The Ralph Janis Seminar in History

From the Puritans' "City on a Hill" to the American Revolution, Jefferson, and the Constitution. From slavery to the Civil War and from the Civil Rights movement to the Black Panthers. From the New Deal to the Cold War, women's rights to gender politics. These critical moments and movements in United States history made seminal contributions to American political thought—inspiring and nurturing the idea of our exceptionalism, our love affair with rights and liberal individualism, our persistent ambivalence about the authority of government, and our troubled history with racial domination.

In this class, we'll identify deep intellectual continuities as well as persistent points of contention. With engaging government professors Isaac Kramnick and Jason Frank, we'll explore—in lecture and discussion and through readings of influential texts—the political ideas and ideals of America itself.

This program is part of Cornell’s Adult University (CAU), which offers education vacations designed and led by Cornell faculty. Programs include off-campus travel adventures and weeklong on-campus summer courses open to all, including Cornell alumni, families, and friends.

For more information and to register, visit cau.cornell.edu, e-mail cauinfo@cornell.edu, or call 607.255.6260.