Choose a figure in European History from Modern 1800 until the present that you either greatly admire or have a connection with. Depict his or her essence and how your person impacted the immediate period in which they lived. Explain different perspectives in attitudes, beliefs, practices, behaviors between or among classes and cultures within your subject’s milieu and discuss the full impact of your subject on his/her contemporaries’ thoughts and behavior.
Discuss the influence your subject had on subsequent generations. Reflect on the changes that occurred in the way his/her contemporaries thought or acted as a result of your subject’s endeavors. Please use at least 3 quotes from eyewitness sources. Strongly encourage you to use as many first hand sources as possible.
Locate your figure in his historical landscape. Note what was going on at the time and place. (Political, Economic, Intellectual Elements.) Give a biographic profile of your figure if it is relevant to his or her contribution. Was your figure a product of the times? Be critical, give a balanced approach looking at both strengths and weaknesses. Often the paradoxical elements are the most interesting features of a lifetime. Did he or she fight against the current? What motivated your subject to embark on his or her endeavor? What impact did your subject make on his or her own times and on later generations?
Conclude with a discussion of how researching and writing (about it) influenced you and your thinking.