The Great Courses

In the six lessons of Why Memoir Matters: Learning from the Lives of Others, associate professor and author Tahneer Oksman guides you through enduring categories and themes within the genre of memoir, exploring how these deeply personal stories work and why they are so impactful.

Across six lectures, historian and consultant Alexander Marriotti traces the history of gladiators, from their earliest origins in Greek and Etruscan culture to their rise as celebrity athletes to their eventual decline as Rome’s imperial power faded.

Even after deciphering its hieroglyphs, and marveling at its scarabs, mummies, obelisks, and sphinxes, Egyptian civilization remains one of history's most mysterious....

More than a half-century after it burst upon the intellectual scene, Existentialism's quest to answer the most fundamental questions has continued to exert a profound attraction....

How do the histories of China and Japan, or Russia, India, and the remote territories of Sub-Saharan Africa fit in with commonly known accounts of Western traditions?....

These 36 lectures bring you the answers that the latest scientific and archaeological research and theorizing suggest about human origins....

How the Earth Works takes you on an astonishing journey through time and space. In 48 lectures, you will look at what went into making our planet - from the big bang, to the formation of the solar system, to the subsequent evolution of Earth....

Step back to Christianity's first three centuries to see how it transitioned from the religion of Jesus to a religion about Jesus....

Albert Einstein was pursuing a dream far more ambitious than the theory of relativity. He was trying to find an equation that explained all physical reality - a theory of everything. Experimental physicist and award-winning educator Dr. Don Lincoln takes you on this exciting journey....

Eating is an indispensable human activity. As a result, whether we realize it or not, the drive to obtain food has been a major catalyst across all of history....

Learn how a single tongue spoken 150,000 years ago evolved into the estimated 6,000 languages used around the world today....

Most of us have a limited understanding of the powerful role economics has played in shaping human civilization. This makes economic history a vital lens through which to think....

This broad and panoramic series, ripe with the telling detail on which history can turn, will help you pull an enormous sweep of history together into one coherent framework....

Each lecture will give you a refreshing new understanding of what made the British Empire both great in its achievements and vulnerable to its eventual downfall....

This lecture series takes you on a far-reaching journey around the globe to shed light on two dozen of the top discoveries, inventions, political upheavals, and ideas since 1400....

The deep-seated origins and wide-reaching lessons of ancient myths built the foundation for our modern legacies....

Explore compelling controversies that have existed surrounding the faith's first three centuries in this unique inquiry into the core of Christian tradition....

This mind-bending tour of metaphysics applies philosophy to the forefront of today's knowledge....

The past truly comes alive as you take a series of imaginative leaps into the world of history's anonymous citizens....

These 24 rewarding lectures equip you with the knowledge and techniques you need to become a savvier, sharper critical thinker in your professional and personal life....