Jonathan Thorndike
Dr. Jonathan Thorndike teaches interdisciplinary Honors courses including 'The Ancient World' (Mediterranean, Near East, Far East) and 'The Modern World.' (19th and 20th Centuries). The Honors Program is an alternative General Education sequence that resembles what educators used to call "The Great Books" or "Western/ World Civilization." These courses combine literature, history, social science, and philosophy. Dr. Thorndike's two main areas of research interest are post-Meiji Japan and early 20th century England. He teaches special topics courses on Japanese literature and history as well as a course on C. S. Lewis through King's College/ London and the CCSA.
He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Alma College in Michigan and went on to Michigan State University for an M.A. and Ph.D. in literature in 1989. He received a fellowship to travel to Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland to research and write a dissertation on 18th century satirist Jonathan Swift. He did additional study at the University of Arizona, Harvard University, and the University of Hawaii through the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Dr. Thorndike has published one edited volume on James Joyce, two books on American history (Enslow Publishers), and numerous essays on literature and history in reference works (Salem Press, ABC-CLIO, Thomson Gale). With his interest in world civilizations and "roughing it" travel, Thorndike has been Director or Co-Director of college travel-study programs in Greece, Italy, Great Britain, China, and Japan. For summer of 2008, Dr. Thorndike will be involved in academic programs in Kyoto, Japan on The Tale of Genji (May) and in London, England on C. S. Lewis.
