While studying at UCLA (I subsequently transferred to USC, where I completed my BS, MS, and PhD degrees in electrical engineering), I took several courses from Professor Albert Hoxie, a remarkable lecturer in the Department of History. Hoxie had a profound effect on my thinking and instilled in me a deep love of the subject. If I had to name a single concept that I would associate with him, it would be that history is made not only by economic and social forces (and by technological advances), but also by people, that individuals and their actions (or failures to act) are sometimes decisive, and that the galvanic power of ideas and ideologies should never be underestimated. [OK—I actually squeezed in more than one concept there.]
With Prof. Hoxie's permission, I recorded many of his lectures. Seventeen of these recordings have survived. I'm making them available so that others can enjoy them. The equipment that I used was not of high quality, even by the standards of the day, and the ambient noise level was high, as one might expect in a lecture hall containing 200-300 energetic, enthusiastic students. Nevertheless, the recordings are intelligible.