The History of Russia focuses on the 300 years from Peter the Great to Gorbachev by examining the lives and ideas of men and women who, in fact, were Russia. Topics include the revolution of Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, the Decembrist Uprising, early Russian Socialism, Alexander II, Nicholas II, Stalin, Gorbachev, and Communism.

Utopia and Terror in the 20th Century takes a more in-depth look at the 20th century, and in particular its unprecedented violence. The course examines the specific circumstances and reasons that underlie the most notorious aspects of the last 100 years from World War I to the Cold War to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. What political actions resulted from the belief that "utopia" can be created on Earth?