Syllabus Contest and Database

Syllabus Contest
and Database

2010 Winners

2008 Winners

2006 Winners

The 2010 Contest

The H-German editors have once again solicited submissions of syllabi for the second biennial H-German Syllabus Contest. Our membership did not disappoint; we received nearly 50 syllabi for courses taught in varying disciplines and different educational systems. Indeed, we found that the categories we offered to be inadequate to the diversity of material submitted by H-German members. The syllabi ranged from overviews of German history to focused seminars on the Nazi period to a variety of more specialized topics including "Berlin," "Germans as Victims," and "The German Physiognomic Tradition." We heartily thank all those who allowed their syllabi to be included in the contest.

A committee of five judges -- all members of the H-German Advisory Committee, Dirk Moses, Karin Friedrich, Paul Steege, Andreas Daum and Annette Timm, -- had the pleasure of perusing the work of their colleagues. This was an intense and instructive process for the judges, all of whom have been inspired by the intellectual and pedagogical issues raised in these documents. The judges were particularly pleased as well to have the opportunity to view syllabi from interdisciplinary courses as well as those with a primarily literary approach. The submissions blended intellectual rigor and comprehensiveness, many containing an intriguing combination of primary documents and secondary sources, as well as impressively substantial bibliographies and inventive assignments. They also raised fascinating issues of what constitutes an elegant syllabus; is it best to be more detailed in assignments and readings or concise on themes. The following syllabi were chosen for best incorporating all these qualities.

The 2010 Contest Winners

General courses

Winner:

Elizabeth Heineman
University of Iowa

Germany since 1914

Honorable Mention:

Jeff Bowersox
University of Southern Mississippi

History of the German Lands in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries

Honorable Mention:

Quinn Slobodian
Wellsley College

Looking at the Three Postwar Germanies

The judges were impressed by the range and clear structure of Heineman’s syllabus. They had the same comments for Bowersox and Slobodian, noting that the former clearly defined his pedagogical goals and had a good balance in terms of workloads, while the latter had original assignments and excellent sources.

Seminars/Specific Topic Courses

This was by far the largest and most diverse category and the judges had a very difficult time narrowing down their choices. We hope,therefore, that our membership will excuse us for selecting only one winner out a a diverse and high-quality group of syllabi.

Winner:

Volker Benkert
Arizona State University

History, Memory and National Myths: Changing European Master Narratives After WWII

Honorable Mention:

Elizabeth Vlossak
Brock University

Weimar Germany

The judges were impressed that Benkert took a conceptually challenging topic and made it accessible to undergraduates without losing texture. They also found this to be a timely topic that showed the broader relevance of History as a discipline. The committee appreciated the combination of rigor and readings found in Vlossack’s syllabus.

Nazi Germany/Holocaust Courses

Winner:

Todd Weir
Queen’s University Belfast

Fascism and its Legacy in Germany: 1918 to 2005

Honorable Mention:

Astrid M. Eckert and Sander Gilman
Emory University

Nazi Medicine

Here again the judges had a difficult time coming to a decision. The judges thought that Weir’s syllabus represented the best of the British system; excellent questions and a long but well thought-out reading list. It was also very clear on course goals.

Interdisciplinary Courses

Winner:

Thomas O. Haakenson
Minneapolis College of Art and Design

The Grotesque

Honorable Mention:

Manuela Achilles
University of Virginia

Generation Green (Generation Green Guest Lecturers )

Honorable Mention:

Andrew Bergerson and K. Scott Baker
University of Missouri -- Kansas City

Introduction to German Studies

The committee also struggled to pick a clear winner in this category. The judges felt that Haakenson had taken a unique approach that was still focused with clearly articulated goals. The judges appreciated how hard Achilles and Bergerson/Baker worked to produce syllabi that do justice to the methods of multiple disciplines.

Graduate Courses

Winner:

Melissa Feinberg
Rutgers University

Readings in Modern European History

The judges felt this syllabus did a good job of combining traditional and innovative themes with a comprehensive reading list.

Interesting Assignments

2010

Mary Jo Maynes and Marynel Ryan van Zee
University of Minnesota

Explanation

Project 1 media and genres of documentation

Project 2 Walking the City
Project 3 Topographies of Gender

Project 4 Neues Bauen

For this study abroad course, Maynes asked students to complete on of four projects such as completing a walking tour of Berlin. The assignment contained background readings, primary sources, and guides to making it around Berlin. The committee felt this was a thoughtful way of approaching such courses.

The 2008 Contest Winners

General courses

Winner:

Jonathan Zatlin

Boston University

Germany 1914 to the Present

Honorable Mention:

Thomas Pegelow Kaplan

Davidson College

History of Germany in Global Context, 1871-1990

The judges were impressed by the range and quality of the readings used in Zatlin's syllabus and its combination of political, social and cultural history. Pegelow Kaplan's syllabus drew special mention from the judges because of its varied writing assignments and the clarity with which the larger research project was set out and its progress integrated into the semester schedule.

Seminars/Specific Topic Courses

This was by far the largest and most diverse category and the judges had a very difficult time narrowing down their choices. We hope, therefore, that our membership will excuse us for dividing the glory of the win into three:

Winner:

Julia Brüggemann

DePauw University

After Catastrophe: Germany and the Legacy of WWII

The judges found this course to be extremely timely, not only in terms of current events (such as ongoing debates about memory and memorialization in Germany) but also in terms of the recent flood of scholarship on these topics.

Winner:

Hoi-eun Kim

Texas A & M University

Medicine and Empire: Germany and Japan, 1868-1945

This comparative syllabus struck the judges as well described, and as having an obvious intrinsic appeal to students. The choice of readings, especially the inclusion of anthropology along with recent historical scholarship was of particular note.

Winner:

Dorothee Brantz

Technische Universität Berlin

1968: Year of Protest, Year of Change

The judges found this course to be extremely well conceived as well as timely. The syllabus demonstrated an impressive mastery of these various locations, and the judges felt the class would be excellent preparation for graduate students as well as advanced history students, since anyone wishing to explore this period will be forced to take this international approach.

The judges again wanted to draw particular note of the other entrants in this extremely diverse category (to be found in the syllabus database). A number of the syllabi include remarkable bibliographies. Moreover, an impressive number of the syllabi had a predominantly literary focus, which the judges found instructive.

Nazi Germany/Holocaust Courses

Winner:

Thomas Kühne

Clark University

The Holocaust Perpetrators

Honorable Mention:

Thomas Weber

School of Historical Studies,
Institute for Advanced Study

The Holocaust - Ghetto Life in its Historical Context

Here again the judges had a difficult time coming to a decision. Kuehne's syllabus was deemed particularly noteworthy for its interesting approach, departing from the now conventional breakdown of perpetrator/victim/bystander by focusing on just one of these terms. The readings are commensurately varied and provocative. Weber's syllabus offered a challenging and constructive approach to teaching ‘Holocaust’: giving such prominence to the history of the ghetto enables & encourages attention to the contingencies and the daily lives of people & the problems of survival in an unknown environment. The syllabus was very well set up with well-chosen, wide-ranging readings and excellent questions built in week by week. The judges also wanted to recognize that in many of the institutions where our members teach (particularly those in the United States), classes on these topics draw a broader selection of students, many of whom will have little or no background in the subject. The judges thus wanted to recognize the syllabus of Thomas Adam, which, in their opinion, skillfully introduced a wide variety of ways of thinking about National Socialism that would engage both specialists and non-specialists.

Graduate Courses

Winner:

Astrid Eckert

Emory University

Writing History, Fighting History. Controversies in German Historiography after 1945

Astrid Eckert's syllabus is a clearly structured seminar with a well researched range of readings. The judges found it a scholarly syllabus which offers a very firm grounding in recent German historiography, absolutely ideal for graduates going on to teach the field.

Winner:

Brian Vick

University of Colorado

Readings in European Politics and Culture, 1860-1914

Brian Vick's more thematic seminar also impressed the judges with its breadth of readings. It, too, is a strong preparation for field work at the doctoral stage but also would provide outstanding instruction for graduate students not specializing in German history.

The 2006 Contest

In mid February 2006, the H-German editors solicited members to submit syllabi for the first biennial H-German Syllabus contest. We received approximately fifty syllabi for courses ranging from overviews of German history to focused seminars on the Nazi period to a variety of more eclectic topics such as “Music and Politics in Europe from Wagner to the 1960s” or “Franco-German Relations after 1945.” We thank all those who offered their syllabi for inclusion in the contest.

A committee of four judges – three members of the H-German Advisory Committee, Shelley Baranowski, Glenn Ehrstine, and Peter Fritzsche, and one H-German editor, Eve Duffy – happily perused the work of their colleagues. Many of the syllabi blended intellectual rigor, comprehensiveness, an engaging mix of interesting primary documents and secondary sources, as well as a certain inventiveness. The following syllabi were chosen for best incorporating all these qualities.

The 2006 Contest Winners

General courses

Winner:

Daniel Becker
Brandeis University

Modern Germany 1870-1990

Solid introduction to the field of modern Germany. Reviewers were most impressed with the writing assignments, which were imaginative, varied, and excellent. The research paper asked students to focus on major debates in the field; also of note is the final "course portfolio".

Seminars/Specific Topic Courses

Winner:

Astrid Eckert
Emory University

Germany after 1945: Reconstruction & Memory

Wonderfully centered on two seemingly opposing topics, divergence and convergence, this course is well thought out, imaginative, and an inspiring introduction to the period.

Winner:

David Tompkins
University of Tennessee

Music and Politics in Europe from Wagner to the 1960s

Although a traditional course in terms of its classical emphasis, this is nonetheless a refreshing take on a well-trodden theme, namely the history of 19th and 20th century Europe. Tomkins's linking of music and politics is extremely intriguing.

Winner:

Carine Germond
Yale University

Franco-German Relations after 1945

Germond's syllabus transcends the nation-state to focus on the Franco-German relationship, and her readings include very good use of on-line primary source materials.

Nazi Germany/Holocaust Courses

Winner:

Alexandra Garbarini
Williams College

The History of the Holocaust

This course considers victims, perpetrators, and the memory of the Holocaust. The reading list is very strong and the course gets students into the geography of the Holocaust.

Graduate Courses

Winner:

Margaret L. Anderson
University of California at Berkeley

History and Historiography of the German Problem

Incredibly thorough coverage of the field, which includes the Austrian Empire under the rubric of "Germany." Students can get a clear view of major historiographical debates just by reading through the syllabus. Detailed discussion not only of important themes, but of major journals; supplemental materials are extensive: an amazing introduction to the field. Although traditional in terms of its approach and definition of the field, this syllabus stands out for its comprehensiveness.

Syllabus Database

The editors have assembled the syllabus database in the hopes that it will serve as a useful resource to both newer and more established scholars alike, whether for developing new courses and techniques, tweaking established courses, or simply drawing on the collective pedagogical and intellectual expertise of fellow subscribers.

If you did not submit a syllabus for the contest, but would like us to add yours to the list, please forward the materials to Christopher Fischer cfischer@isugw.indstate.edu or contact the editor-on-duty at <H-German@H-NET.MSU.EDU>.

Please note: All syllabi are here by courtesy of the authors of the specific syllabi. They therefore remain the intellectual property of the authors and should not be redistributed or used for commercial purposes without the consent of the authors.

Click titles to jump to a specific section
	General Courses
	Seminar/Specific Topic Courses
	Nazi Germany/Holocaust Courses
	Interdisciplinary Courses
	Graduate Courses
	Interesting Assignments

General courses
2006	Margaret L. Anderson University of California at Berkeley	The Rise and Fall of the Second Reich
2006	Daniel Becker Brandeis University	Modern Germany 1870-1990
2006	Andrew Donson University of Massachusetts, Amherst	Modern German, 1789 to the present
2006	*Christopher Fischer Indiana State University	Germany, 1870 to the Present
2006	Bryan Ganaway Presbyterian College	Modern Germany
2006	Michael Hayse Stockton College of New Jersey	History of Modern Germany
2006	Dennis Klein Kean College	History of Germany, 1805 to the Present: The Interplay of Ideas and Power
2006	Jeffrey Myers Avila University	Germany: Nineteenth Century German: Twentieth Century
2006	William Patch Washington & Lee University	Germany from Unification to Reunification Course Website: Germany
2006	Catherine Plum Western New England College	History of Modern Germany 1848 - Present
2008	Kenneth C. Barnes University of Central Arkansas	Germany Since 1918
2008	Benita Blessing Ohio University	Twentieth Century Germany
2008	Laura M. Eidt University of Dallas	Deutsche Kultur und Geschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts
2008	Eagle Glassheim University of British Columbia	History of Modern Germany
2008	Thomas Pegelow Kaplan Davidson College	History of Germany in Global Context, 1871-1990
2008	Martin A. Ruehl Trinity Hall (Cambridge University)	History and identity in Germany, 1750 to the present
2008	Lisa Stallbaumer-Beishline Bloomsburg University	Twentieth Century German History
2008	Brian Vick University of Colorado	Modern German History since 1849
2008	Jonathan Zatlin Boston University	Germany 1914 to the Present
2010	Jeff Bowersox University of Southern Mississippi	History of the German Lands in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries
2010	Elun Gabriel St. Lawrence University	Modern German History
2010	Robert Goodrich Northern Michigan University	Early Modern Europe
2010	J. Laurence Hare University of Arkansas	Postwar Germany
2010	Elizabeth Heineman University of Iowa	Germany since 1914
2010	Maria Mitchell Franklin & Marshall College	Modern Germany
2010	Brendan Karch Harvard University	Order and Conquest: Modern Central Europe
2010	Christian Lieb, University of Victoria	Imperial Germany,1870–1918
2010	Stephen J. Scala Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies	The Two Germanys and the Cold War
2010	Quinn Slobodian Wellsley College	Looking at the Three Postwar Germanies
2010	Edith Sheffer Stanford University	Germany and the Two World Wars
2010	Aeleah Soine Macalester College	German History Reformation to Unification
2010	Aeleah Soine Macalester College	Modern Germany
2010	Mark R. Stoneman George Mason University	Modern Germany
2010	Lisa Stallbaumer Beishline Bloomsburg University	Twentieth Century German History
2010	Guillaume de Syon Albright College	Modern Germany

Seminars/Specific Topic Courses
2006	*Susan Boettcher University of Texas at Austin	Europe in the Age of Reformation Martin Luther in History and Memory
2006	Andrew Donson University of Massachusetts, Amherst	Nineteenth-Century German Thought The Weimar Republic
2006	Astrid Eckert Emory University	Germany after 1945: Reconstruction & Memory
2006	Alexandra Garbarini Williams College	Before the Deluge: Paris and Berlin in the Interwar Years
2006	Carine Germond Yale University	Franco-German Relations after 1945
2006	Ronald Granieri University of Pennsylvania	The German Century, 1890-1990
2006	Jeremy King Mount Holyoke College	From Habsburg to Hitler: Bohemian Politics,1848-1948
2006	Dennis B. Klein Kean College	Weimar Germany: The New World of Mass Culture and Chronic Conflict
2006	Jonathon Levy Hebrew University	From Weimar to the Third Reich, 1918 – 1939
2006	Harold Marcuse Univ. of California at Santa Barbara	Germany since 1945: Dealing with Legacies of Dictatorship Course Weblink: History 133c
2006	Patricia Mazón State University of New York at Buffalo	Topics in Modern German History
2006	*M. E. Menninger Texas State University at San Marcos	Sex, Drugs and Cabaret: Europe, 1880-1914
2006	Catherine Plum Western New England College	East German Society & Culture, 1949-1989
2006	Timothy Pursell University of Alaska Fairbanks	Modern Germany
2006	Ian Reifowitz SUNY Empire State	The Vienna of Hitler and Freud
2006	Adam Seipp Texas A&M University	War and European Society in the Twentieth Century
2006	David Tompkins University of Tennessee	Music and Politics in Europe from Wagner to the 1960s
2006	Liliane Weissberg University of Pennsylvania	Freud: The Invention of Psychoanalysis
2008	Manuela Achilles University of Virginia	Neighbors and Enemies in Modern Germany
2008	Nina Berman Ohio State University	Germans in Africa
2008	Daniela Blei Stanford University	From the Constitution to the Cabaret: Art and Politics in the Weimar Republic
2008	Richard Bodek College of Charleston	The Cultural History of the Germany: Outsiders from the Kaiserreich to the Thir d Reich
2008	Susan Boettcher** University of Texas, Austin	Jews and Judaism since 1492
2008	Dorothee Brantz Technische Universität Berlin	1968: Year of Protest, Year of Change
2008	Dorothee Brantz Technische Universität Berlin	Stadtwahrnehmung und städtisches Selbstverständnis Zur Geschichte der Straße
2008	Julia Brüggemann DePauw University	After Catastrohe: Germany and the Legacy of World War II
2008	Brendan Fay Indiana University	Beethoven: Napoleon to the Nazis, 1810-1989
2008	Peter Hess University of Texas at Austin	Switzerland and Europe: Integration or Isolation?
2008	Hoi-eun Kim Texas A & M University	Medicine and Empire: Germany and Japan, 1868-1945
2008	Lynn M. Kutch Kutztown University	Women's Representation of World War II and the Holocaust
2008	Michael Mackenzie DePauw University	Art and Literature in Paris and Berlin
2008	Edward Mathieu Beloit College	Fascism
2008	James Palmitessa Western Michigan University	The Thirty Years War
2008	Brian Puaca Christopher Newport University	Remembering World War II in European Cinema
2008	Claudia Pummer University of Iowa	German Cinema: From Division to Post-Unification
2008	Peter J. Ramberg Truman State University	Science in Germany, 1800-1945
2008	Christian Rogowski Amherst College	Comedy and Humor
2008	Christian Rogowski Amherst College	Popular Cinema
2008	Anne Rothe Wayne State University	Children and Childhood in 19th- & 20th-Century German Culture
2008	Martin A. Ruehl Trinity Hall (Cambridge University)	Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment in Modern European Thought
2008	Martin A. Ruehl Trinity Hall (Cambridge University)	European Fascism, 1919 to the Present
2008	Greg Shealy University of Wisconsin, Madison	Germany in the Long Nineteenth Century
2008	Todd Weir Queen's University Belfast	Critic or Prophet? The Intellectual in Modern Germany
2008	Jonathan Zatlin Boston University	The Historian's Craft: Twentieth-Century Germany
2008	Jonathan Zatlin Boston University	Jews in Modern German History
2010	Kit Belgum University of Texas at Austin	German Nationalisms
2010	Volker Benkert Arizona State University	Masternarratives
2010	Dennis Crockett Whitman College	German Visual Culture
2010	Melissa Feinberg Rutgers University	The Modern Girl
2010	Katharina Matro Stanford University	Berlin Divided City
2010	Mirko M. Hall Converse College	German Intellectual History
2010	Daniel H. Magilow University of Tennessee – Knoxville	Nation, Race, Ethnicity: Germans as Victims?
2010	Daniel H. Magilow University of Tennessee – Knoxville	The German Physiognomic Tradition
2010	Sonja L. Merkel University of Wisconsin	Jews in Germany
2010	Martin A. Ruehl Trinity Hall	Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment
2010	Paul Rutschmann University Texas at Arlington	Weimar: The Golden Twenties
2010	Elizabeth Vlossak Brock University	Weimar Germany
2010	Alice Weinreb Northwestern University	From World War to Cold War: The Politics and Cultures of Occupied Germany 1945-1949
2010	Cecile Zorach Franklin & Marshall College	Germany Concealed & Revealed

Nazi Germany/Holocaust Courses
2006	Andrew Donson University of Massachusetts, Amherst	The Holocaust as History Nazi Germany
2006	*Christopher Fischer Indiana State University	Nazi Germany and the Holocaust
2006	Alexandra Garbarini Williams College	The History of the Holocaust
2006	Bonnie Harris UC Santa Barbara	Holocaust Memorialization: National & International Perspectives
2006	Michael Hayse Stockton College of New Jersey	History of the Third Reich
2006	Christopher R. Jackson San Francisco State University	The Holocaust and Genocide German National Socialism
2006	Jeremy King Mount Holyoke College	The Holocaust in History
2006	Dennis B. Klein Kean College	The Nazi Era: The Politics and Culture of Totalitarianism
2006	Arnold Krammer Texas A&M University	Nazi Germany
2006	Harold Marcuse Univ. of California at Santa Barbara	Portraying the Perpetrators (Lower Division) Course Weblink: Portraying Readings on the Holocaust (Upper Lower Division)
2006	*M. E. Menninger Texas State University at San Marcos	Germany and National Socialism
2006	Nancy Nenno/Richard Bodek College of Charleston	From Weimar to Hitler: Modern Culture -- Degenerate Culture -- Nazi Culture
2006	Sara Sewell Virginia Wesleyan College	The Holocaust
2008	Thomas Adam University of Texas-Arlington	Hitler: History and Image
2008	David Brenner	Die Darstellung des Holocaust im Film – Representing the Holocaust in Film
2008	Thomas Kuehne Clark University	The Holocaust Perpetrators
2008	Erin McGlothlin Washington University in St. Louis	Children in the Shadow of the Swastika
2008	Eli Rubin Western Michigan University	The Holocaust in History and Memory
2008	Lisa Stallbaumer-Beishline Bloomsburg University	History of the Holocaust
2008	Lisa Stallbaumer-Beishline Bloomsburg University	Hitler and the Third Reich
2008	Thomas Weber School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study	The Holocaust - Ghetto Life in its Historical Context
2008	Richard Wetzell German Historical Institute, DC/Georgetown University	Nazi Germany
2010	Matt Bera York University	Germany and the Nazi Past
2010	Jeff Bowersox University of Southern Mississippi	Nazi Germany
2010	Astrid M. Eckert and Sander Gilman Emory University	Nazi Medicine
2010	K. Hannah Holtschneider New College	Visual Representation of the Holocaust
2010	Martin A. Ruehl Trinity Hall	European Fascism
2010	Roland Spickermann University of Texas – Permian Basin	The Third Reich and the Holocaust
2010	Edith Shaked Pima Community College	The Holocaust
2010	Todd Weir Queen’s University Belfast	Fascism and its Legacy in Germany: 1918 to 2005
2010	Jonathan Wiesen Southern Illinois University	The Holocaust in History and Literature

Interdisciplinary Courses
2010	Manuela Achilles University of Virginia	Generation Green (Generation Green Guest Lectures)
2010	Kit Belgum University of Texas at Austin	German Travel Literature
2010	Andrew Bergerson and K. Scott Baker University of Missouri -- Kansas City	Introduction to German Studies
2010	Oliver Griffin, St. John Fisher College	Swastika on Celluloid
2010	Thomas O. Haakenson Minneapolis College of Art and Design	The Grotesque
2010	Christelle Le Faucheur University of Texas, Austin	German History through its Cinema

Graduate Courses

2006

Eric Anderson
Cooper-Hewitt/Parsons

Historicism and Decorative Arts Theory in Germany and Austria, 1851-1901

2006

Margaret L. Anderson
University of California at Berkeley

History and Historiography of the German Problem

2006

Bonnie Harris
San Diego State

Holocaust Memorialization: National & International Perspectives

2006

Harold Marcuse
Univ. of California at Santa Barbara

Readings on German History

2006

Patricia Mazón
State University of New York at Buffalo

Readings in 20th-Century German History

2008

Astrid Eckert

Emory University

Writing History, Fighting History. Controversies in German Historiography after 1945

2008

Erin McGlothlin

Washington University in St. Louis

Representing the Holocaust

2008

James Palmitessa

Western Michigan University

Readings in Central Europe (to 1378)

2008

James Palmitessa

Western Michigan University

Readings in Central Europe, 1378-1806

2008

Anne Rothe

Wayne State University

Memory, Trauma, and Holocaust Representation

2008

Brian Vick

University of Colorado

Readings in European Politics and Culture, 1860-1914

2010

Jeff Bowersox
University of Southern Mississippi

Nazi Germany

2010

Melissa Feinberg
Rutgers University

Readings in Modern European History

2010

Astrid Eckert

Emory University

Writing History, Fighting History. Controversies in German Historiography after 1945

Interesting Assignments
2010	Thomas O. Haakenson Minneapolis College of Art and Design	Project Kafka
2010	Mary Jo Maynes and Marynel Ryan van Zee University of Minnesota	Explanation Project 1 media and genres of documentation Project 2 Walking the City Project 3 Topographies of Gender Project 4 Neues Bauen
2010	Edith Sheffer Stanford University	Creating Lives

*The syllabi of H-German editors were not included in the contest.

Return to H-German homepage

The Rise and Fall of the Second Reich

Germany Since 1918

Children and Childhood in 19th- & 20th-Century German Culture

The Historian's Craft: Twentieth-Century Germany

Jews in Modern German History