HIEU 2152

Seriously, don't do it. Geraci makes a great subject absolutely miserable. Focus is entirely on the monarch and changes in government. If you're into that, you might be okay. If you want to learn about culture or art or just ANYTHING besides the government you're out of luck. Also, only talked about maybe 5 women in the entire class- three of which were monarchs. Tons of reading that in entirely un-intergrated with the class. There were several time I read 50-100 pages of shit he didn't even talk about in any capacity or even attempt to connect to the material.

I would never recommend taking this course to anyone. He is not an easy professor, and he is a terrible lecturer. The amount of reading expected for this class is ridiculous. There is no way that anyone could read the amount that he asks (anywhere from 100-200 pages per week) and retain the information. Stay away from this class if at all possible! He does not follow the syllabus, and he grades in an arbitrary manner. Grades were never justified as to where you actually lost points on papers. This class is not worth it.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! This class was by far the worst class I have ever taken at UVa.. Grading is completely arbitrary, the syllabus is not followed, and lectures make you want to gouge out your own eyes (and ears), rather than stay for one more moment. Geraci CANNOT lecture, nor can he teach even remotely chronologically. I am a history fanatic and actually enjoy Russian history, and yet even I felt that this class was hell. Reading assignments are overwhelming, dense, and almost never discussed. Expectations by Geraci on content in papers and tests is ridiculous. Be prepared to deal with an unreasonable human being if you decide to take this class. If you value your sanity do not take this class. My biggest regret this past fall was not dropping this class when I had the chance. Also, if you read earlier reviews, they mention a discussion section and TA's, both no longer exist in relation to this class.

This class was by far the most ridiculous, difficult, uninteresting class i have ever had at UVA. I think one specific experience i had with this man will hopefully deter anyone from taking this. Before the final, which in itself was absolutely ridiculous, i went to his office hours to ask about my midterm. He reread my midterm and actually said to me, "I don't know why i gave this a low score, if i were grading it now i would have given you full points." There's no way to win, he will find something to pick apart in everything you write for him, he even corrects the grammar that is within quoted text. Just don't do it to yourself.

This class was awful! As a Russian major I was excited to take this class and ignored other reviews that it was bad, and it was a mistake. Geraci is boring and rude to students. His grading was difficult and he did not provide any help or explanation, for example I got a B- on a paper and the only comment written on the whole paper was "would have given you a B if there weren't typos". The midterm was take home and open note but still incredibly difficult and we were expected to do it within a time limit. Do not take this class!

DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE.

Stay away from this class. Stay away from this professor! This is a class with so much potential. Russian history is so interesting and unique and I truly believe it is a period worth study BUT NOT with this guy. Someone else should teach this class because he is the worst professor in the department. He's rude and condescending and he goes off on tangents and can never answer anyone's questions or fully explain what he's teaching. Geraci obviously knows a lot but his personality mixed with his inability to teach are a disaster. You're better off just doing the insane amount of reading he assigns and just skipping class. He also assigns weekly blog posts on the reading which would not be too bad if he didn't call out people by name to correct info on their blogs. It's humiliating and I feel sorry when someone gets called out. His midterms are take home but impossible. It's closed book and he expects you to remember every little detail of every term we learn which is sometime 20+ per week. I thought as a fourth year history major I could handle him but I couldn't not. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS.

Only take this class if you have an intense, burning passion for Russian History. Otherwise, DON'T DO IT!
I thought Russia was interesting and I wanted to learn more... I'd never been so stressed in my life. I was in tears. I took this as a first year before I knew what CourseForum was so I had no clue what I was getting myself into. Let's just say that after experiencing this my first semester of college, there's no such thing as a hard class anymore. Nothing compares.

The course itself was okay, the content is all pretty interesting but the actual class time itself is largely boring and many of the readings drag on forever. The midterms were all take home and there were few assignments throughout the semester. Lectures were painful sometimes and although Geraci clearly knows everything there is to know about Russian history, the class isn't very exciting at all.