History as it happens: NY Times looks at how different colleges and graduate schools are adding new classes or updating courses to include the recent global economic crisis that has left the world hurting. An American Studies course from Columbia University professor Steven Fraser previously only covered Wall Street culture though the 1990s, but now includes last year's meltdown. He says, "The class is struck by the similarities between today and the darker periods of Wall Street’s past, for example in the Gilded Age — the meltdown, the bonuses, the reckless speculation, the impact of Wall Street’s behavior on the rest of society. We compare the confidence man of 1840 to the confidence man of today," adding, "One kid is doing a paper comparing Jay Gould, who was known as the Mephistopheles of his day, to Richard Fuld."