European Metropolis, 1870-1914

Catalog description

This course explores the political, cultural and intellectual history of the turn of the nineteenth century through the prism of several glittering European cities: Vienna, Berlin, Barcelona, Paris, and London. We examine the political and social landscape of these fin-de-siècle urban centers- including labor unrest in Barcelona, the devastating impact of the Franco-Prussian War on Paris, suffrage movements in London. The class grapples with the particular problems of urban life-from the new realms of consumer pleasure to the depths of the city dweller’s psyche. We approach the turn-of-the-century European metropolis through the eyes of Charles Baudelaire and Otto von Bismarck, Jack the Ripper and Sigmund Freud, the Victorian prostitute and the bourgeois housewife. The City at the turn of the century was the testing ground for modern life, from nationalism to art nouveau to industrialization. Satisfies Historical Thought requirement.