HIUS 3231

Varon is a great professor, and it shows. Lectures are pretty easy to grasp, and I found myself just listening to the material each class instead of taking notes. Grading is based upon essay writing, and so interacting with the TA is important. Most essays are based upon close analysis of primary sources, etc., so lectures really are just background material to help contextualize what you are talking about. I'd definitely recommend going to see the TA/Varon around essay time to talk through your writing - they want you to succeed, and are willing to give you the help you need if you ask for it.

This was an incredibly engaging class and really my favorite that I have ever taken at UVA. There are no exams, only essays. The books for the course are pretty interesting as well.

Professor Varon is a remarkable lecturer, and her classes are as enlightening as they are captivating. I believe this class is an absolute must for anyone interested in American History, African American History, or Southern culture. As a History major, I found the class relatively manageable in terms of reading and workload. The take-home midterm and final were difficult, but she gives plenty of time to work on them. 10/10 recommend.

Professor Varon is very passionate about this era of history. You can really tell this from the way she teaches and I would definitely recommend this class to a history major. However, I am an economics major, and I would not recommend this class to anyone except a history major. Here's why:
1. The lectures and readings go too in-depth for a person who is really only interested in general knowledge.
2. There is a midterm ( two 5-6 page essays), a term research paper (8-10 pages), and a final (7-8 page essay) which you have to do while reading up to 100 pages a week or so. All assignments are take-home. Sure, I got through it, but it's a HUGE time suck. I spent probably 16-20 total hours on the first midterm alone.
3. In a class with many other history majors, I felt like the odd guy out. I couldn't provide the detailed historical insight that others could.
4. I took this class as a first-year. Manageable, but definitely wouldn't recommend unless you took something like AP US History or another American history course at UVA and have a general college-level knowledge of U.S. history.

In summary, I've taken two history classes at UVA and both have been a humongous time-suck with grades that certainly don't reflect the work put in. I would suggest that (for those who aren't history majors, of course) people generally stay away from history courses at UVA unless you are comfortable reading and writing in excess every week with all of your other classes. My history classes ended up being my two lowest grades at UVA and, ironically, I spent the most time on them.

Rise and Fall of the Slave South is one of the top two classes I've taken at UVa so far. Professor Varon is a wonderful lecturer who is clearly very passionate and extremely well-versed in the subject. Although there's a lot of reading, I did every bit of it because I genuinely enjoyed the material; the reading is also necessary for the midterm and final (two 6-8 page essays for each) and definitely helps with the term paper (roughly 10 pages). Professor Varon is very willing to help out and is extremely approachable and nice. Jim is also a great TA! Although it was quite a bit of work, I came out with an A and would 100% recommend taking it!