1. Please read:
- Priscilla Hunt, "Ivan IV's Personal Mythology of Kingship," Slavic Review , Vol. 52, No. 4 (Winter, 1993), pp. 769-809;
And discuss:
Hunt's essay is a novel and sophisticated analysis of Ivan IV's personal myth; interpreting his writings as a reflection of Christian religious beliefs as displayed in icons (some painted by Andrei Rublev). Discuss the author's thesis, use of historical evidence, and relate it to Moss' account of the same aspect of Russian history.
2.
Please read:
- C. M. Foust, "Russian Expansion to the East Through the Eighteenth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Dec., 1961), pp. 469-482;
And discuss:
How does Foust portray the interaction between the Russian government (especially during Peter I's reign) and individual merchants as related to Eastern expansionism?
3.
Please read:
Edgar Kiser and Yong Cai, "War and Bureaucratization in Qin Dynasty: Exploring an Anomalous Case," American Sociological Review, Vol. 68. No. 4 (Aug., 2003), pp. 511-539;
And discuss: The authors argue that Qin Empire is an original case of how a new kind of bureaucracy was developed. 1) What led to the formation of the Qin bureaucracy? (pp. 519-522). 2) What were some of the features of the Qin bureaucratic system? (pp. 528-532).
4.
Please read:
Jeremy Johns and Emilie Savage-Smith, "The Book of Curiosities: A Newly Discovered Series of Islamic Maps," Imago Mundi, Vol. 55, (2003), pp. 7-24;
And discuss: First, describe what kind of source The Book of Curiosities is. Then, pick one of the subjects of the book (the kind of science its author discusses, one of the maps, the author's background etc), and discuss what this tells us about the Persian empire and its connections to its neighbors.
MLA format. Must use quote( " ") for every source you use from website. And put (author, page number) behind quote.