- Social Science Home
- HFCC Courses on
Middle East Topics - History: The 'America
at War' Series - The World Religion Series
- Social Science Faculty
- Social Science Clubs
- Special Events
- Contact the Social
Science Department
The "America at War" Series
HIST 236 – 99
The American Civil War
Winter 2010: Register for section 191447
HIST 236 is a 100% online course that is taught in both the 16-week and 7-week semester formats. While HIST 236 focuses on the American Civil War, life in the antebellum South and North, President Abraham Lincoln, reconstruction, and the legacy of the war.
There are three texts featured in HIST 236. The first, Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction, by Michael Perman, provides the historical “backbone” for the course through a chronological series of summaries, primary source excerpts, and scholarly essays. The second text, titled This Terrible War by Michael Fellman, presents a compelling narrative of events starting with the issue of slavery in the American republic of the 18th century through the 50th and 75th Gettysburg reunions and the development of the Lost Cause thesis. The third text, Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America by William Gienapp, is a biography that emphasizes President Lincoln and his growth as Chief Executive throughout the Civil War.
Using these texts, students are challenged through weekly readings that are organized around a specific chronological era to write several essays and to participate in Discussion Board activities. All course activities are organized into packets, which contain all related learning activities for any particular week. The essays serve to reinforce concepts found in the readings, while the Discussion Board allows students to exchange ideas with their classmates regarding controversial issues relevant to specific chapters in the course.
Each week’s work also contains a variety of other materials, such as links to internet-based sites relevant to the topic, maps, pictures, glossaries, quotations, and films relating to the subject as well. The links provided on the left hand side of this screen allow students to access all of the information and resources that are built into the course. These resources also include the course syllabus, a chat room, and a course email system that allows students to communicate with the instructor at any time.