The Great Courses

Expand on--and even challenge--what you've learned about the Black Death and the medieval period with After the Plague, a 24-lecture course on the impact of the bubonic plague across the continent. With expert Simon Doubleday, professor of history at Hofstra University, explore the trajectory and after-effects of one of the deadliest pandemics in world history.

Death serves as the horizon against which our lives unfold and shapes the choices we make about how to live. In fact, the knowledge of mortality has inspired much of human activity—religion, philosophy, music and visual arts, even scientific endeavors and monumental architecture have all been driven by our understanding of death. Whether viewed as a transition to paradise or punishment, an ultimate separation or ecstatic joining, the end of existence...

Discover how astrophysicists map the universe. Focus on the tricky problem of calculating distances, seeing how a collection of overlapping techniques provide a "cosmic distance ladder" that works from nearby planets (by means of radar) to stars and galaxies (using parallax and Cepheid variable stars) to far distant galaxies (by observing a type of supernova with a standard intrinsic brightness).

Learn about the spiritual revolution of King Akhenaten, and the monuments that bear witness to it. Begin with a look back at an earlier necropolis that influenced Akhenaten, that of Beni Hasan, containing some of the most beautiful painted tombs in Egypt. Continue to the capital city of Amarna, the setting for Akhenaten's religious reformation that focused on the sole worship of the sun god Aten.

After Solomon's reign, grasp how the kingdom of Israel divided into a Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Observe how the Northern Kingdom became dominant under the powerful King Omri, creator of the capital of Samaria, excavated in the early 20th century. Learn of the divisive rule and tragic fate of Omri's son, Ahab, and how the kingdom fell to aggression by the Assyrian Empire.

One of the CIA's first major setbacks was the tragic failure of the Hungarian uprising, despite the agency's attempts to liberate the Eastern Bloc countries during the early 1950s. Here, investigate CIA efforts to organize anti-communist Eastern European emigres to liberate their homelands and the creation of Radio Free Europe to counteract communist-controlled media.

The Old Testament is one of the foundational documents of Western civilization. In this course, viewers will study a selection of the major books of the Old Testament, probing their meaning and relevance. Among these, viewers will explore the prophets, the wisdom literature, and the apocalyptic literature, finding their deeper historical and religious import, as well as their sublime literary treasures.

Dissect the layered process professional storytellers use when preparing to tell a tale, which involves an interconnected cycle of talking, writing, imaging, playing, and rehearsing. Explore the concept of "tensiveness," the dynamic quality that reveals a story's opposing forces; then step back from one of your stories to see the potential relationships between the larger parts of the narrative.

What kinds of stories appeal to you most? Look at the variety of stories that are available for you to tell and some practical resources for finding them. Assess the intellectual, social, and cultural connections we develop with stories and identify how you can add depth and context to the stories you tell.

Engage in "stretching" exercises to learn to let go of things that may hold you back from telling your story, and give yourself permission to play with the story, make mistakes, and really immerse yourself in the narrative. Listen to the story Mama's Wings to identify its tensive pulls and unifying themes and images.