HIME 2001

Loved this class. White is one of the best history lecturers I've had at UVA, he has the ability to be incredibly thorough and detailed while also conveying overarching themes across the 1000-year timespan covered by the class. The reading workload was a bit heavier than you might expect for a class of this level, and I definitely had to study a lot for exams; this is not an easy class. But if you're interested in the subject, take a class with Professor White.

Your grade essentially consists of three essays, a midterm, and a two-essay final. Readings are technically required, but if you just do the readings for your papers and attend lectures you should do just fine. Professor White is a pretty funny guy and makes the material very accessible. All in all the course was pretty rigorous but really enjoyable, would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.

This was my favorite class of my first semester. Granted, I was genuinely interested in the VERY dense material. If you are looking for an easy history, this class is not it. There is a lot of reading, and it covers 1000 years in a lot of detail. You write 3 responses to readings in the semester that are 3-5 page essays. The majority of your grade in this class is based on your midterm and final. The midterm was just defining 5 terms and than writing an essay in class. The final was two online essays that were open note and open book, although you only had 5 hours to complete them. Anyway, as someone who loves history and wanted a challenge, and wanted to learn something new and from a middle eastern perspective (which is specifically why I took it), I would definitely recommend this class if that seems like you too. But don't take it passively, there were weeks where you read over 100 pages, some from primary sources. I would show the readings to my friends and they would be like "ugh, how could you read all that?" There are pop reading quizzes and a discussion section over the readings every week. Lectures are much easier to follow after doing the readings. Finally, Professor White is a fantastic lecturer. If you like anything about this class, it would be Professor White. He is funny, good at answering questions, and teaches history like a story. If you really get into is lectures, they are very interesting. Overall, requires a lot of focus and effort, but if you put in the effort, you will get an awful lot out of this course.

Professor White was a delight to have as an instructor. I think he's hilarious and can tell that this man has a passion for what he's doing. There was a lot of reading for this course, but I think that the quizzes and exams were quite reasonable. Honestly, I had no interest in the subject of this class, but I stayed solely because I wanted to learn from Professor White. He teaches history like a story - it's quite poetic. He's also super knowledge about the course material and loves answering questions. I'd recommend this class to others, but like other comments have said - it's a little boring if you don't have a genuine interest in the subject matter.

This course was really interesting and you learn a lot from it. The lectures can be difficult to follow at times so doing the reading before class is really useful or using it for review is as well. The exams are pretty straightforwards. Midterm is an essay and IDs and so is the final but more of the same.

Professor White is very humorous and a great lecturer. This is a excellent course to use to knock out your non-western perspective/ history requirements. There is quite a bit of reading, which you can get by without doing, but there are short pop quizzes based off of them. I always looked forward to class because there was a good amount of humor infused into already fairly interesting lectures.

Professor White makes this class very interesting and enjoyable. Lectures are filled with facts, and it does take a while to sort out what you need to know from the minor details. However, I will say that overall, you come out of this class with an extremely thorough understanding of early Middle Eastern History. Reading can be dense at times, but the important things are highlighted in Lecture and Discussion. The majority of the grading comes from a midterm, a final, and three primary source response papers throughout the semester. Overall, this can be a difficult class that is easy to get behind in, however, it is also fascinating and due to Professor White's lectures, you get a fantastic basis of an interesting time in history.

A very interesting history of a very interesting part of the world. Professor White is brilliantly knowledgable and pretty funny as well, though the material was dense and could be confusing at times. Lectures are enjoyable- but I would recommend only taking this class if you know you are interested in the subject matter. Assignments are tough but grading is very fair. Midterm and a final exam, plus 3 response papers and in-class quizzes. Discussion is mandatory and Kimberly was a very good TA. Overall, a solidly challenging class that is very informative and can be very interesting.

Professor White is a great lecturer who is passionate about the topic, but he emphasizes a lot of details in an hour and a half. This class is interesting, but is really hard if you don't put effort into it. The TA Kimberly is willing to help and a fair grader. There are 6 reading quizzes, 3 response papers, midterm, and final. Would not recommend this class if you are not interested in the topic.

Professor White kept lectures interesting but the huge amount of information that he went over was difficult to keep together. The tests were heavily essay based though, and the overarching ideas seemed to be more important than all of the details he went over. Definitely not an easy class.

Extremely knowledgeable but lectures are had to follow sometimes. DO not take this class if you don't have an interest in the subject.