M20)

American Politics: Political Science 130

When: Thurs 1:00 - 2:00 (Seminar Room M20)

American Politics: Political Science 130

When: Thurs 2:00 - 3:00 (Seminar Room M20)

This course introduces Penn undergraduate students to American politics and government. It touches such topics as U.S. constitutionalism, federalism, political participation, the Congress, the Presidency, public policy, and civil rights and civil liberties.  It is staffed mainly through Penn’s Robert A. Fox Leadership Program.  While there are no prerequisites, students who have not taken a high school American government or civics course might be well advised to do some additional, independent background reading in consultation with a recitation instructor.

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WRIT 049 309: Business or Pleasure?
When: Tues-Thurs 10:30 -12:00 (Seminar Room M30)

Human beings have always been on the move. Until fairly recently, though, traveling for pleasure was a luxury pastime open only to elites, and the idea of being a tourist is still often treated with scorn. So who were the first people to say openly that they wanted to travel for the sake of travel? How were they received by their families and peers? This writing seminar begins with the English gentleman's tour of the 16th-18th centuries, and goes on to look at the rise of mass tourism in Britain and the US, from the 19th century Cooks Tours, through the package tour boom of the 1950s and 60s, to the niche tourisms of today -- eco-tourism, sex tourism, etc. As a forum for writers, the course will ask students to pen short essays and weekly responses reflecting on what it has meant to travel in various historical periods (including our own). Students will produce a final portfolio, and form their own answers to a central question: is there a difference between a traveler and a tourist?

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WRIT 049 305: Winston Churchill, Writer and Historian

When: Tues-Thurs 1:30 – 3:00 (Seminar Room M30)

WRIT 049 302: Winston Churchill, Writer and Historian

When: Tues-Thurs 3:00 – 4:30 (Seminar Room M30)

Winston Churchill controlled how future generations perceived the history that he participated in by researching and writing the history himself. As we explore his political life, which encompassed the great events of the first half of the 20th century, we will consider what lessons his writing might hold for us in terms of developing voice and style and the ability to make persuasive arguments. Churchill is a particularly interesting person to study as a writer because he tailored his work to many different audiences using many different genres. He was a journalist, a biographer, an essayist, a writer of great speeches that rallied a nation in crisis, and an historian who wrote definitive accounts of the two world wars and the intervening period, which stand as monuments to his literary success. We will critique selected works from all of these categories and analyze interpretations of Churchill’s writing by other leading historians.