Join celebrated UNC history professor Matthew Andrews to discover how sports have reflected various facets of American identity—both laudatory and troubling—throughout our nation’s history. Whether you love sports or find the American sports obsession confounding, this course will help you answer the fascinating question of why sports have mattered so much to this country. Although today’s sporting events bear little resemblance to the bloodsports of the early colonies, the passion with which Americans play and watch sports remains alive and well. Delve into the history of American sports to better understand the larger themes and controversies in this nation’s past in these 30 captivating lectures. As you explore stories of races won, touchdowns scored, and players rounding the bases, you’ll also learn about sports’ class and ethnic origins; racial prejudice, exclusion, and integration in sport and society; athleticism and the evolving ideas about masculinity and womanhood; the role of sport in the promotion of a vigorous national identity; and the use of sporting arenas as spaces to both legitimize and protest the political order. By the end of the course, you will know more about the role of sports in American history, have a keen grasp on the general narrative and major figures in US sport history, and view contemporary sports in a new way. As you will see, sports are not mere games—they are significant cultural events in which Americans express and contest ideas about race, class, gender, and other important markers of identity.
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HISTORIA
What causes wars? How are they fought, and why do they ultimately end? Join West Point Chief of Military History Bryan Gibby to learn how factors such as politics, economics, ideology, geography, and technology have influenced military conflict. This 18-lecture audio course covers the evolution of warfare from its Mediterranean origins to the industrial-era wars that formed modern Europe and the United States. Rather than merely telling war stories, these lectures provoke critical thinking to help you understand the origins of war and its resolution. Your exploration begins with the ancient Greek and Roman wars of the Middle Ages and Renaissance and the ensuing Military Revolution of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Thirty Years War that followed devastated European societies and paved the way for the ancién regime of enlightened despots. Moving on to the 18th century, the era of limited warfare ultimately gave way to the strategies of domination embodied by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Next, you’ll address the evolution of warfare and its role in the formation of the United States and learn how the wars with Mexico and the American Civil War show the impact of industrialization, nationalism, and technology on modern warfare. Last, you’ll explore the wars of Italian and German unification that set the stage for the world’s most destructive conflicts of the twentieth century. *Disclaimer: This publication was privately produced and is not the product of an official of the United States Army acting in an official capacity. The contents of this publication, including words, images, and opinions, are unofficial and not to be considered as the official views of the the United States Military Academy, United States Army, or Department of Defense. Neither this publication nor its content are endorsed by the United States Military Academy, United States Army, or Department of Defense."
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HISTORIA
No civilization is so intertwined with the history of Christianity, and the greater Western world, as Rome. Now, you are invited to explore ancient Rome's legacy with award-winning professor and prolific author Christopher M. Bellitto. In this fascinating audio course on the Roman monarchy, republic, and empire, you will explore the essentials of Roman civilization: the creation of a city at the center of world history, its political legacy, its architectural and cultural achievements, its treatment of women and slaves, and its tragic flaws. You will begin by placing ancient Rome in world history by looking at its origins and contexts in terms of geography and chronology. You will then explore the overlooked monarchy that ran for over two centuries until it was replaced by a republic that slowly took over the Mediterranean for 500 years. You will follow Rome as it defeated Carthage in three Punic Wars, facing challengers like Hannibal. As you travel from the Republic to the Empire to Rome's eventual ""fall,"" you will encounter such infamous figures as Julius Caesar, Octavian, Marc Antony, Cleopatra, Caligula, and Nero. You will see how paganism, Judaism, and Christianity interacted, often violently, and how Christianity transformed a stumbling empire. Finally, you will ask whether Rome truly fell at all.