Skip Navigation or Skip to Content

Southern Oregon University

OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE


OLLI at SOU

History   

Please note: You must be signed in and have already paid the annual membership fee (or it is in your shopping cart) to add courses to your shopping cart. Non-members and members who are not signed in may only browse courses.

If there are no courses listed below, then currently we do not have any course offerings in this category.

  return to previous page

  • 13 Colonies: How They Got Their Shapes and Sizes – Online
  • Item Number: W26HIST308
    Dates: 1/7/2026 - 2/18/2026
    Times: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
    Days: W
    Sessions: 7
    Maximum Enrollment:  299
    Building: Online
    Room: (Zoom)
    Instructor: Michael Reynolds
    Registration for this course is closed. 
    Did the colony of Virginia ever cover about half of America? (Yes.) Did Massachusetts cover most of the rest? (Sort of.) And Carolina? Was it just one single colony at first and not split into a North and South? (That’s right.) The book “How the States Got Their Shapes” by Mark Stein, examines these questions for all 50 states. This course looks at the first 13. It will serve as a prequel to “Battles of the American Revolution,” taught at OLLI at SOU. How every colony got its shape and size has surprising factors, including wars, economics and politics. We’ll learn all about them. The course will utilize PowerPoint slides of graphics and photographs prepared mostly by the instructor. The Mark Stein book is recommended but not required; other sources of information will also be included. 
 

  • Americans in Paris in the 1920s – In-Person
  • Item Number: W26HIST329A
    Dates: 1/14/2026 - 2/25/2026
    Times: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
    Days: W
    Sessions: 7
    Maximum Enrollment:  78
    Building: Campbell Center
    Room: Room E
    Instructor: Herbert Rothschild
    Registration for this course is closed. 

    Per Ernest Hemingway, “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Between the end of World War I and the 1929 stock market crash, Paris was a magnet for aspiring U.S. writers, artists and musicians. We will explore the reasons why they became expats for varying lengths of time, who they were, how they lived and what they accomplished. We will try to get some feel of the Paris scene, both in “Black Montmartre” on the Right Bank and in bohemian Montparnasse on the Left Bank. In addition to well-known figures such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Man Ray, Josephine Baker and Aaron Copland, we will get to know many lesser but fascinating ones. The course combines lecture and discussion.

    NOTE: Malcolm Cowley’s “Exile’s Return” is a required text. Assigned shorter texts, musical pieces and documentary films will be accessible online at no cost.

 

  • The Great Depression: 'Isms' and the New Deal – In-Person
  • Item Number: W26HIST330A
    Dates: 1/8/2026 - 2/19/2026
    Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
    Days: Th
    Sessions: 7
    Maximum Enrollment:  48
    Building: Campbell Center
    Room: Room D
    Instructor: Fernando Gapasin, Benjamin Ben-Baruch
    Registration for this course is closed. 
    This is the third class in a series describing events that help to explain today’s America. We continue our investigation of how the two major U.S. political parties create policies that aggravate or mitigate the social impact caused by political and economic crisis. We look at selected events in an attempt to understand how various groups in society respond to domestic and international social, economic and political upheaval. The only requirement for this course is an interest in how historical events can shape the culture of America. The only caveat is to remember that we learn history from the events that historians choose to write about, and as historian Jill Lepore put it, “To write history is to make an argument by telling a story.”
 

  • The Life of the Prophet of Islam – In-Person
  • Item Number: W26HIST331M
    Dates: 1/26/2026 - 3/9/2026
    Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
    Days: M
    Sessions: 6
    Maximum Enrollment:  34
    Building: Medford Higher Education Center
    Room: Room 118
    Instructor: Terry Doyle
    Registration for this course is closed. 
    Without knowledge of the life of the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, it is impossible to know the religion. Fortunately, Muslims were adamant about collecting facts about the life of the prophet and recorded them within 200 years of his death. They were scrupulous about doing so, requiring a reliable chain of attribution. These writings by early Muslims are known as the Hadith. These have been translated into English and form the core of this course. We’ll also discuss the Quran, the holiest book of Islam, often called the single miracle of Islam. Class discussion will also include the practices of the religion, its factions and their history. Updated materials are included. Students should have an open mind to understand one of the world’s major religions.
 

  • The Life of the Prophet of Islam – In-Person
  • Item Number: W26HIST331A
    Dates: 1/27/2026 - 3/3/2026
    Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
    Days: Tu
    Sessions: 6
    Maximum Enrollment:  53
    Building: Campbell Center
    Room: Room D
    Instructor: Terry Doyle
    Registration for this course is closed. 
    Without knowledge of the life of the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, it is impossible to know the religion. Fortunately, Muslims were adamant about collecting facts about the life of the prophet and recorded them within 200 years of his death. They were scrupulous about doing so, requiring a reliable chain of attribution. These writings by early Muslims are known as the Hadith. These have been translated into English and form the core of this course. We’ll also discuss the Quran, the holiest book of Islam, often called the single miracle of Islam. Class discussion will also include the practices of the religion, its factions and their history. Updated materials are included. Students should have an open mind to understand one of the world’s major religions.
 

  • Venice’s Golden Age: Politics, Society, Culture – In-Person
  • Item Number: W26HIST332A
    Dates: 1/13/2026 - 2/24/2026
    Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
    Days: Tu
    Sessions: 7
    Maximum Enrollment:  78
    Building: Campbell Center
    Room: Room E
    Instructor: Bob Wetmore
    Registration for this course is closed. 
    This course explores the great period of Venetian history, from 1200 to 1600, when the city traded with the world, ruled the Aegean and saw the creation of monumental works of art and architecture that have amazed the world ever since. The origins of the city and Venetian society will be examined, with an appreciation of the amazing stability of its government. Topics include the works of the great Venetian painters and the patrician palaces on the Grand Canal. An understanding will be gained of how the Doge’s Palace and the Basilica of St. Mark came to be. And finally, we will examine how and why the golden age came to an end and the afterglow that followed. This is a lecture course, in which there will be slides, videos and photos taken by the instructor on a recent trip to Venice.
 

Some Title



Your Cart

×