This course is designed to provide an overview of the nature
and course of human history.
Along the way, the student will have the opportunity to acquire
a superficial familiarity with most of the major civilizations of the world.
At the same time, the course will suggest some of the factors that have
affected and continue to affect the way societies work and people live.
By the end of the course it is hoped that each student will have
gained some sense of the cultural and historical roots of contemporary
human societies as well as an appreciation of the universal character
of human history.