Most weeks there will be lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays and discussions on Fridays. Lectures are based on the assumption that the required reading has been done. Though at times lectures will reiterate reading assignments, most class presentations will expand upon certain topics and introduce new ones. Five sets of documents dealing with important problems of the period along with several films and the books will provide the basis for class discussion. Discussions will sometimes occur in class and sometimes electronically.

The conversation about books, films, and primary sources is a critical element of the course. Critical reading and reflection are important skills for individual students to take from courses; as well, the discourse among class members--both in class and on-line--will be vital to the intellectual development of all of us involved with the course.

Thus my expecation is that each member of the class participates in each discussion. This means that you read or watch the assigned text and reflect on it prior to the time set aside for discussion.

Because of the importance of this element of the course, each student will be graded for each discussion. Depending upon the quality of the contribution, the grade will range between A and B. A silent presence will be graded as a C, and an absence will be marked down as F.

There are examinations scheduled for February 6, March 10, and April 28 (Finals Week). Exams will be take-home (see below), and will weigh equally in determining the course grade. During the semester there will also be four short papers assigned, one based upon a documentary problem, one dealing with Ellen Ross' Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, a third examining the life and times of an English Prime Minister and the fourth a critical review of the film version of Hard Times (see Papers).

The course grade will be based upon the following determination:

		3 examinations	45%
		4 papers	40%
		discussion	15%

Required Texts:
			Kenneth O. Morgan, The Oxford History of Britain
			E. P. Thompson, Customs in Common
			Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837
			Charles Dickens, Hard Times
			Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918
			George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier

Document Packets (to be distributed in class):

		#1 The Evangelical Revival
		#2 Chartism
		#3 Down and Out in Victorian London
		#4 The Woman Question
		#5 The Home Front: London, 1940

Films:

• The Madness of King George
• Hard Times
• Number 17