Course History

General Studies 145/146 changes in small ways each year, and periodically undergoes a review by the faculty that leads to more substantial changes. On this page you will find the reading lists for the course since Fall 2009. Works are listed in the order that they were read.

2018-2019

Fall Semester

Kate Brown, Plutopia
Avard Fairbanks, Marcus Whitman statue
A proper Monument Exhibition in Maxey Museum
W.E.B Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk
Primo Levi, The Periodic Table
Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower
The New Testament, NSRV, tellings of the parable of the sower from Matthew, Mark, and Luke
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Aime Cesaire, A Tempest
Plato, Apology and Crito
Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

Spring Semester

Karl Marx, Selected Writings
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers (film)
Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women
Malcolm X and Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Audre Lorde, The Black Unicorn
Pedro Almodóvar, All About my Mother (film)

2017-2018

Fall Semester

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Genesis
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
The Bhagavad-Gita
Plato, Symposium
Al Qur’an: A Contemporary Translation
W.E.B Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk
John Keats, Selected poems
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species: A Facsimile of the First Edition (1859)
Jim Dine, Carnival
Pedro Almodóvar, All About my Mother (film)

Spring Semester

Karl Marx, Selected Writings
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals
M. K. Gandhi: 'Hind Swaraj' and Other Writings Centenary Edition
Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers (film)
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Aimé Césaire, A Tempest
Werner Heisenberg, “The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory”
Jorge Luis Borges, Collected Fictions
Art Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History
Art Spiegelman, Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
Kate Brown, Plutopia
Toni Morrison, Beloved

2016-2017

Fall Semester

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Genesis
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
The Bhagavad-Gita
Plato, Symposium
Al Qur’an: A Contemporary Translation
W.E.B Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk
John Keats, Selected poems
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species: A Facsimile of the First Edition (1859)
Jim Dine, Carnival
Pedro Almodóvar, All About my Mother (film)

Spring Semester

Karl Marx, Selected Writings
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals
M. K. Gandhi: 'Hind Swaraj' and Other Writings Centenary Edition
Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers (film)
William Shakespeare, King Lear
Galileo, The Essential Galileo
Werner Heisenberg, “The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory”
Jorge Luis Borges, Collected Fictions
Art Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History
Art Spiegelman, Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
Kate Brown, Plutopia
Toni Morrison, Beloved

2015-2016

Fall Semester

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Jim Dine, Carnival
Genesis
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
The Bhagavad-Gita
Plato, Symposium
W.E.B Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk
John Keats, Lyric Poems
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species: A Facsimile of the First Edition (1859)
Sigmund Freud, The Uncanny
Pedro Almodóvar, All About my Mother (film)

Spring Semester

Karl Marx, Selected Writings
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals
M. K. Gandhi: 'Hind Swaraj' and Other Writings Centenary Edition
Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers (film)
William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Francis Bacon, The New Organon
Werner Heisenberg, “The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory”
Jorge Luis Borges, Collected Fictions
Art Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History
Art Spiegelman, Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World
Toni Morrison, Beloved

2014-2015

Fall Semester

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Genesis
The Qur’an
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
The Bhagavad-Gita
Plato, Symposium
Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies
W.E.B Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk
The Gospel According to Luke
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species: A Facsimile of the First Edition (1859)
John Keats, Lyric Poems
Pedro Almodóvar, All About my Mother (film)

Spring Semester

Karl Marx, Selected Writings
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals
M. K. Gandhi: 'Hind Swaraj' and Other Writings Centenary Edition
Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers (film)
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Francis Bacon, The New Organon
Werner Heisenberg, “The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory”
Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World
Art Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History
Art Spiegelman, Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
Toni Morrison, Beloved

2013-2014

Fall Semester

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Genesis
The Qur’an
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
The Bhagavad-Gita
Plato, Symposium
Augustine, Confessions
Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species: A Facsimile of the First Edition (1859)
John Keats, Lyric Poems
Pedro Almodóvar, All About my Mother (film)

Spring Semester

Karl Marx, Selected Writings
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals
M. K. Gandhi: 'Hind Swaraj' and Other Writings Centenary Edition
Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers (film)
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Francis Bacon, The New Organon
Werner Heisenberg, “The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory”
Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World
Art Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History
Art Spiegelman, Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
Toni Morrison, Beloved

2012-2013

Fall Semester

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species: A Facsimile of the First Edition (1859)
Genesis
The Qur’an
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
The Bhagavad-Gita
Plato, Symposium
Augustine, Confessions
Christine de Pizan, The Selected Writings of Christine de Pizan
Euripides, The Bacchae
John Keats, Lyric Poems
Pedro Almodóvar, All About my Mother (film)

Spring Semester

Karl Marx, Selected Writings
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals
M. K. Gandhi: 'Hind Swaraj' and Other Writings Centenary Edition
Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers (film)
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Aime Cesaire, A Tempest
Francis Bacon, The New Organon
Werner Heisenberg, “The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory”
Art Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History
Art Spiegelman, Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
Toni Morrison, Beloved
Bill McKibben, Eaarth: Making Life on a Tough New Planet

2011-2012

Fall Semester

Homer, Odyssey
The Bhagavad-Gita
Art Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History
Art Spiegelman, Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
Genesis
Exodus
Euripides, The Bacchae
The Gospel According to Luke
Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad
The Qur’an
Seneca, Selected Letters and "On the Private Life"
Karl Marx, Selected Writings
M. K. Gandhi, "Message of the Gita" and Selected Political Writings
Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers (film)
Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Spring Semester

Plato, Symposium
Augustine, Confessions
William Shakespeare, Othello
Galileo, "Letter to the Grand Dutchess Christina"
Descartes, Discourse on Method
Akira Kurosawa, Rashomon (film)
Frayn, Copenhagen
Paul's Epistle to the Romans
Miguel Leon-Portilla, The Broken Spears
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Poems, Protest, and a Dream
Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Toni Morrison, Beloved

2010-2011

Fall Semester

Homer, Odyssey
The Bhagavad-Gita
Art Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History
Art Spiegelman, Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
Genesis
Exodous
Euripides, The Bacchae
The Gospel According to Luke
Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad
The Qur’an
Seneca, Selected Letters and "On the Private Life"
Karl Marx, Selected Writings
M. K. Gandhi, "Message of the Gita" and Selected Political Writings
Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers (film)
Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Spring Semester

Plato, Symposium
Augustine, Confessions
William Shakespeare, Othello
Galileo, "Letter to the Grand Dutchess Christina"
Descartes, Discourse on Method
Akira Kurosawa, Rashomon (film)
Frayn, Copenhagen
Paul's Epistle to the Romans
Miguel Leon-Portilla, The Broken Spears
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Poems, Protest, and a Dream
Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Toni Morrison, Beloved

2009-2010

Fall Semester

The Bhagavad-Gita
Homer, Odyssey
Sappho, selected poems
Charlie Chaplin, City Lights (film)
Genesis
Euripides, The Bacchae
The Gospel According to Luke
Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad
The Qur’an
Cicero, On Duties
Machiavelli, The Prince
Rousseau, Origins of Inequality
Karl Marx, Selected Writings
M. K. Gandhi, "Message of the Gita" and Selected Political Writings
Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers (film)
Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Spring Semester

Plato, Symposium
Augustine, Confessions
William Shakespeare, Othello
Galileo, "Letter to the Grand Dutchess Christina"
Descartes, Discourse on Method
Akira Kurosawa, Rashomon (film)
Frayn, Copenhagen
Euripides, Madea
Exodous
Miguel Leon-Portilla, The Broken Spears
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Poems, Protest, and a Dream
Voltaire, Candide
Toni Morrison, Beloved