History with Tom Woods

Status update: I didn't expect to be in town today, but had to come back to grab a document stored on this laptop. While here, I started going down through the non-urgent e-mail and stumbled across a bit of "bacon" that seems meaty enough to need sharing...

Gentle Readers, Tom Woods is not paying me to share this curriculum outline. I'm sharing it because I think it will interest people who like to read history. These courses were designed specifically to focus on important parts of European and American history that have been deliberately excluded, as being too "controversial," from U.S. public school courses.

You can use this curriculum in either of two ways. You can use it as an outline for self-education via libraries and Amazon, which will take a lot longer, include more primary texts and details Woods leaves out, and very likely cost about as much as taking Woods' course, only spread out over several years. Or you can buy it, which is obviously what Woods hopes people will do, directly from him at www.libertyclassroom.com .

Several of this web site's correspondents might use these outlines to write our own books or teach our own courses, after twenty or fifty years of post-secondary self-education. But why reinvent the wheel? It's all in one place, summarized by a competent writer.

"
Here's my 90-lesson Government course, which crams 25 years of learning on my part into one semester.

You think this might give a student -- or you yourself -- a leg up in understanding the world?

1. Introduction
2. Natural Rights Theories: High Middle Ages to Late Scholastics
3. Natural Rights Theories: John Locke and Self-Ownership
4. Natural Rights Theories: Argumentation Ethics
5. Week 1 Review

6. Locke and Spooner on Consent
7. The Tale of the Slave
8. Human Rights and Property Rights
9. Negative Rights and Positive Rights
10. Week 2 Review

11. Critics of Liberalism: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the General Will
12. Critics of Liberalism: John Rawls and Egalitarianism
13. Critics of Liberalism: Thomas Nagel and Ronald Dworkin
14. Critics of Liberalism: G.A. Cohen
15. Week 3 Review

16. Public Goods
17. The Standard of Living
18. Poverty
19. Monopoly
20. Week 4 Review

21. Science
22. Inequality
23. Aid to Developing Countries
24. Discrimination
25. Week 5 Review

26. The Socialist Calculation Problem
27. Working Conditions
28. Child Labor
29. Labor and Unions
30. Week 6 Review

31. Health Care
32. Antitrust
33. Farm Programs
34. War and the Economy
35. Week 7 Review

36. Business Cycles
37. Industrial Policy
38. Government, the Market, and the Environment
39. Prohibition
40. Week 8 Review

41. Taxation
42. Government Spending
43. The Welfare State: Theoretical Issues
44. The Welfare State: Practical Issues
45. Week 9 Review

46. Price Controls
47. Government and Money, Part I
48. Government and Money, Part II
49. Midterm Review
50. Week 10 Review

51. The Theory of the Modern State
52. American Federalism and the Compact Theory
53. Can Political Bodies Be Too Large?
54. Decentralization
55. Week 11 Review

56. Constitutionalism: Purpose
57. The American Case: Self-Government and the Tenth Amendment
58. The American Case: Progressives and the “Living, Breathing Document”
59. The American States and the Federal Government
60. Week 12 Review

61. Monarchy
62. Social Democracy
63. Fascism I
64. Fascism II
65. Week 13 Review

66. Marx I
67. Marx II
68. Communism I
69. Communism II
70. Week 14 Review

71. Miscellaneous Intervention: Postwar Africa
72. Public Choice I
73. Public Choice II
74. Miscellaneous Examples of Government Activity and Incentives
75. Week 15 Review

76. The Industrial Revolution
77. The New Deal I
78. The New Deal II
79. The Housing Bust of 2008
80. Week 16 Review

81. Are Voters Informed?
82. Is Political Representation Meaningful?
83. The Myth of the Rule of Law
84. The Incentives of Democracy
85. Week 17 Review

86. The Sweeping Critique: Robert LeFevre
87. The Sweeping Critique: Murray N. Rothbard
88. Case Study: The Old West
89. Economic Freedom of the World
90. Week 18 Review

Here's Western Civilization to 1492:

1. Introduction and Overview
2. Hebrew History I
3. Hebrew History II
4. Hebrew History III
5. Week 1 Review

6. Hebrew Religion and the Hebrew Contribution
7. Minoan Crete
8. Mycenaean Greece
9. Homer, The Iliad
10. Week 2 Review

11. Homer and Hesiod
12. Classical Greece: Overview
13. Pre-Socratics, I
14. Pre-Socratics, II
15. Week 3 Review

16. Socrates
17. Plato: Introduction and Overview
18. Plato’s Worldview
19. Plato and The Republic
20. Week 4 Review

21. Aristotle: The Philosopher
22. Aristotle’s Ethics
23. Aristotle’s Politics
24. Classical Greece: The Polis, Sparta
25. Week 5 Review

26. Classical Greece: The Polis, Athens
27. The Persian Wars
28. The Peloponnesian War
29. Herodotus and Thucydides
30. Week 6 Review

31. Greek Drama, I
32. Greek Drama, II
33. Classical Greece: Art
34. Greek Religion
35. Week 7 Review

36. Greece and Western Liberty
37. Alexander the Great
38. The Hellenistic World
39. Hellenistic Philosophy
40. Week 8 Review

41. Rome: Beginnings and Foundations
42. Struggle of the Orders
43. Expansion of Rome
44. Toward the Empire, I
45. Week 9 Review

46. Toward the Empire, II
47. Toward the Empire, III
48. The Augustan Settlement
49. Latin Literature: The Golden Age
50. Week 10 Review

51. The Silver Age of Latin Literature
52. Rome After Augustus
53. Second-Century Rome
54. Roman Art
55. Week 11 Review

56. Christianity: The Background
57. The Birth of Christianity, Part I
58. The Birth of Christianity, Part II
59. Early Christian Sources I: The New Testament
60. Week 12 Review

61. The Spread of Christianity
62. From the Underground Church to the Edict of Milan
63. Early Christian Texts II: Didache, Shepherd of Hermas, Apostolic Fathers, Apologists
64. The Development of Christianity I
65. Week 13 Review

66. The Development of Christianity II
67. Monasticism, Part I
68. Monasticism, Part II
69. The Church and Classical Culture I
70. Week 14 Review

71. The Church and Classical Culture II
72. Rome: Third-Century Crisis
73. Diocletian and Constantine
74. Rome and the Barbarians, Part I
75. Week 15 Review

76. Rome and the Barbarians, Part II
77. Rome: Significance
78. St. Augustine I
79. St. Augustine II
80. Week 16 Review

81. The Church and the Barbarians
82. Merovingians and Carolingians
83. The Papal-Frankish Alliance
84. Charlemagne
85. Week 17 Review

86. The Carolingian Renaissance
87. Christianity in England and Ireland
88. Christianity in Germany
89. Midterm Review
90. Week 18 Review

91. Islam
92. Byzantium I
93. Byzantium II
94. After Charlemagne
95. Week 19 Review

96. Ninth- and Tenth-Century Invasions
97. Feudalism and Manorialism
98. Medieval Art
99. England: William the Conqueror
100. Week 20 Review

101. The Gregorian Reform, Part I
102. The Gregorian Reform, Part II
103. The Church-State Struggle and Western Liberty
104. Christendom
105. Week 21 Review

106. The Great Schism
107. France: Capetians to Louis IX
108. The Medieval Church: Sacraments and Liturgy
109. The Medieval Church: Popular Piety
110. Week 22 Review

111. Crusades: Background
112. The First Crusade
113. Later Crusades
114. The End of the Crusades
115. Week 23 Review

116. The Albigensian Crusade
117. The Mendicant Orders
118. England: Magna Carta
119. France: Philip the Fair
120. Week 24 Review

121. The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century
122. The Rise of Universities
123. Scholastic Philosophy
124. Thomas Aquinas: Biography and Overview
125. Week 25 Review

126. Thomas Aquinas and the Quinque Viae
127. Thomas Aquinas and the Divine Attributes
128. Just War Theory
129. Later Scholasticism
130. Week 26 Review

131. The Cathedrals
132. The Rise of Towns
133. Economy in the High Middle Ages
134. The Medieval Contribution to Western Prosperity
135. Week 27 Review

136. The Holy Roman Empire I
137. The Holy Roman Empire II
138. Medieval Literature
139. Dante and the Divine Comedy
140. Week 28 Review

141. Philip IV vs. Boniface VIII
142. Marsilius of Padua and the Attack on Papal Power
143. The Avignon Papacy
144. Fourteenth-Century Crisis
145. Week 29 Review

146. England in the Fourteenth Century
147. France in the Fourteenth Century
148. The Hundred Years’ War
149. The Great Western Schism
150. Week 30 Review

151. The Fall of Byzantium
152. The Renaissance: Ideas
153. Petrarch and the Renaissance
154. Renaissance Humanism I
155. Week 31 Review

156. Renaissance Humanism II
157. Machiavelli
158. Renaissance Art I
159. Renaissance Art II
160. Week 32 Review

161. Renaissance Art III
162. Renaissance Art IV
163. The Northern Renaissance
164. The Renaissance Popes
165. Week 33 Review

166. Renaissance Italy: The Key Political Units, Part I
167. Renaissance Italy: The Key Political Units, Part II
168. Fifteenth-Century France
169. Fifteenth-Century England
170. Week 34 Review

171. The Holy Roman Empire to the Fifteenth Century
172. The Church on the Eve of Reform
173. Centralization in Spain
174. The Age of Discovery, Part I
175. Week 35 Review

176. The Age of Discovery, Part II
177. The Age of Discovery, Part III
178. Concluding Remarks
179. Preview of Western Civilization II
180. Week 36 Review

Here's Western Civilization from 1493:

1. Introduction
2. Review of Western Civilization to 1492
3. The Church on the Eve of the Reformation
4. The German Reformation, Part I
5. Week 1 Review

6. The German Reformation, Part II
7. The German Reformation, Part III
8. Other Protestant Figures
9. John Calvin
10. Week 2 Review

11. The English Reformation, Part I
12. The English Reformation, Part II
13. The Catholic Reformation, Part I
14. The Catholic Reformation, Part II
15. Week 3 Review

16. Sixteenth-Century Portraits: Charles V
17. Sixteenth-Century Portraits: Philip II
18. The French Wars of Religion
19. Sixteenth-Century Portraits: Elizabeth I
20. Week 4 Review

21. The “Eutopians”
22. The Thirty Years’ War
23. The English Civil War
24. The Levellers
25. Week 5 Review

26. Oliver Cromwell
27. The Glorious Revolution
28. John Locke, Part I
29. John Locke, Part II
30. Week 6 Review

31. France Before Louis XIV
32. Difficulties and Revolt in Spain
33. Constitutionalism
34. Absolutism
35. Week 7 Review

36. Mercantilism
37. Louis XIV, Part I
38. Louis XIV, Part II
39. The War of the Spanish Succession
40. Week 8 Review

41. The Hohenzollerns
42. The Habsburgs
43. Russia: Peter the Great
44. A Survey of Art
45. Week 9 Review

46. The Scientific Revolution, Part I
47. The Scientific Revolution, Part II
48. The Scientific Revolution, Part III
49. The Enlightenment, Part I
50. Week 10 Review

51. The Enlightenment, Part II
52. Adam Smith
53. Europe in the 18th Century, Part I
54. Europe in the 18th Century, Part II
55. Week 11 Review

56. Enlightened Absolutism
57. The American Revolution, Part I
58. The American Revolution, Part II
59. The American Revolution, Part III
60. Week 12 Review

61. The French Revolution, Part I
62. The French Revolution, Part II
63. The Reign of Terror
64. Napoleon, Part I
65. Week 13 Review

66. Napoleon, Part II
67. The American and French Revolutions Compared
68. Edmund Burke and the French Revolution
69. Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Women
70. Week 14 Review

71. The Industrial Revolution, Part I
72. The Industrial Revolution, Part II
73. Slavery and Its Abolition, Part I
74. Slavery and Its Abolition, Part II
75. Week 15 Review

76. What Was the Source of Western Prosperity?
77. The Congress of Vienna
78. The Conservative Reaction, 1815-1830
79. The Growth of State Education
80. Week 16 Review

81. Education Without the State: The Case of England
82. Liberalism, Part I
83. Liberalism, Part II
84. Liberalism, Part III
85. Week 17 Review

86. Liberalism, Part IV
87. Socialism
88. Neoclassicism
89. Romanticism
90. Week 18 Review

91. Midterm Review
92. The Revolutions of 1830
93. The Revolutions of 1848
94. Marxism, Part I
95. Week 19 Review

96. Marxism, Part II
97. Marxism, Part III
98. Marxism, Part IV
99. Naturalism
100. Week 20 Review

101. The Crimean War
102. The Unification of Italy
103. The Unification of Germany
104. The Second Industrial Revolution
105. Week 21 Review

106. Southeastern Europe: New States Emerge
107. France and England in the Late 19th Century
108. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia
109. Imperialism
110. Week 22 Review

111. Did The West Grow Rich Through Imperialism?
112. Modernism, Part I
113. Modernism, Part II
114. The Coming of World War I
115. Week 23 Review

116. World War I, Part I
117. World War I, Part II
118. World War I, Part III
119. The Paris Peace Conference
120. Week 24 Review

121. The Russian Revolution and Its Aftermath, Part I
122. The Russian Revolution and Its Aftermath, Part II
123. The Russian Revolution and Its Aftermath, Part III
124. The Russian Revolution and Its Aftermath, Part IV
125. Week 25 Review

126. The Broken World of the Interwar Period
127. Communists, Fascists, and Others
128. Nazis!
129. The 1930s and the Coming of the War in Europe
130. Week 26 Review

131. The Beginning of World War II
132. Axis Invasions in Southern and Western Europe
133. The United States as a Neutral
134. Global War: Barbarossa and Pearl Harbor
135. Week 27 Review

136. Total War Mobilization: Propaganda, Production, Transportation
137. Military Matters
138. The Final Solution and Other Mass Murders
139. Bombing and Mass Destruction
140. Week 28 Review

141. 1944: The Beginning of the End: Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, and More
142. Coordinating the Allied Effort: Allied Planning
143. January 1945: Barbarism on All Sides
144. The End of the War
145. Week 29 Review

146. The Axis in Ruins
147. The Nuremburg Trials
148. Origins of the Cold War
149. Two Power Blocks and Orwell’s 1984
150. Week 30 Review

151. The Economic Miracle
152. Decolonization
153. European Union and Cold War
154. The Cold War from the ’50s to the ’70s
155. Week 31 Review

156. Art and Architecture in the Twentieth Century
157. The World of the Sixties
158. The Middle East and Western Civilization to the Seventies
159. The Soviet Union from Brezhnev to Gorbachev
160. Week 32 Review

161. The Collapse of the Soviet Empire
162. Migration, Economics, Nationalism, Ethnic Cleansing
163. The West and the Rise of Asia
164. Lessons: Liberty, Technology, Society, and the State
165. Week 33 Review

Think that might fill in some gaps in your knowledge?

You can get these courses a la carte at TomWoodsHomeschool.com, or as part of the Ron Paul Curriculum at RonPaulHomeschool.com.

But until Black Friday weekend is over, you can get them as a free bonus with the Master membership to Liberty Classroom. I've knocked serious dough off that baby. After that, it shoots up to $497 again.

(And by the way, the very best discount is available today, on Black Friday itself.)
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