Patrick N. Allitt Audio & Video

Teaching is more than a job. It's a responsibility—one of the greatest responsibilities in civilized society. Teachers lay bare the mysteries of the world to us. They train our minds to explore, to question, to investigate, to discover.

In the 36 lectures of The Rise and Fall of the British Empire, popular Great Courses Professor Patrick N. Allitt leads you through four centuries of British power, innovation, and diminishment.

From electric lights to automobiles to the appliances that make our lives easier at work and at home, we owe so much of our world to the Industrial Revolution.

This 84-lecture series features three top professors sharing insights into this nation’s past, from European settlement and Revolutionary War through Civil War, 19th-century industrialization, world wars, and today.

Our understanding of the American West has moved far beyond pop culture in recent years.

What defines an American? Is it the love of liberty, the pursuit of justice, the urge to invent, the desire for wealth, the drive to explore, the quest for spiritual values?

Preserving the traditions and values of the past and applying them to the future—this is the core of the Conservative attitude.

How did Prince Albert, an obscure German prince, leave an indelible mark on the British monarchy?

After her 1837 accession to the throne as a teenager, Queen Victoria’s realm was a time of great change.

This course explores the particularly rich history of religion in the U.S.