ICS 550 Missouri and the World
Missouri, despite being a landlocked state in the middle of the North American continent, has had a significant role to play in the history of the region, the nation, and the world. A thousand years ago the largest Indigenous city in North America was situated in the area of North American that is now known as the state of Missouri. The state served as the crossroads of European empires during seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the terminus of the famed Sante Fe Trail in the nineteenth century; and, through its most famous citizen, Harry Truman, created the global political circumstances that defined the twentieth century—the Cold War. This course will explore readings touching on various aspects of Missouri’s history, working to situate it within a larger global context.