Historical Themes by Period

To aid my students in studying history, I have laid out seven different historical periods (from the Renaissance to the present). Within each of these specific themes are identified. While the past can be divided up differently, and such themes are open to argument, I want my students to have these as starting points, to give them a sense of literacy about the past that they can go on to refine or challenge.

Renaissance (14th-17th centuries)

1. "Ad fontes": Back to the sources
2. "What a piece of work is man": Humanism
3. "Brave New Worlds": Voyages and Narratives of Discovery
4. The Printing Press
5. "Plough Boys and Bibles": The Reformation
6. "Sprezzatura": Court Life and the Renaissance Man/Woman

(For detail on these themes, see this overview or these presentation slides)

Reformation (16th-17th centuries)

1. Reform
2. By Faith Alone 
3. God’s Word
4. Protest and Persecution 
5. Piety and Devotion
6. Christian Humanism 

(For detail on these themes, see this overview or these presentation slides)

Enlightenment (17th-18th centuries)

1. Authority & Liberty
2. A Rational World
1. Epistemology
2. Method
3. Systems
3. Enlightenment Values
1. Toleration
2. Human Rights
3. Progress
4. Nature
5. The Public Sphere
1. The Republic of Letters
2. Freedom of Speech

(For detail on these themes, see this overview or these presentation slides)

Romanticism (18th-19th centuries)

1. Romanticism as Reaction
2. Feeling and Imagination
3. Individualism
4. Nature
5. The Arts and the Artist
6. The Faraway and Fantastic
7. The Gothic

(For detail on these themes, see this overview or presentation slides)

Empire and Industry (mid-late 19th century)

1. Ideologies in Tension
1. Liberalism and Conservatism
2. Capitalism and Marxism/Socialism
3. Nationalism and Imperialism
2. Science in Society
1. Industrialization
2. Theory of Evolution
3. Social Science

(For detail on these themes, see this overview or presentation slides)

Modernism (20th century)

1. System Failures:
1. Political systems (wars, democracy, fascism, communism)
2. Technology
3. Liberalism
4. Free markets
5. Morality
2. Change / Experimentation
1. Modernism in Literature & Art
2. Political Experiments
3. Science as Disruptive
4. Social Movements
5. Counter-Culture
3. Culture at Scale
1. Material Goods
2. Mass Media
3. Globalism
4. The Information Age
1. Computers and Information Technology
2. A Knowledge Economy
3. Communication
4. Cybernetics

(For detail on these themes, see this overview or presentation slides)

The Digital Age (21st century)

1. Universality / Individuality
2. Control / Openness
3. Carrier / Content
4. The Network / The Unit
5. Design Thinking

(For detail on these themes, see this overview or presentation slides)