ESP Biography

Witch hunting was hardly an unusual practice in early modern Europe. However, the long history of the practice cannot adequately explain America's Salem witch trials of the 1690s, in which over 200 people were accused of witchcraft. Exploring the history of Puritan life and belief in colonial America and using primary source evidence from the trials, we will seek to determine and understand the origins of the mass hysteria that produced one of the most infamous and bloody witch hunts in American history.

What does it mean to “play Indian”? How have Euro-Americans imagined their Native American neighbors since the colonial period and how have these imaginings helped construct America’s national identity? Seeking to address these questions through specific historical cases and open discussion, this course will allow students to explore the influence of Native American life and tradition on American identity, as well as consider the paradox of the simultaneous construction and destruction of Native people in American life inherent in the process.

Witch hunting was hardly an unusual practice in early modern Europe. However, the long history of the practice cannot adequately explain the Salem witch trials of the 1690s, in which over 200 people were accused of witchcraft. Exploring the history of Puritan life and belief in colonial America and using primary source evidence from the trials, we will seek to determine and understand the origins of the mass hysteria that produced one of the most infamous and bloody witch hunts in American history.

This course offers students the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the campus by offering a brief history of Stanford's founders, particularly paying attention the university's place in Gilded Age America. Plenty of intrigue for all as topics will include the unexpected loss of the Stanfords' only son, the Stanfords' engagement with spiritualism, the founding vision of Stanford's mission, and the murder of Mrs. Jane Stanford in 1905. You won't be able to look at the campus the same way again.

Few events in American history match the significance of the Civil War, a conflict that freed 4 million people held in bondage and left 750,000 men dead. Seeking to understand why the Civil War is so important to our history and why Americans seem to love their civil war, this seminar will explore the war from a range of perspectives, including those of Union and Confederate soldiers, African Americans, women, and Native Americans. Based on the documents these different groups left behind, as well as the histories they inspired, we will seek, as historians, to understand how the Civil War was experienced and commemorated.

Witch hunting was hardly an unusual practice in early modern Europe. However, the long history of the practice cannot adequately explain the Salem witch trials of the 1690s, in which over 200 people were accused of witchcraft. Exploring the history of Puritan life and belief in colonial America and using primary source evidence from the trials, we will seek to determine and understand the origins of the mass hysteria that produced one of the most infamous and bloody witch hunts in American history.

What makes a great POTUS? Can we ever definitively rank our 44 presidents? Maybe not, but we certainly will try. Come and discuss your favorite presidents and why you think so as we try to determine what qualities and abilities make great or terrible American heads of state.

An exploration of violence, power, resistance, and the labor that helped build American capitalism, this course will trace the changing nature of slavery in America from its 17th century roots to the Civil War and emancipation. The relationship between slavery and race, as well as the diversity of human experiences in bondage, will receive particular attention.