Worlds of History

Brian Regal, PhD

Professor for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine

Department of History

Kean University

HIST 1062

Be sure to familiarize yourself with your degree Curriculum Guide: check with your advisor or department.

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Some basics on the human experience to start with:

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• The Holocaust really happened
• Humans did land on the Moon
• The Earth is spherical not flat
• The American Civil War was about slavery
• Slaves were not treated well and did not fight for the Confederacy
• Ancient Alien / Extraterrestrials did not build the pyramids
• Vaccinations save lives
• Climate Change is real
• Nazis / Fascists are bad and they were not ‘socialists’
• There were no lost White Super Races in the past
• There were no human giants
• Evolution is real
• Immigrants are just fine

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Think like an historian:

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Primary and Secondary sources

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• Primary sources are original writings by or about historical subjects
• Secondary sources are texts written as an analysis of primary sources

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• Primary sources can be letters, diaries, original texts, government records: any type of writing

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• These sources are talking to you, but you have to listen

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• Don’t just read the words, LISTEN to them. Hear the sounds of the speech, hear the music of it.

How do historians do their job?:

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Study the past by studying texts and physical artifacts and data. Analyze and look for facts and meaning, though NOT ‘Truth.’

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The main question we ask? “What can we learn from this and how can we use that knowledge?”

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How do you READ a text?

What to look for:

• Subject
• Topic (the big picture)
• Argument (the specific picture)
• Details
• What is the author trying to tell you?

What do historians do anyway?

• Examine the past as a way of seeing connections and

explanations for the present, and a way of anticipating the future

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What do we teach in our classes?

• Reading and research skills
• Writing and communication skills
• Fact acquisition and analysis

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What do we use as raw material?

• Texts, texts, texts, and then some texts
• Original/primary sources as well as secondary
• Also, objects, artifacts, personal interviews, site examination
• There is no limit to what an historian will use as source material

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Historians fight evil doers!

We fight against lies, we fight against fake news, we make

the world a better place.

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The Popul Vuh: (The Book of the Community) Sacred book of the Maya

Written down by the Kʼicheʼ people of Central America around 1550CE, but which goes back much further as an oral tradition

The Hero Twins, Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, They get revenge on the underworld for killing their twin brothers. 

Lucy:

Australopithecus africanus

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3.2 mya

p.63

Cuneiform writing

Cuneiform writing

The Epic of Gilgamesh: written ca. 2700BC

p.75

Egyptian hieroglyphics : invented ca. 3100BC

Egyptian hieratic:

Who built the Pyramids of ancient Egypt? The Egyptians did: Duh…

Isis & Osiris

Turin Erotic Papyrus (1150 BCE)

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The first porn magazine?

p.320

Confucius (551-476 BC)

Kong Fuzi (Master Kong)

Five classical Confucian

elements:

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Ren (仁, Humanity)

Yi (義, Righteousness)

Li (禮, Propriety)

Zhi (智, Knowledge)

Xin (信, Integrity)

p.334 Map 7.3

Julius Caesar (100-44BC)

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE)

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Roman orator, writer, philosopher, and politician. Introduced such ideas as evidence, humanity, quality, and similar ideas into Western thought.

Friend of Julius Caesar but did not like Marc Antoni. Championed a return to Roman values during the civil war by the execution of Caesar and was executed himself as an enemy of the state.