INTD1031A-W25
The Great Pamphlets
The Great Pamphlets
Many courses are devoted to the great books of civilization, but historians increasingly wonder how many contemporaries really read them. Pamphlets, on the other hand, have consistently been among the most popular, persuasive, and political texts around. Emerging as a form of mass media in the European Reformation, the form has served the subversives of pre-revolutionary France and England, and been adopted by figures from Martin Luther to Simon Bolivar, Karl Marx, Rosa Luxembourg, and Upton Sinclair. We will examine the pamphlet as a form across genres (memoir, manifesto, essay, exposé, etc.) and historical contexts, reading specific examples as a way into broader questions of literacy, rebellion, and authority: crucial vehicles for both revolutionary and reactionary ideas.
Many courses are devoted to the great books of civilization, but historians increasingly wonder how many contemporaries really read them. Pamphlets, on the other hand, have consistently been among the most popular, persuasive, and political texts around. Emerging as a form of mass media in the European Reformation, the form has served the subversives of pre-revolutionary France and England, and been adopted by figures from Martin Luther to Simon Bolivar, Karl Marx, Rosa Luxembourg, and Upton Sinclair. We will examine the pamphlet as a form across genres (memoir, manifesto, essay, exposé, etc.) and historical contexts, reading specific examples as a way into broader questions of literacy, rebellion, and authority: crucial vehicles for both revolutionary and reactionary ideas.
- Term:
- Winter 2025
- Location:
- Main
- Schedule:
- 10:30am-12:30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (Jan 6, 2025 to Jan 31, 2025)
- Type:
- Lecture
- Course Modality:
- In-Person
- Instructors:
- Ron Makleff
- Subject:
- Interdepartmental
- Department:
- Interdepartmental
- Division:
- Interdisciplinary
- Requirements Fulfilled:
- WTR
- Levels:
- Undergraduate
- Availability:
- View availability, prerequisites, and other requirements.
- Course Reference Number (CRN):
- 11578
- Subject Code:
- INTD
- Course Number:
- 1031
- Section Identifier:
- A