Revolutionaries and Tyrants of Central America and the Caribbean

Fall (14 hours or more) | This course is completed

10 Hilton Field Road Hanover, NH 03755 United States

Founders Room

New

9/27/2017-11/15/2017

2:00 PM-4:00 PM EDT on Wed

Download iCalendar

$80.00

8 sessions, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
September 27 through November 15, 2017
DOC House - Hanover, NH
Course Fee: $80

The two centuries after independence from Spain saw enormous changes in the region, often accompanied by extreme violence. The period featured many remarkable individuals, some of them working and fighting for radical social change and others working to contain or exploit it. In this course we’ll study the lives and careers of a dozen or so exceptional people who played important parts in this history. Some of them I find admirable, others far from it, but all were colorful and interesting. Although some historical context is essential, the focus will be on the individuals themselves, what they tried to do and what they did or did not achieve. And while he won’t be one of our subjects himself, these words from “El Libertador” Simón Bolívar echo down the years: “The United States of North America seems to be destined by Providence to plague all America with miseries in the name of freedom.”

  • There will be a reading packet for this course.

John Lamperti is a professor of mathematics emeritus at Dartmouth College. He has been interested in and concerned about nuclear weapons for many years, taught several freshman seminars about the arms race, and contributed three chapters to The Nuclear Almanac (MIT, 1982); he also worked on nuclear education with the American Friends Service Committee. His previous Osher courses in 2016 and 2017 dealt with Central America.