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- Dates: Mondays, April 6, 13, 20 and 27
- Time: 1:00 - 2:00PM ET
- This four-lecture series explores two of Hollywood’s most iconic and revealing film genres: film noir and the western. At first glance, they could not be more different. Film noir plunges us into a shadowy urban world of crime, moral ambiguity, and disillusionment, while the western opens onto vast landscapes of frontier life, individualism, and mythic heroism. Yet both genres speak powerfully to the American experience. Film noir became a showcase for a remarkable generation of talent, including Humphrey Bogart, John Huston, Claire Trevor, Peter Lorre, and Sidney Greenstreet, whose performances brought to life a darker vision of modern America. At the same time, the western—shaped by figures such as John Wayne, John Ford, Henry Fonda, Dean Martin, Howard Hawks, Henry Hathaway, and Anthony Mann—offered a more expansive and often romantic vision of the nation’s past and its ideals. Together, these two genres reveal contrasting but complementary sides of American culture: cynicism and hope, confinement and freedom, corruption and justice. By examining their themes, styles, and enduring appeal, this course uncovers how film noir and the western became defining artistic expressions of the American imagination.
- Dates: Mondays, April 6, 13, 20 and 27
- Time: 10:30 - Noon ET
- This four-lecture series explores the dramatic American settlement of the Southwest, beginning with the founding of the Republic of Texas in 1836 and accelerating after the Mexican-American War of 1848. We will examine how American expansion transformed the region—displacing Spanish authority and Indigenous societies while unleashing the explosive growth of California during the Gold Rush. Along the way, new political cultures and regional identities emerged in places such as Texas and California, shaping the character of the American West. The course follows the earliest waves of migrants and trailblazers who pushed westward across difficult terrain, confronting unfamiliar landscapes, new opportunities, and frequent conflict with Native American peoples. Key figures such as Sam Houston, John C. Frémont, John Sutter, and Peter Hardeman Burnett will help illuminate the ambitions, struggles, and controversies that accompanied America’s rapid expansion into the Southwest before the Civil War.
- Dates: Fridays, April 3, 10, 17 & 24
- Time: 10:30 - Noon ET
- This four-lecture series explores the Romanov dynasty from the death of Czar Peter the Great to the height of Russian power in Europe during the reign of Alexander I. In the remarkable century that followed Peter’s death, Russia was ruled by an extraordinary succession of empresses—including Catherine I, Anna, Elizabeth, and the formidable Catherine the Great—who expanded Russian territory, strengthened the power of the crown, and helped propel the empire onto the center stage of European politics. The course culminates with Alexander I’s dramatic struggle against Napoleon Bonaparte and Russia’s decisive role in shaping the post-Napoleonic order at the Congress of Vienna. Throughout the series we will examine the central dilemma confronting every Romanov ruler: how to use the immense powers of autocracy to modernize a vast empire that remained socially and economically backward—dominated by a deeply conservative nobility and sustained by the labor of millions of oppressed serfs.
- Dates: Thursdays, April 2, 9, 16 & 23
- Time: 10:30-Noon ET
- This four-lecture series explores the history of the modern Islamic Republic of Iran. It traces the country’s trajectory from the overthrow of the Shah in 1979 through decades of political upheaval, revolutionary ideology, war, and internal dissent, culminating in the wave of mass protests that began in 2009 and the conflict with the United States that erupted in 2026. The course examines the long and often tense relationship between Iran and the US, marked by periods of both cold and direct confrontation. Particular attention will be given to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, its support for militant proxy groups across the Middle East, and its role in international terrorism. Along the way, we will explore the influence of pivotal figures such as Ruhollah Khomeini, Ali Khamenei, and the politically resilient Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Finally, the series considers Iran’s uncertain future: the pressures for reform within Iranian society, the durability of the revolutionary regime, and the prospects for a more democratic Iran—one no longer defined by religious authoritarianism, repression, and international isolation.