Curriculum Detail

All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.

Curriculum Detail

Select a Department

Department

History

The disciplined study of history encourages students to pose questions, examine evidence, and reach conclusions about the development of humankind. At 糖心Vlog students discover the historical method of gathering and interpreting factual information from primary and secondary sources in order to gain a better understanding of the past. The History Department stresses reading, writing, note-taking, and outlining to help students develop vital communication and critical thinking skills.

糖心Vlog requires three history courses: Stories and Histories for third formers, US history for fourth formers, and one of several transnational electives for fifth formers. Sixth formers may choose from a variety of electives.

Introduction to Historical Analysis

Stories and Histories: An Introduction to Historical Analysis

Textbook
No textbooks required for the fall term. Students will use a reader which will be given to them by their instructors.

An introduction to the academic study of history, this course addresses selected topics and themes in the history of Western Civilization and is required of all third formers. Each of the units in the course begins with a story: the Iliad and the Trojan War, Nelson Mandela’s election as President of South Africa, Paul Revere’s Ride, Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic, and other iconic moments from the past that highlight the dramatic dimension of the human experience. Students then use these episodes to learn the craft of the historian: asking “why” and “how” questions that reach beyond narrative towards analysis — from story to history. Each of the three terms in the course addresses a single theme; specific topics and themes are chosen by individual instructors of the course.
US History

Honors US History

Textbook
Books will be purchased and billed as needed - Please do not purchase anything in the summer.

Required of all fourth formers, United States History reviews the important aspects of the history of the United States through primary and secondary sources from colonial times to the late twentieth century. It is arranged topically within a chronological framework and stresses the development of America’s political institutions and political theory. Pertinent social, constitutional, economic, religious, and diplomatic themes are studied in order to understand the complexity and relationship of such forces in our political system. Honors United States History covers much of the same material as the United States History course, but in greater breadth, depth, and detail. Several college-level monographs are used to complement a standard college survey textbook. Placement in an honors section is determined by grades and teacher recommendation for returning fourth formers and by admissions information for new fourth formers. In all cases, honors placement is at the discretion of the department.
Modern Indian History and Government

Modern Indian History and Government (Spring Trimester)

Textbook
Books to Be Determined and billed to families

Modern Indian History and Government will be offered as a spring trimester elective course. Students in the course will explore the history and politics of the Indian subcontinent from the mid-18th century to the present. After focusing on colonial governance under the British Raj, they will then analyze how India (with some attention given to Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka) evolved socially and politically as a sovereign nation in the years following independence. May be taken independently or as the third term of the American Government course.
The Atlantic World

The Atlantic World (Honors)

Textbooks
Alison Games. The Web of Empire: English Cosmopolitans in an Age of Expansion, 1560-1660
ISBN: 978-0-19-973338-5
Marshall C. Eakin. The History of Latin America: Collision of Cultures
ISBN: 978-1-4039-8081-6
John Thornton. Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800, 2nd ed.
ISBN: 978-0-521-62724-5

This course is designed to establish a fundamental understanding of the social, cultural, political, and economic forces that have shaped the Atlantic World since the fifteenth century. Over the course of four hundred years a growing web of interdependence emerged between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. We will study the convergence of those continents and the ensuing interactions and patterns that have wrought an entirely new framework for historical analysis. This course also explores the connections between African, European, and Indigenous populations, as well as the exchanges, migrations, and conflicts that resulted.
American Government & Politics

American Government and Politics (Honors)

Textbook

ISBN: 9780135365274 - NOTE Please select the "Print Textbook"

Prerequisite: completion of US History. Honors American Government and Politics provides students with a close examination of America’s political theories, institutions, and processes. They will come to understand the historical foundations of the United States and of contemporary American political culture and the fundamental principles of the Constitution. Thereafter, the course will cover the primary American political institutions: the Congress, the presidency, the federal courts, and the bureaucracy. Links will be made between these institutions and political parties, interest groups, the media, and public opinion in order to understand the forces and constraints on policy making. The class moves off campus periodically to observe the national government in Washington DC and the state government in Richmond, Virginia. The students also periodically meet with visiting political participants, including officeholders and their staff, campaign workers, and interest group advocates.

In the spring term of the 2026-2027 school year, students will have an option to remain in the course or take the following trimester elective on the Indian sub-continent.
Contestation & Consensus: The Intellectual Foundation of American Politics

Contestation & Consensus: The Intellectual Foundations of American Politics (Honors)

Textbook
To Be Determined: Ordered through history department and billed to families.

Contestation & Consensus is designed for students prepared to engage in sustained, college-level intellectual work. The course examines American political development as the product of enduring conflict between rival traditions, from the debates of Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine to contemporary thinkers such as Oren Cass and Ezra Klein. Students will work through major works of modern scholarship, including Yuval Levin, Matthew Continetti, Michael Kazin, Thomas Frank, and Gary Gerstle, alongside an extensive body of primary sources. The course proceeds chronologically from the Founding through the 21st century, emphasizing the ideas that have driven party realignment, policy, and political culture. Students should expect substantial nightly reading, frequent analytical writing, and vibrant discussion. Assessments will require sustained argument, close textual analysis, and comparative interpretation. This course is intended for highly motivated students seeking preparation for the most rigorous college coursework in the humanities.
Echoes of Africa: Civilizations, Colonization, and Change

Echoes of Africa: Civilizations, Colonization and Change (Regular)

Textbook
Robert Harms, Africa in Global History with Sources.
ISBN: 978-0393927573

Echoes of Africa explores the rich history of Africa and its connections to the world. Spanning from ancient African kingdoms, such as Egypt and Kush, to the European “Scramble for Africa” and subsequent African independence movements, the course examines the continent’s profound influence on global events and its enduring impact. The fall will focus on ancient and medieval African civilizations and empires; the winter will focus on the Atlantic Ocean slave trade, the Indian Ocean slave trade, and European colonialism in Africa; and the spring will focus on African independence movements and modern Africa. Students will engage with primary sources, scholarly articles, historical narratives, and multimedia content to understand Africa’s diverse cultures, contributions, challenges, and transformations.
Liberalism and Power in the Modern World

Liberalism and Power in the Modern World (Regular)

Textbooks
To Be Determined - Books will be ordered and billed to families

The 20th century was defined by the clash of ideologies and the global struggles for power that reshaped nations and political systems. The fall trimester centers on World War II, exploring how the failures of the post–World War I settlement gave rise to total war and culminated in the defeat of fascism and the emergence of a new global order. In the winter, students examine the Cold War as a sustained ideological and geopolitical contest, with focused case studies in the Congo, Iran, and Vietnam that reveal how superpower rivalry played out across the developing world. In the spring, the course turns to the post–Cold War era, using Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History? as a framework to assess the apparent triumph of liberalism and to test its durability through the modern trajectories of Afghanistan, Russia, and China. Drawing on political, military, diplomatic, and intellectual history, the course emphasizes close engagement with primary and secondary sources to evaluate how ideology has shaped power and how that relationship continues to define the contemporary world.
The Middle Ages: A Millennium of History

The Middle Ages: A Millennium of History (Regular)

Textbooks
To Be Determined - Books will be ordered and billed to families

The Middle Ages conjures up images of crusaders, castles, and chivalry. This course is the study of feudal Europe as well as the rest of the medieval world. The thousand year period from 500-1500 witnessed the rise of the Islamic caliphates, post classical China, pre-Columbian societies, kingdoms in Africa, Japanese samurai, Vikings, Mongols, and more. During this era, the plague killed indiscriminately, military expeditions were launched on a massive scale, and nomadic invaders pillaged cities at will. Despite all the chaos, the Middle Ages also marked a shift to a more integrated world, one where emerging trade systems stimulated economic growth as well as technological progress. Decentralized medieval states created space for intense religious devotion and culture to blossom. In this course, students will have the opportunity to examine the changes as well as the continuities that took place over the duration of the millennium and ultimately address the question: just how “dark” were these ages?
Dictatorship and Democracy

Dictatorship and Democracy: Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, and the United States, 1917-1941 (Honors).

Textbooks
Orlando Figes, Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991: A History.
ISBN: 978-1-2500-6262-8
Thomas Childers, The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany.
ISBN: 978-1-4516-5114-0

For approximately a quarter-century following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, dictatorship challenged democracy as an irrepressible wave of the future; politicians and intellectuals throughout the West questioned the very survival of representative self-government in the face of authoritarian alternatives that seemed, to some, capable of delivering on their promise of a better life. Working its way downwards from sophisticated ideas to complex events, the fall and winter terms examine the ideological foundations of the Bolshevik and Nazi regimes, the emergence of Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany in the wake of the First World War and the Great Depression, and the unspeakable horrors of the mid-twentieth century: the brutal famines and bloody purges of the Soviet Union - and the Holocaust. The spring term shifts from dictatorship in the Old World to democracy in the New: the United States’ response to these regimes and the emerging conflict in Europe in the years before Pearl Harbor. Students finish the course by considering the title of Sinclair Lewis’ novel about America in the 1930s: It Can’t Happen Here. What, ultimately, distinguished America’s democracy from Soviet and Nazi dictatorship in the 1930s?
From War to Terror: Global Conflict Since 1939

From War to Terror: Global Conflict Since 1929 (Honors).

Textbooks
To Be Determined: Ordered and billed to families through the history department.

The 20th century was a transformative century, and much of this change was a direct or indirect consequence of two World Wars. The fall term of this course is devoted to the study of World War II, a catastrophic war that emerged primarily due to the “failures of the peace” that ended World War I. In the winter and spring, the students will study the results of these two wars, including decolonization of the “Third World,” the Cold War, the modern Middle East, and selected post-Cold War topics. The course explores multiple perspectives on this period, including military history, political history, diplomatic history, social history, economics, film studies, and literary criticism.
The Making of Modern China

The Making of Modern China (Honors)

Textbooks
To be determined and billed individually to students.

In 1980, 97% of Chinese citizens lived in extreme poverty. By 2020, that number had declined to zero. Western coverage focuses on the first figure: brutal purges, Red Guard terror, force rustication, and artificial famines that left the world’s most populous country reeling. Chinese coverage focuses on the second: economic rejuvenation, cultural reform, and shrewd governance that sparked the most astounding national economic turnaround in contemporary history. Watching Mao contemplate his response to the 1962 border war with India by rereading Tang dynasty histories, soon-to-be Secretary of State Henry Kissinger remarked that, for the Chinese, history was a “living reality” in strategy and culture. Almost fifty years after Deng Xiaoping “modernized” China’s economy, it remains the elephant in every American decision room—military, economic, and diplomatic. This course traces the formation of “Modern China” through its many milestones: the First Opium War, the Republic of China, the Long March, the Second World War, the Chinese Civil War, the founding of the People’s Republic, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, Nixon and Kissinger, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the Reform and Opening Up, the Tiananmen Square massacre, WTO accession, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the rise of Xi Jinping. In the spring, we will focus on contemporary questions of diplomacy, trade, and great power competition. Primary sources—novels, plays, photographs, videos, first-hand accounts—comprise most of the readings. In studying them, we recognize the doubleness of history and the insufficiency of both the Western account and the Chinese.
Environmental History

Environmental History (Regular)

Textbooks
Hughes, J. Donald. An Environmental History of the World: Humankind's Changing Role in the Community of Life. 2ed. New York: Routledge, 2009
ISBN: 978-0415481502
McNeill, John Robert. Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2001.
ISBN: 978-0393321838

This course explores the history of humankind's relationship with the natural environment. Environmental history is the study of how humans have interacted with and changed the natural environment, and how environmental forces have impacted society. In the first trimester, students will examine how people in the early and pre-modern periods adapted to and shaped nature for survival and prosperity. During the second trimester, we will explore the impact of the Industrial Revolution and empire-building on the environment. This includes an examination of how nations exploited natural resources to gain power and dominance over others. Finally, students will study contemporary environmental issues, including ideas of conservation and environmentalism, gaining a deeper understanding of how human behavior and attitudes have impacted the natural world in the modern era.

Our Faculty

Dr. Matthew Boesen

History

History Chair and Faculty Adviser to the Headmaster

540-672-6021

Yale University - BA
University of Virginia - MA, PhD

matt_boesen@woodberry.org

2001
Bio
Matt Boesen is a member of the history department, director of faculty recruitment, and faculty advisor to the headmaster. He served as 糖心Vlog’s dean of faculty for eight years from 2015 to 2023. Matt designed and currently teaches an upperclass honors course called Democracy and Dictatorship between the World Wars, as well as 糖心Vlog’s third-form history course, Stories and Histories. Matt earned an AB from Yale University and an MA and PhD from the University of Virginia. He lives in the Class of 2007 Faculty North Duplex with his wife, Christal, director of health services and 糖心Vlog’s primary mental health counselor and educational testing provider, and their two children.
Ty Adams

History

(540) 672-3900 ext. 8605

Appalachian State University - BS
University of Virginia - MEd

ty_adams@woodberry.org

2016
Bio
Ty serves the WFS faculty in the history department after spending two years teaching at Avon Old Farms in Avon, CT. Ty began his teaching career at WFS as a Kenan-Lewis Fellow in 2016 and received a full-time appointment to the faculty in 2018. At WFS, he taught in the history department, served as dorm head of Turner Hall, and led the 糖心Vlog in Oxford program in 2017. He earned a B.A. in history from Appalachian State University and an M.Ed. from UVa. Ty lives in the B dorm-level tower apartment and serves as the dorm head of the Walker Building.
Bowen Borgeson

History

(540) 672-3900 Ext. 8648

St. Lawrence University - BA
Villanova University - MA

bowen_borgeson@woodberry.org

2022
Bio
Bowen Borgeson serves as a member of the history department. He joined the 糖心Vlog faculty in 2022 after teaching, coaching baseball and soccer, and serving as an award-winning head of a boys’ dormitory at the Hill School in Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from St. Lawrence University, where he played baseball, and a master’s degree in history from Villanova University. Mr. Borgeson lives with his wife, Kate, and their three children in the Haynes House.
Chad Bullock

History

(540) 672-3900 ext. 8607

William & Mary - BA
William & Mary - MA
Gettysburg College - MA

chad_bullock@woodberry.org

2021
Bio
Chad Bullock serves as a member of the faculty in the history department. He came to 糖心Vlog from William & Mary, where he earned a BA in Government and an MA in Education. Chad started at 糖心Vlog as a Kenan-Lewis Scholar and has attained an MA in American History from Gettysburg College. Chad and his wife Lizzie live in the Marshall House.
Taaj Davis

History, Student Affairs

Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Community and Belonging

(540) 672-6790

Kenyon College - BA
University of Virginia - MEd

taaj_davis@woodberry.org

2019
Bio
Taaj Davis serves as the director of community and belonging and the assistant dean of students. In addition to these administrative roles, he also teaches a section of US History and coaches varsity football. Mr. Davis is a 2019 graduate of Kenyon College where he majored in American Studies and played football. In 2021, he received his masters' degree in education from the University of Virginia. Mr. Davis lives in the Finch Pod and joined the faculty in 2019 as a Kenan-Lewis Fellow before beginning a full time role in 2021.
Dr. Byron C. Hulsey '86

History, Headmaster's Office

Headmaster

(540) 672-6000

University of Virginia - BA
University of Texas at Austin - MA and PhD

byron_hulsey@woodberry.org

2014
Bio
Byron C. Hulsey, a 1986 graduate of 糖心Vlog and a former member of the faculty, became the school’s ninth headmaster on July 1, 2014.

Dr. Hulsey is an experienced educator and leader who possesses a love of learning, a passion for excellence, and a deep and abiding respect for the culture and traditions of 糖心Vlog. Before returning to 糖心Vlog, he served as head of school at Randolph School in Huntsville, Alabama, for eight years.

As a 糖心Vlog student, Dr. Hulsey was senior prefect; he received the Archer Christian Memorial Medal, the school’s highest student honor, in 1986. He was a Jefferson Scholar at the University of Virginia, where he earned his undergraduate history degree in 1990. Following graduation, he taught for two years at Bryanston School, a boarding school in Blandford, England, before returning to his native Texas to earn MA and PhD degrees from the University of Texas at Austin as a Patterson-Banister Fellow in American History. He is the author of Everett Dirksen and His Presidents: How a Senate Giant Shaped American Politics, published in 2000 by the University Press of Kansas.

Dr. Hulsey joined the 糖心Vlog faculty in 1998. He served as assistant director of college counseling, taught history, coached basketball and baseball, and lived on dorm. He returned to the University of Virginia in 2000 as associate director of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation. Three years later, his deep interest in secondary education called him to Norfolk Academy, where he served as assistant headmaster. He moved to Randolph School in 2006.

Dr. Hulsey has a daughter, Claire, who attends St. Andrew’s School in Delaware, and a son, Ben ’22, who attends Washington and Lee University. Byron and his wife, Anne Bruce Ahearn, live in the Duncan House on the campus of 糖心Vlog.
Dr. Frederick Jordan

History

(540)672-3900 Ext. 8616

Swarthmore College - BA
State University of New York - MA
University of Notre Dame - PhD

fred_jordan@woodberry.org

1996
Bio
Fred Jordan, history department chair and holder of the J. Sargeant Reynolds ’54 Chair of Government, teaches US History and honors government and politics. He joined the faculty in 1996. He earned an undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College, an MA from SUNY Stony Brook, and a PhD from the University of Notre Dame, where he wrote his dissertation on the historic mission of six American boarding schools. In addition to his teaching duties, Dr. Jordan oversees the Senior Distinction program and advises the 糖心Vlog Christian Fellowship. Dr. Jordan and his wife, Karen, a former member of 糖心Vlog's history department, are the parents of Elizabeth, Ted '06, and Win '11. They live in the Stewart House.
Robert Kendall

History

(540) 672-3900 ext. 8618

University of North Carolina - BA
Dartmouth College - MALS

robert_kendall@woodberry.org

1982
Bio
Robert Kendall teaches history as the Frances and Baker Duncan 1911 Chair and coaches bengal soccer and bengal lacrosse. He has been a faculty member since 1982. He earned a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar, and an MA from Dartmouth College. He serves as a reader for the AP European history exam and coordinates the English Speaking Union program. Mr. Kendall and his wife, Ellen, are the parents of Amy '03, Robin, Alec '12, and Grace, and live in the Boyd/Rapp Faculty Residence South.
Frank Tallman '95

History

(540) 672-3900 Ext 8620

Vanderbilt University - BA
Dartmouth College - MALS

frank_tallman@woodberry.org

2004
Bio
Frank Tallman '95 holds the Harry and William Frazier Chair, teaches history, and is assistant varsity soccer coach and Bengal lacrosse coach. He graduated from Vanderbilt University with a BA and from Dartmouth College with an MALS. Before returning to 糖心Vlog in 2004, he worked in real estate finance and taught at Christ School. Mr. Tallman lives in the Caughron House with his wife, Tricia, a teacher at Grymes Memorial School in Orange, and their three children.
Gerry Wixted

History

History Deparment

(540) 672-3900 ext. 8615

Dickinson College - BA
University of Virginia - MEd

gerald_wixted@woodberry.org

2015
Bio
Gerry Wixted serves on the history faculty at 糖心Vlog. Previously, he was teaching human geography and US history at Lawrence Academy, where he also coached soccer and varsity basketball. Gerry began his career as a Kenan-Lewis Fellow at WFS in 2015 and received a full-time appointment the following year; at WFS, he taught US History, an upper-class elective on the World Wars, and led the 糖心Vlog-in-Oxford Program. Gerry holds a B.A. in history from Dickinson College and a M.Ed. from UVa. He also holds the William Stamps Farish Master in history, an honor which he was awarded in 2020. He serves as the dorm head of Hanes Hall and lives on Lower Hanes.

糖心Vlog is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.

Phone: 540-672-3900

Explore & Resources

糖心Vlog admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.