You will take several courses across two semesters of teaching, including two compulsory courses and a range of optional courses. Core courses There are two required core courses for this programme: two history skills training courses (20 credits each), one in each semester, which are taken by all MSc students in History in the school. Compulsory courses previously offered include: Course name Credits Historical Research: Skills and Sources 20 Historical Methodology 20 Optional courses You will choose a further 80 credits from a wide selection of optional courses, subject to availability. Option Courses 2024-2025 * * Please note that the list of courses below is provisional and subject to change. Select between 40 and 80 credits of the following American History courses. Course name Credits An uncertain world: the West since the 1970s 20 Conservatism in the United States, c.1930-c.1990 20 Idolatry: Images and the Sacred in the Americas and Europe, 1400-1700. 20 Intellectual History of the American Revolution 20 Race, Religion, and Ridicule: The American South from Reconstruction to World War I 20 The Civil Rights Movement 20 The Cold War in Latin America 20 The United States and the Cold War 20 Select between 0 and 40 credits of the following History courses Course name Credits An uncertain world: the West since the 1970s 20 Black Activism in Britain since 1800 20 Cinema and Society in England and Scotland 20 Cinema and Society in South Asia, 1947-Present 20 Conservatism in the United States, c.1930-c.1990 20 Constantinople: The History of a Medieval Megalopolis from Constantine the Great to Suleyman the Magnificent 20 Contemporary Scotland 20 Economic and Social Theory for Historical Analysis 20 Gender, Crime and Deviancy: Scotland and England c. 1860-1960 20 Genocide in Contemporary History 20 Global Environmental History 20 Intellectual History of the American Revolution 20 Making Histories: Theories and Practices in Writing History 20 Nepotism and Venality: Corruption and Accountability in the Middle Ages 20 Queens, Heiresses and Lords: Women Making Medieval Scotland 20 Race, Religion, and Ridicule: The American South from Reconstruction to World War I 20 Saints Cults, Pilgrimage and Piety in Scotland 20 Scottish Reformation Culture, c. 1540-c. 1640 20 The Civil Rights Movement 20 The Cold War in Latin America 20 The European Enlightenments, 1670 - 1820 20 The Future of the Past? Doing History in the Digital Era 20 The Global Renaissance 20 The Medieval Indian Ocean: Climates, Communities and Commodities 20 The Politics of History in the Arabic-Speaking World (c.1750-Present) 20 The United States and the Cold War 20 Thinking with Things: History and Material Culture Studies 20 Select between 0 and 20 credits of the following online courses Course name Credits British Empires, 1601-1948 (online) 20 Debating Marriage Between Antiquity and the Middle Ages (online) 20 Gender, Empire, and Labour in the Nineteenth Century: Perspectives from the Wider World (online) 20 Myth and the History of Scholarship in Early Modern Europe (online) 20 Race, Religion, and Ridicule: The American South from Reconstruction to World War I (online) 20 The Closest of Enemies: Cuban-American Relations 1898-2014 (online) 20 The Contemporary Theory of War (online) 20 The Holocaust (online) 20 The Lords of the Isles: Clan Donald, c.1336 - c.1545 (online) 20 Theories of Empire in the Early Modern Period (online) 20 Option courses 2023/24 Select between 40 and 80 credits of the following American History courses: Conservatism in the United States, c.1930-c.1990 Race, Religion, and Ridicule: The American South from Reconstruction to World War II The Civil Rights Movement The Cold War in Latin America The Demise of the Slave-Holding American South, 1846-1877 The Sixties in the United States The United States and the Cold War Select between 0 and 40 credits of the following History courses: An uncertain world: the West since the 1970s Black Activism in Britain since 1800 Body and soul in early medieval thought Conservatism in the United States, c.1930-c.1990 Contemporary Scotland Debating Marriage between Antiquity and the Middle Ages Economic and Social Theory for Historical Analysis Genocide in Contemporary History Nepotism and Venality: Corruption and Accountability in the Middle Ages Queens, Heiresses and Lords: Women Making Medieval Scotland Race, Religion, and Ridicule: The American South from Reconstruction to World War II Saints Cults, Pilgrimage and Piety in Scotland Scottish Palaeography 12th-16th centuries Studying Women in Late Medieval England: Sources and Approaches The Civil Rights Movement The Cold War in Latin America The 'Dark Side': Dark Tourism and Difficult Heritages The Demise of the Slave-Holding American South, 1846-1877 The European Enlightenments, 1670 - 1820 The Material Culture of Gender in Eighteenth Century Britain The Politics of History in the Arabic-Speaking World (c.1750-Present) The Sixties in the United States The United States and the Cold War 'The wisest fool in Christendom': the Ideas and Writings of James VI & I Thinking with Things: History and Material Culture Studies Select between 0 and 20 credits of the following online courses: An Age of Great Dreams: The 1960s in the United States (online) An Imperial Game? Cricket, Culture & Society (online) Charles Martel in the Digital Age (Online) Consensus to Thatcherism: Government and Politics in Post-War Britain (online) Crisis and Conflict in Late-Victorian Britain (online) Empire or Continent?: British Foreign Policy in the Era of the Great War (online) Freedom and Coercion in the Making of the Atlantic World (online) Islamic Africa (Online) Medicine and Society in Modern Britain (Online) Seeking 'Japan' in a Westernizing World: Revolution, Romance, and Imperialism, 1868 - 1945 (online) The Crusades and the Euro-Mediterranean world of the Central Middle Ages (online) The School of Statecraft: History, Leadership, and Policymaking (online) Option courses 2022/23 Additional compulsory course - Themes in the Historiography of the Americas Select between 0 and 60 credits of the following courses: Narrating Native Histories Race, Religion, and Ridicule: The American South from Reconstruction to World War II The Civil Rights Movement The Demise of the Slave-Holding American South, 1846-1877 The United States and the Vietnam War: Origins and Repercussions Select between 0 and 20 credits of the following online courses: The American Civil War and Reconstruction (online) Modern Latin American History (online) Courses for those studying from September 2025 will be available from April 2025. Teaching and assessment You will take a variety of seminar-style courses in small groups. Most courses are assessed by means of an extended piece of written work, while some courses also assess non-written skills. Further information You can see more details about the 2024/25 programme structure on the Degree Programme Table for the MSc in American History. We expect the 2025/26 programme structure to be available from May 2025. This article was published on 2024-06-19