Home to extraordinary finds from Pompeii and Herculaneum, the Naples National Archaeological Museum offers a glimpse into the ancient Roman world. Italian Renaissance art expert Rocky Ruggiero introduces some of the museum’s most compelling treasures, from breathtaking mosaics and monumental sculptures to everyday objects that reveal how Romans lived, worked, and found pleasure nearly 2,000 years ago. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) is often regarded as the last ukiyo-e artist, working across the transition between the feudal Edo period (1603-1868) and the Westernization of Japan in the Meiji era (1868-1912). Yoshitoshi is known as an artist of the macabre and bizarre. However, this ghoulish reputation can obscure the important contributions he made to the development of new artistic genres. Kit Brooks, curator of Asian art at the Princeton University Art Museum, explores Yoshitoshi's career, examining what makes his art—and life—so haunting. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Roald Dahl, famed for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, crafted worlds of dark humor, mischievous heroes, and villainous adults that continue to captivate readers. Adventurer, World War II fighter pilot, inventor, eccentric, and husband of actress Patricia Neal, he brought a darker, sharper wit to his adult fiction. Yet his legacy is also shadowed by well-documented antisemitism, prompting ongoing reassessment of both the man and his work. Historian Daniel Stashower explores Dahl’s complicated life and legacy, while actor Scott Sedar brings his most memorable stories to life.
Author Megan Kate Nelson explores how the American West took shape in the 19th century by highlighting communities that thrived even as frontier mythology erased them. Drawing from her book The Westerners, she examines federal and individual actions that fueled cultural tensions. She spotlights figures such as Sacajawea, more than just Lewis and Clark’s guide but an explorer who forged her own path; Jim Beckwourth, a biracial trader known for his cultural insight; and Polly Bemis, a Chinese immigrant who built a life in Idaho despite exclusion laws. Nelson also discusses several of the sources she used to write about the lived experiences of men and women who built the American West.
In the chaotic days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Roosevelt administration made a controversial decision. To encourage reciprocal treatment of U.S. diplomats trapped abroad, it sent hundreds of Axis diplomats living in the United States to remote luxury hotels. Already stunned by the attack on Honolulu that killed more than 2,400 service members and civilians, many Americans were enraged by the government’s magnanimity towards its enemies. Writer Harvey Solomon makes this story come alive.
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest and most technologically dynamic campaign of the Second World War, a vast contest in which engineering ingenuity, intelligence breakthroughs, and industrial capacity proved as decisive as bravery at sea. U.S. Naval Academy historian Marcus Jones offers a sweeping narrative of the struggle from 1939 to 1945, presenting the Atlantic war as a complex, interlocking system, one in which science, strategy, and endurance combined to determine the fate of nations: a story of innovation under pressure and survival against the odds.
Britain’s so-called “devil’s decade” saw the nation reeling from the 1929 Wall Street crash as unemployment, poverty, and widening class divisions reshaped daily life. Many turned to cinema glamour and theatrical escapism while tabloids fixated on sensational crimes and royal scandal, including Edward VIII’s affair with Wallis Simpson. At the same time, economic despair fueled support for Oswald Mosley’s fascist movement. Historian Julie Taddeo highlights this turbulent era as a clash between lingering Victorian traditions and an increasingly modern, fractured society.
Art historian Sophia D’Addio surveys Umbria, known for hill towns, majestic landscapes, and the legacy of Saint Francis. Perugia, Assisi, Spoleto, and Orvieto hold medieval and Renaissance treasures. Umbria’s culinary specialties focus on prized local ingredients such as black truffles, wild boar, lentils, and olive oil. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
