Hocbigg - History
Contents
Summary
This roadmap provides a structured, self-paced curriculum equivalent to a 4-year undergraduate degree in History.
The program emphasizes critical thinking, primary source analysis, and historical interpretation, balancing chronological, regional, and thematic approaches.
This repository is organized into three 2 components:
- Core Curriculum (this page): the foundational knowledge of the field;
- Projects: support learning through practical application throughout the curriculum.
Process: Learners may work through the curriculum independently or collaboratively, and either sequentially or selectively.
- For simplicity, courses in the Core Curriculum are ordered according to their prerequisites.
- The Core Curriculum provides a shared foundation and is intended to be completed in full.
Practical work is integrated through the Projects section and may be undertaken alongside coursework.
Note: When there are courses or books that don't fit into the curriculum but are otherwise of high quality, they belong in extras/courses, extras/readings.
Communities
- Forums:
- Subreddits:
- Discord servers:
- Other:
- You can also interact through GitHub issues. If there is a problem with a course, or a change needs to be made to the curriculum, this is the place to start the conversation. Read more here.
-
Join our Discord server (for discussions around this and other curricula):
Curriculum
Foundations of Historical Study
| Subject | Book / Text | Course |
|---|---|---|
| Historical Thinking & Methods | From Reliable Sources – Howell & Prevenier (Archive.org) + (Supplement) The Pursuit of History – John Tosh (Archive.org) | |
| Working with Primary Sources | Fordham University Internet History Sourcebooks (Global) | National Archives (UK) – Using Primary Sources |
Global Chronological Survey
| Subject | Book / Text | Course |
|---|---|---|
| World History I: Ancient to 1500 | World History: Cultures, States, and Societies, Vol. 1 (Open Textbook) | CrashCourse World History (selected, chronological) |
| World History II: 1500 to Present | World History: Cultures, States, and Societies, Vol. 2 (Open Textbook) (Note: Vol. 2 not directly located as standalone open text; use Vol. 1 extension or related resources) | Open Yale Courses – Global History (No exact match; see Yale OYC broad history: https://oyc.yale.edu/history) |
Core Thematic Frameworks
| Subject | Book / Text | Course |
|---|---|---|
| Economic & Social History | Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction – Robert C. Allen | |
| Political Power, States, and War | A History of Warfare – John Keegan + Avalon Project (Yale Law School) | |
| Historiography & Historical Theory | The Historian’s Craft – Marc Bloch (Archive.org) + (supplement) E.H. Carr – What Is History? (Archive.org excerpts) | — |
Regional Depth Modules (Post-Survey)
| Subject | Book / Text | Course |
|---|---|---|
| Europe (Medieval to Modern) | Western Civilization: A Concise History (Open Minnesota; note: multi-volume open edition) | Yale OYC – European Civilization 1648–1945 |
| The Americas | American Yawp (Stanford / Open Access) | Yale OYC – The American Revolution |
| Africa & Middle East | Africans: The History of a Continent – John Iliffe (paid; authoritative) + (Supplement) A History of Africa – British Library Essays | Coursera – Archaeology and Heritage of Africa (Search Coursera for current availability) |
| Asia & the Pacific | East Asia in the World (Open Textbook) |
Cross-Cutting Global Themes
| Subject | Book / Text | Course |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental & Technological History | Something New Under the Sun – J.R. McNeill | Coursera – The Age of Sustainable Development |
| Gender, Culture, and Identity | Gender and the Politics of History – Joan Scott + (Supplement) OpenLearn – Women in Global History | FutureLearn – A Global History of Sex and Gender |
| Knowledge, Science, and Modernity | The Scientific Revolution – Steven Shapin | MIT OCW – Science, Technology, and Society |
Historical Research & Writing
| Subject | Book / Text | Course |
|---|---|---|
| Research Design and Writing | Writing History – William Kelleher Storey + (Supplement) The Princeton Guide to Historical Research – Schrag | Harvard Online – How to Write an Essay |