HIUS 2052

I took this class without even knowing that ProfessorZelikow has worked for three presidential administrations and worked on the 9/11 Commission. He is one of my favorite professors at UVA, and his class made me seriously consider doing a History major. You will learn from an expert on war policy about wars from World War I to the Second Iraq War, and learn from one of the most-knowledgeable people on the planet regarding the later wars about those wars. Two papers are required, and both are somewhat difficult (I'd say seven or eight hours of work), and the readings are really long, but it's all worth it, especially if you're going into history or foreign affairs.

If you haven't had a class with Zelikow, you absolutely should. He has years of experience in the political realm and was one of the authors of the 9/11 Commission Report. While sometimes his lectures do go off on tangents and seem disconnected from the readings, I feel like they were extremely worthwhile. Once we got into the end of the course and were talking about the wars on terror, he would casually drop anecdotes like how he was in Iraq for a while or how he helped with the reunification of Germany after the Cold War. And he cancelled class to attend George H. W. Bush's funeral. He's that connected. Grade consists of section participation, a midterm paper, and a final paper. Both papers were around 12 pages but extremely manageable.

Professor Zelikow is a wonderful lecturer even if it feels at times as if the lectures don't add too much to the readings. What really makes this course stand out, however, is the TA Connor -- he is absolutely great. If you can take the course with him, I would highly recommend it.

Cannot recommend Zelikow or this class enough. His lectures are super engaging and make you want to go to class. He doesn't take attendance, but if you don't include material from the lectures, discussions, and readings in your papers then you're screwed. He doesn't post any powerpoints online, so you need to be there or get the notes. His experience working for various administrations (google him) definitely shapes his perspective, and it's awesome to hear him lecture about policy he wrote and decisions he helped make.

The discussion has weekly quizzes, but they don't factor into your grade too much. It forces you to do the readings, which is annoying at the time but helpful when it comes time to write the midterm and final. The only work is readings and the 2 papers (midterm and final). The prompts for his papers were straightforward and clearly grounded in his lectures/ readings. Highly recommend this class.

This is the best class I've taken so far. Zelikow is an incredible lecturer. He explains history through a human lens-- how decisions were made, what all the options were, how much information people had at the time, etc. It's much more interesting than a pedantic approach. Zelikow also has a lot of experience in government and war planning. As you get into the more modern wars, such as the Gulf War and the Global War on Terror, he tells you about his own personal experiences. He knows things that aren't published in any literature yet, and he isn't afraid to respectfully give his opinion on different matters.

This is, however, a difficult class. There is a lot of reading and short weekly quizzes in discussion sections that can feel unfairly specific. But the TA, Vivien, is the best. She also pays attention to participation, so it's not just your weekly quiz grades that matter. There is a midterm and a final-- both papers roughly 13 pages long. So there's not a whole lot of writing, except for in the middle and end of the semester. And you don't have to memorize facts and dates and people (except for the 5 question weekly quizzes, which focus on only one reading at a time). Take this course if you're willing to dedicate time to it. If you're interested in the subject matter, it's definitely worth it.

Zelikow is extremely knowledgeable and insightful--especially in the latter part of the course when he draws from his personal experience working in the national security apparatus. Lectures are very interesting and worthwhile. However, he assigns way more reading than you would expect from a normal 2000-level class. You are tested on whether or not you've done the reading through (almost) weekly quizzes in discussion section that are meant to just make sure you read it. Sometimes it was difficult to get everything right on the quizzes even after having done most of the reading though. The exams are fairly straight-forward and make you draw from both lecture and reading material. Overall, definitely recommend for the lectures, but there are some drawbacks.

Zelikow was a great professor and incredibly knowledgeable about this topic. If you do not know Zelikow's history look him up online and you will be very impressed and understand that he is one of the best people in the world to learn about this topic from. I highly recommend this class to anyone who thinks the title interests them. The class is graded on section participation and a take home midterm and a final (each around 12 pages) that ask you to draw on the material you have learned from the course.