HIST025 - WEST SCI,MAGIC & RELIGIO

The Western world once had its share of witches, alchemists, astrologers and magicians. They are thin on the ground these days, only to be replaced by New Age or cult-like movements. This course examines magic as it once was, explores the rise of science in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, looks at Mesmerism and thesosophy within the framework of radical political movements culminating in the rise of Fascism, and for twentieth century America explores the nature of post-War Big Science and various anti-science movments. No prerequisites