All Courses

In this course, Professor Seamus Perry (University of Oxford) explores Tennyson’s ‘Maud’ (1855), a narrative poem about man’s relationship with a sixteen-year old girl called Maud. As we move through the course, we think about the concepts of...

In this course, Dr Laura Gow explores the theory of perception known as direct realism. In the first module, we think about why perception is so important to us, before contrasting direct realism with another popular theory of perception: indirect...

In this course, Dr Jon Herbert (University of Keele) thinks about the office of the Presidency of the United States, focusing in particular on the extent of the president’s powers. We begin in the first module by thinking about how the Founding ...

In a special set of two lectures, Dr Elton Barker (Open University) explores the worlds of the Homeric epics, suggesting in particular that both the Iliad and the Odyssey question the use of violence as a means of conflict-resolution. In...

In this course, Professor Neville Morley (University of Bristol) explores Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, focusing on the key episodes in the text and thinking in particular about some of the historiographical issues that modern...

In this course, Professor Francis Pakes (University of Portsmouth) explores key issues in criminal psychology. In the first lecture, we think about Lombroso and the notion of the ‘born criminal’. In the second lecture, we discuss genetic...

In this course, Professor James Harris (University of Leeds) thinks about the Great Terror, Stalin’s campaign of political repression between 1936-38 that left more than 750,000 dead. In the first module, we think about the sources available for...

In this course, Professor John Morrill (University of Cambridge) thinks about the treatment of Catholics during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). The course begins by thinking about Elizabeth's own religious beliefs, focusing in particular at...

In this course, Dr Simon Potter (University of Bristol) explores the final decades of the British Empire, from the end of the Second World War in 1945 to Britain’s withdrawal of troops “East of Suez”, announced by Harold Wilson in...

In this course, Dr Kevin Waite (University of Durham) explores the Sectional Crisis of 1848-61, the period of rising tensions between the free states of the American North and the slave states of the American South, which eventually led to...

In this course, Prof. Robin Osborne (University of Cambridge) explores the development and operation of Athenian democracy. In the first half of the course, we outline the major landmarks in the development of development of democracy, from ...

In this course, Dr Tom Hooper (University of Cambridge) explores the democracy reforms of Cleisthenes in the early 6th century BC. We begin by thinking about the development of the Athenian constitution in the sixth century, including the reforms...

In this module, Dr Chris Whitton (University of Cambridge) explores Tacitus’ Histories, Book 1. In the first module, we provide an introduction to Tacitus and the Histories at a whole, before turning in the second and third modules to the figures...

In this course, Professor David Canter (University of Liverpool) provides an introduction to the field of forensic psychology and some of the most important practices and areas of research associated with it. In the first lecture, we start with a...