History & Government   

If you think today is filled with divisiveness between red and blue then you should have lived in America the latter part of the 19th Century. The end of the Civil War with 700,000 American dead began this era of angst. The post-war era coupled with the acrimony between a growing divide between the haves and have-nots led to labor unrest and a complete revisioning of democracy in this country. The parallels are amazing!

In AD 476, the Roman Empire fell, not with a bang, but with a whimper. At its height it had spanned 1.9 million square miles and endured for more than 500 years, yet its end came as the culmination of a long, slow decline. What ultimately caused it? Could anything have saved it? This course examines the complex web of causes behind the fall of the Western Roman Empire, from political dysfunction and the rise of Christianity to a collapsed economy, lead poisoning, and even climate change.

Russia shocked the world when Putin invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. What followed has become one of the most consequential geopolitical crises of our time. In this class, we will examine the history of Ukraine and Russia’s complex relationship, how the war has unfolded, what sanctions have achieved, how the global balance of power is shifting in response, Europe’s profound transformation since the fall of the Soviet Union, Sweden and Finland joining NATO, Germany rearming, Europe severing decades of energy dependence on Russia, and the evolving U.S. role, and what possible outcomes may lie ahead.

Join Bill Gates, Director of the ASU Mechanics of Democracy Laboratory and former Chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, for an inside look at how one of the largest election systems in the United States really works. Designed for engaged citizens, this course will walk you through the essentials of voting in Maricopa County — from how ballots are cast and counted to who is responsible for ensuring the integrity of the process. You'll gain a clear understanding of the different voting options available, the safeguards in place to protect election security, and the real-world challenges election officials face. We will also explore what's new and different about the 2026 election cycle, helping you stay informed and confident as a voter. Expect a practical, nonpartisan discussion with plenty of time for questions and conversation.

How did women move from the economic and political margins to become one of the most influential voting blocs in the United States? A panel of experts will examine the long arc of women's participation in public life, from suffrage and civic organizing to economic agency, voting power, and public office. With the 2026 midterm elections approaching, this session provides timely context for understanding women's role in today's electorate, including why women are politically powerful yet do not vote as a single bloc. Join us to better understand how women's history continues to shape elections, leadership, and public life today.

It's a mostly forgotten but pivotal chapter in Jewish-American history: the Galveston Movement. From 1907 to 1914, some 10,000 Jews fleeing religious persecution in Eastern Europe immigrated to America through the unlikely port of Galveston, Texas. Travel journalist Dan Fellner visited Galveston and met descendants of those immigrants who arrived more than a century ago and built new lives across the western United States. We'll explore the sites connected to the Galveston Movement and discover the island city's surprisingly robust Jewish community — one that produced five mayors, prominent business leaders, and two highly renowned rabbis.

If not for that eponymous frothy beverage, Samuel Adams might be largely forgotten today. Yet among the Founding Fathers, Adams was the leader of the pack. Boston was the epicenter of the earliest struggle for independence and Adams was the spark that lit the fire. Long before Washington led an army or Jefferson penned the Declaration, Adams was rallying resistance to British rule and working to unify the colonies. We'll explore how his "riches to rags" family story may help explain his deep resentment of British interference in colonial life. A master of public sentiment, he stoked the flames of rebellion by channeling the crowd's growing sense of oppression and injustice. As we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, much of the focus falls on Jefferson. Yet without Samuel Adams energizing the revolutionary movement, independence might have come eventually, but not in 1776.

Few topics generate more heat in American politics today than immigration, yet few are more deeply rooted in the nation's history. This four-part lecture series examines how US immigration policy has evolved in response to dramatic shifts in American society. We'll give particular attention to the landmark immigration laws of the 1920s, Lyndon Johnson's transformative Immigration Act of 1965, and the most recent developments in policy and challenges along the US border. Whether you follow the news closely or are looking for deeper historical context, this series offers an essential framework for understanding one of today's most urgent debates.

Dr. Carlson, Chairman Emeritus at District Medical Group, leads this single-session class through one of the most dramatic turning points in American history. Together we'll examine America's journey from the Great Depression and deep isolationism to its decisive role in World War II — as Germany and Japan built formidable war machines abroad. Explore how Franklin D. Roosevelt's call for the "Arsenal of Democracy" ignited national mobilization, and discover the remarkable contributions of women, the surprising influence of show business, and the profound sacrifices made on both the home front and the battlefield.

In February 1947, Ellsworth Brown sparked a massive political firestorm by attempting to exchange 27,000 acres in northwestern Arizona for public land adjoining his north Scottsdale ranch. The resulting two-year conflict embroiled U.S. Senators, Congressmen, federal directors, and prominent businessmen. This battle provides a fascinating window into behind the scenes land politics, ultimately embarrassing the Bureau of Land Management but saving the land that became the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. An accompanying field study at Brown’s Ranch Trailhead is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 9:00 a.m., featuring a gentle, threehour, 3.3-mile walk.

Arizona has changed more rapidly and more dramatically than almost any other state in the nation. Political shifts over the past 114 years, driven by social and economic forces, brought the Progressive movement of the early 20th century, the explosive growth of urban centers and the state's role as a pivotal political battleground today. We'll trace the most significant turning points in Arizona's history and explore what residents can expect as the 21st century continues to unfold.

With more than 123,000 libraries across the United States, including over 17,000 municipal, county, and state facilities, public libraries represent one of democracy's most enduring and successful institutions. Their mission is simple and radical: free, open access to information for all. And while that mission hasn't changed, libraries themselves have transformed into modern civic centers, delivering critical public services and embracing the digital age. Join returning OLLI instructor and ASU School of Public Affairs Professor Mary Feeney to explore the essential role libraries play in civic life, the remarkable commitment librarians bring to public service, and what this model of democratic governance can teach us about excellence in local government.

The U.S. Supreme Court is one of the nation's most powerful institutions yet many experts argue it has become dangerously political. The Court's evolution from independent arbiter to ideologically driven body is, according to these scholars, no longer a matter of opinion but of fact. At a time when so much is at stake, the stakes for judicial integrity have never been higher. In this course, Dr. Joseph Russomanno offers an overview of the Supreme Court's structure and procedures, then shares the provocative analysis he first presented in his book The "Stench" of Politics: Polarization and Worldview on the Supreme Court.

Join Dr. Hilde Hoogenboom to discover the full extent of Catherine II's life and her remarkably intense afterlife in history, plays, movies, and television. Catherine herself carefully cultivated her legacy as an enlightened ruler: legislator, administrator, and imperial visionary. In the 19th century, her memoirs became a state secret because they implied that her heir, Paul I, was illegitimate and thus the Romanov dynasty, in the strictest sense, ended with her husband, Peter III. We'll examine why Catherine the Great and her 36-year reign continue to captivate scholars and the public alike.

On Mar. 25, 1886, Geronimo said to General George Crook: "Once I moved about like the wind. Now I surrender to you and that is all." This course traces the full arc of Apache history — from their crossing of the Bering Strait some 15,000 years ago and migration through Texas and New Mexico to their eventual home in Arizona. Drawing from military records, diaries, leading scholars, and Geronimo's own 1906 autobiography, we'll examine not only the major military events and leaders, but also Apache spiritual beliefs, ceremonies, and folkways. A rich, human story spanning millennia.

One week before the 2026 midterm elections, women voters will again be called one of the most powerful forces in American politics. But the phrase "the women's vote" often obscures as much as it reveals. Women do not vote as a single bloc — their choices are shaped by race, class, education, marriage, religion, geography, age, family economics, media narratives, and partisan identity. This timely panel examines what the data shows: where women voters are moving together, where they remain sharply divided, and how campaigns and media often flatten diverse communities into oversimplified categories. Together, we'll explore what women's political power truly means in 2026 — and how that meaning is being shaped in the final days before a major national election.

Thinking of a summer adventure unlike any other? Dr. Nick Godfrey, Director of the Summer Program at Girton College, University of Cambridge, will present an overview of the Aug. 2027 program. Several OLLI at ASU members who attended this year's program will be on hand to share their personal experiences firsthand. Discover why staying at Girton is so much more than "summer school". It's a genuine bucket-list journey. Light refreshments served!

Join Nicole Armstrong-Best, Director of the S'edav Va'aki Museum, and discover the remarkable ingenuity of the Ancestral O'odham who built and inhabited extensive villages in the Phoenix basin. You will learn about the engineered large-scale irrigation systems that supported intensive agriculture and connected communities across a vast network of trade and communication. We will discuss the importance of collaboration between S'edav Va'aki's descendant communities and Museum staff in preserving cultural connections and archaeological heritage. We will end by taking a guided tour of the outdoor interpretive trail with the City Archaeologist.

Three signatories of the Declaration of Independence shared an unlikely distinction: they had all been educated at the University of Cambridge in England. This talk traces their lives on both sides of the Atlantic, examining what drove them to join the rebellion against Britain and what their Cambridge connections reveal about the intellectual and political ties between the University and the American colonies. We'll explore how those transatlantic links shaped the early history of the United States, and how Cambridge itself grappled with the loss of the colonies in the late 18th century.

Two-party dominance is one of the defining features of modern politics in Britain and the United States alike. But can a third party break through? This talk examines one of history's most dramatic examples: the displacement of the Liberal Party by the Labour Party in the 1910s and 1920s, exploring the circumstances and historical forces that made such a seismic shift possible. We'll then turn to the present day, asking whether the strains on Britain's political duopoly since 2010 echo the fault lines of a century ago and what those lessons might reveal about where British politics is headed next.

What happened when German prisoners of war were held in the Arizona desert? Local historian Steve Hoza presents a fascinating look at a lesser-known chapter of WWII history in the American Southwest. Drawing from decades of research and hundreds of interviews with former prisoners, guards, and camp personnel, Hoza illuminates daily camp life, the use of POWs as farm laborers, and the infamous "Great Papago Escape." Throughout his talk, he shares rare camp artifacts, personal photos, drawings, and maps gathered directly from his interviewees.

Join Midori Hall, community educator, and her husband Jim for a moving and deeply personal exploration of Arizona's two Japanese American incarceration camps, Gila River and Poston, during World War II. Born at the Gila River camp in Aug. 1942, Midori shares her family's lived experiences, childhood memories, and the historical research that later confirmed many of those recollections. The presentation examines the profound cultural meanings of the Japanese concepts "Shigata-nai," "Nozomi," and "Gaman" and how these ideas helped families endure extraordinary hardship with resilience, hope, and dignity. Through stories of unexpected kindness, perseverance, and healing, Midori and Jim reflect on their return to Arizona in 1986 and their ongoing commitment to preserving this vital history.

This class is the same as class 114

This lecture will examine the errors in planning and decision-making committed by General Robert E. Lee and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, leading up to and during their respective defining battles. I used these case studies to teach planning and decision-making to students at the U.S. Naval War College because error yields more lessons than success. The recurrence of these errors, as well as an interesting series of parallels that the respective campaigns exhibit, gives credence to Mark Twain's remark that "It is not worthwhile to try and keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible."

In his forthcoming book, Child Abduction in the War in Ukraine: Erasing Ukrainian Identity as a Tool of War (London: Routledge, Fall 2026), Dr. Thom Reilly tells a simple, urgent story: Russia's removal of Ukrainian children is not a byproduct of war — it is a deliberate tactic to erase cultural identity, destroy families, and a prosecutable war crime under international law. Drawing on over 50 interviews with experts, practitioners, returned youth, and caregivers, as well as investigative reporting and official documentation, Dr. Reilly examines a system that operates not only through the transfer of children into Russia or Belarus, but across the far larger population of Ukrainian children still living under occupation. This class makes the case that the public needs to understand what is at stake — and why.

In 1620, the Mayflower left Southampton carrying 102 passengers and a crew of thirty, bound for the unknown. What drove them to risk everything on such a dangerous journey? Two very different motivations: religious freedom and economic opportunity. Historian George Willison, in his 1945 book Saints and Strangers, gave us the terms we still use today. The "Saints", Bradford, Carver, and Brewster, are better known, but the "Strangers", Alden, Warren, Hopkins, Standish, and Billington made names for themselves too. And what of the women? We'll explore the passengers, the ship, the harrowing journey, the Mayflower Compact, the early days of Plymouth, and the myths that have grown up around them.

Discover the fascinating stories of influential women whose lives provide a unique window into the political, cultural, and historical development of the Middle East.Through engaging narratives and lively discussion, class members will explore how these remarkable women challenged expectations, led movements, and influenced the course of their societies. Their courage, leadership, and resilience offer valuable insights into the region’s history while highlighting the lasting impact individuals can have on shaping the world around them.

From forged wills to counterfeit coins, fake oracles to fraudulent relics, the ancient world was awash in deception and the Greeks and Romans knew it all too well. This class explores some of antiquity's most brazen frauds: the forgers who faked famous authors' works, the merchants who passed off cheap imitations as priceless goods, and the politicians who manipulated documents to rewrite history. What do these fakes reveal about ancient values, anxieties, and desires? The impulse to deceive, and to be deceived, is as old as civilization itself.

Arizona's "Four Southern Tribes" share deep ancestral connections, tracing their roots to people who inhabited south-central Arizona and northern Mexico, as evidenced by geographical, archaeological, linguistic, oral tradition, and historical records. These tribes refer to themselves as "O'odham" (meaning 'People') in their native language and have historically been known as the Papago and Pima Indians. While they occupy several southern Arizona reservations, many members live and work in communities well beyond those boundaries. This presentation offers a rich introduction to historical and modern O'odham cultures from their origins in the ancient Paleoindian, Archaic, and Hohokam traditions to their prominent and vital place in the world today.
 

Join Bob McWhirter, constitutional law expert, former Maricopa County and federal public defender, and advisory board member of the Arizona Justice Project, for a close look at the history and context of the 15th Amendment. Ratified in 1870, the 15th Amendment declared that the right to vote cannot be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and gave Congress the power to enforce it through legislation. Together with the 13th and 14th Amendments, it fundamentally redefined the Constitution and the country. As McWhirter will show, the 15th Amendment was as much a product of Black self-determination as it was of the Reconstruction Congress's drive to build a more just America.

For millennia, Nero has been the model of the bad Roman emperor, accused of cruelty, excess, and chilling indifference as Rome burned around him. He supposedly persecuted Christians, murdered family members, and drove rivals to suicide. But is that the real Nero? Contemporary sources were deeply biased against him, and recent scholarship has begun to tell a very different story. This course examines the traditional portrait of Nero alongside efforts to rehabilitate his legacy, asking whether he was truly a monstrous ruler, or a more complex, and perhaps more human, figure navigating an impossible role.

Arizona settlers celebrated the Walnut Grove Dam as a symbol of progress, proof that human ambition could tame the wilderness and transform Arizona's rugged frontier into prosperous farmland and mining country. Those ambitions came to a tragic end in February 1890, when the dam failed, unleashing millions of gallons of water down the Hassayampa River and claiming as many as 150 lives. In this presentation, Dr. Eduardo Pagán, former co-host of History Detectives (PBS), Bob Stump Endowed Professor of History, and Associate Dean of Barrett, The Honors College, explores the engineering ambitions behind the dam, the catastrophic collapse, and what the disaster reveals about Arizona's territorial development.

This class is the same as class 095

This lecture will examine the errors in planning and decision-making committed by General Robert E. Lee and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, leading up to and during their respective defining battles. I used these case studies to teach planning and decision-making to students at the U.S. Naval War College because error yields more lessons than success. The recurrence of these errors, as well as an interesting series of parallels that the respective campaigns exhibit, gives credence to Mark Twain's remark that "It is not worthwhile to try and keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible."

How did America's founders devise a system that limited state religion while extending religious freedom to all and how has that balance been tested ever since? Drawing on landmark legal challenges to religious freedom, this class explores the revolutionary First Amendment framework the founders created, the ongoing tensions between religious liberty and competing social interests, and what it truly means to live in a pluralistic society. A timely and thought-provoking look at one of America's most enduring constitutional debates.

In 2026, Route 66, America's beloved "Mother Road" turns 100. Join acclaimed author and travel writer Roger Naylor for a lively journey through the history, culture, and enduring charm of this legendary highway. Discover how Arizona became Route 66's greatest champion and caretaker, and hear stories of the breathtaking landscapes, vibrant small towns, and beloved mom-and-pop eateries that still thrive along Arizona's storied stretch of road. Don't miss this chance to rediscover the highway that shaped a nation and still stirs the wandering spirit today.

Late in the evening of Feb. 3, 1959, in a snowy Iowa cornfield, the trajectory of rock and roll changed forever. Following a legendary performance at the Surf Ballroom, a small plane carrying three of those rising stars, Buddy Holly & the Crickets, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and Dion and the Belmonts, went down shortly after takeoff. Join us as we revisit the lives of these iconic musicians, the night that became known as "The Day the Music Died," and the enduring legacy of Don McLean's masterpiece, "American Pie."