Showing results by publisher "Learn25" in Americas

The American Revolutionary War has inspired best-selling books, iconic paintings, and hit Broadway musicals. More than 250 years after the “shot heard around the world” was fired in Concord, we remain fascinated by the causes and legacy of the Revolution. In 18 dynamic audio lectures, West Point history professor Robert McDonald leads you past the politics and battle tactics to explore the underlying ideas that sparked the Revolution.

Revered as a consummate statesman who cemented America’s place on the global stage, Franklin Delano Roosevelt affected tremendous change in the United States in course of his career. To understand his life is to understand how the nation claimed world leadership in what many call the American Century.

A captivating 24-lecture audio series on the US Constitution by award-winning law professor David L. Hudson Jr. Written more than 200 years ago, the Constitution remains the backbone of American government and an example of freedom and democracy the world over. Once called the “Miracle at Philadelphia,” it remains America’s vital governing force today. Your audio course will begin in the summer of 1787, as the Founding Fathers met to revise the Articles of Confederation, then explore the ratification process and James Madison’s championing of the Bill of Rights.

In the midst of poverty and oppression, liberation theology emerged in 20th-century Latin America as a beacon of hope. By thinking about their faith in innovative ways, believers wrestled with these profound social problems. Dramatic in its context and sweeping in its scope, liberation theology continues to offer fascinating ways to engage with issues such as inequality, violence, and ecological concerns. Now, Liberation Theology gives you the opportunity to understand its context and implications today.

Join Christopher Fee, co-editor of An Encyclopedia of American Myth, Legend, and Folklore, for an entertaining and revealing look at our nation’s folkloric imagination. In this compelling 24-lecture audio series, you’ll meet figures such as Daniel Boone and John Henry, and learn the stories of characters such as Water Jar Boy and the Woodcutter and the Fairy. Specters also abound, and you’ll encounter frightening figures ranging from the Headless Horseman to La Llorona.

More than ever, Americans are reclaiming our national identity based on the fundamental principles of America's founding. In this enlightening course, you will explore what defines us as Americans by looking at our founding documents: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. This is the course you always wish you had taken when you were an undergrad. An engaging and gifted teacher, Professor Jeffrey Sikkenga passionately explores the founding principles that make America a great nation.

The great American experiment is one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of civilization. How did America transform from a scrappy collection of British colonies into a global superpower? Through vivid accounts and insightful analysis, Prof. Brigham shows you that America’s ascent into world leadership was neither preordained nor accidental.

Not since the Civil War had the American national consciousness been as strained as it was by the conflict in Southeast Asia. Indeed, the controversies that the Vietnam War spurred on the home front are more familiar to many Americans than the policies and motives that guided the conflict. The History of the Vietnam War fills that gap. From a distance of 50 years, you will reexamine the war and its lessons. Throughout, Prof. Brigham sheds light on the United States and its place in the world today.

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior, and psychologists are actively involved in studying and understanding mental processes, including brain functions, and behavior. In fact, the field of psychology is considered a "Hub Science" with strong connections to the medical sciences, social sciences, and education. Human nature is a related concept but nevertheless a bit different, as it denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally.

George Washington came to be known as father of his country. In his role as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, George Washington defeated the British in the American Revolution and established the United States of America. Through his extraordinary military leadership, he guaranteed that the American Republic would move forward in its revolutionary experiment. So how was Washington able to win this seemingly unwinnable war? This compelling 15-lecture audio course answers this and many more questions about one of the most foundational figures in American history.

African American history began in the 16th century, with Africans being sold to European slave traders and transported across the Atlantic to the Thirteen Colonies. During Reconstruction, they gained citizenship and the right to vote, but due to White supremacy, they found themselves soon disenfranchised in the South. These circumstances only slowly changed due to participation in military conflicts of the United States, substantial migration out of the South, the elimination of legal racial segregation, and the civil rights movement.

The history of sports is also the history of power, politics and progress. From ancient origins to groundbreaking firsts, sometimes sports are history. It has been with us through every historical period - from the indigenous tribes of premodern America, through colonial societies, to the modern era of today. The study of sports has become an examination of how women, minorities, and ethnic and religious groups have influenced the American experience and how historical factors, such as gender, ethnicity, race, and religion, provide a more complete understanding of our common identity.

What would you like to know about the Supreme Court’s evolution, its immense impact, and its crucial role in democracy? Now is your chance to explore the law of the land with an acclaimed expert on the United States Constitution and the Supreme Court. In 24 stimulating lectures, you will survey the history of the Supreme Court from its inception through the present day. Your discussion stays rooted in the historical - not the legal or political.

Free speech lies at the heart of our American identity. The Founding Fathers enshrined this right in the first 45 words of the Bill of Rights. But what does the First Amendment really mean? How have views of its provisions evolved since 1791? In this 12-lecture audio course, First Amendment expert Professor David L. Hudson, Jr., leads you on a gripping tour of free speech law in the United States.

If you wish to understand the intellectual history and trajectory of American conservatism, you are sure to enjoy this brilliant course by one of America’s leading conservative scholars. Since the 1950s, economic conservatives have been in political alliance with social conservatives or traditionalists. That coalition has been a source of both strength and tension. Under the guidance of award-winning Professor Andrew E. Busch, you will first examine the distinctive features of economic and social conservatism before exploring the fascinating relationship between the two.

In this insightful history course, you will take a deeper look at Abraham Lincoln's powerful presidency and the war that shook America 150 years ago. Presented by award-winning professor Dan Monroe (PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), these lectures brim with fresh insights. Raised in Kentucky and Indiana by a father who did not value education, Lincoln had only one year of formal education. Rented out for day labor by his father, the young Lincoln gained insight into the injustices of slavery and would go on to become a self-educated lawyer.

Through 18 lively, rich lectures, you'll explore the origins of women's religious life, the often treacherous foundlngs of the first North American communities, the lives of pioneer nuns, ethnic and assimilation issues, tensions with clergy, Vatican II and its impacts, current circumstances, and much more.You will find this course surprising, fascinating, well researched, and enjoyable.

Join top moral theologian and award-winning professor Thomas Massaro, S.J., in exploring the fascinating intersection of personal faith and our work, family, and political lives. Most of the Founding Fathers seemed to assume that private religiosity could be sealed off neatly from the institutions and affairs of state, but history has demonstrated otherwise. Many of the crucial reforms our nation has undergone, from the abolition of slavery to the achievement of civil rights for all, have been inspired by religious sentiment and activism.

We highly recommend this course to all history lovers. Explore the extraordinary history of Catholicism in America from the discovery of the New World to our current age. Your guide, Professor R. Scott Appleby of the University of Notre Dame, is an amazingly erudite teacher and one of the leading historians of American Catholic history.

Drawing on the letters and records of individual soldiers, this compelling audio course invites you to explore the relationship between events on the battlefield and life on the home front. With more than 600,000 casualties, the Civil War cannot be understood by looking exclusively at famous figures like Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, and Ulysses S. Grant. As you’ll see, ordinary people — volunteer soldiers, runaway slaves, civilians in both the North and South — shaped the course of history.