Vanda Rajcan

Propaganda is everywhere. From Nazi propaganda posters to Latin American street art, anti-war cartoons, Maoist communist textbooks, propaganda has defined nations and kept populations in check. Governments and nonprofit organizations have also devised compelling slogans to win support for wars or to garner community support. This course will explore the history of propaganda in the context of mass politics, public relations campaigns, imperialism, anti-colonial campaigns, and the rise of different regimes.

A variety of specific historical studies are offered on a rotating basis. Recent offerings have included The Limits of Reason, a study of European Enlightenment; Sex, Booze, and Baseball, the nature of leisure activities in American cultural life; Space, Heaven, and God, a study of the relationships of religion, astronomy, and cosmology; and War in American History.