HIUS 2002

if you like history you might enjoy it. lots of notes, two papers, midterm, and final. wayyyyy too much memorization and tests are graded harshly (at least by my ta).

There's a couple things you should know for this class. If you are looking for an easy American history class you've come to the wrong place. The chapters we read are long and dense, takes me about 3 hours to read it and understand it. In addition, every week you have several primary source documents (Average is about 4-5 I'd say but most people don't do all of them because they're just excessive) to read and analyze, making connections with the lectures and readings. Before we switched to online, there was literally a TON of material to review and actually engage with because we had to write 2 long essays and 5 short answers. Although they aren't a huge part of the exam, you need to know about the primary source documents and pictures given weekly. There was supposed to be two essays in the class and we did one before switching to online and I will say to get an A you need to write and argue very well. Zunz wants not only knowledge of historical facts but also very well written essays in short (On both exam and essay assignments). It will make you a lot more knowledgeable about American history even if you've taken a course and you will become a much better writer, and I've gotten mostly all A's on the assignments so far right before finals, but it is a difficult course definitely.

So broad, so you don’t learn anything aside from what you would get skimming your AP history book. Very white-male only narrative. Zunz has a THICK French accent which will take a while to get used to. As a very liberal person, this class was upsetting. Zunz used the n work several times, only included women and people of color in their singular, isolated lecture, and made unsensored remarks. Maybe just a silly old man, but be warned if you have the option to not take this class. He and his curriculum leave much to be desired.

Professor Zunz is very knowledgeable about the material. For his lectures, he teaches history as a narrative and builds connections with past material that we learned, which I found helpful for me to not only retain information, but understand how to think like a historian. Sometimes, it is hard to hear Professor Zuns because he speaks low. However, if history is not your major, I suggest that you take a more narrow history class. I am a first year, which I plan on majoring in biology. But I needed to fulfill my history requirement. For this history class, it requires so many readings for discussion section although we did not get to all of them. At most, we had six articles every week to read. On top of that, it covers a lot of material, which you will be given a cumulative exam for finals. If you want to take this course, I highly suggest that you review your notes everyday after attending class for at least one through two hours. As for your grades, 20% is based on discussions (50 min class), 15% for one paper during the first part of the course, and 15% for another paper during second part of the course, 20% is for the midterm (you will be tested on first part of the course - 1865 - 1930's), and 30% is for the cumulative exam. Overall, I can say that this class was a worthwhile course because it allowed me to understand the past in order to make sense of the present.

Professor Zunz is a great professor, but he speaks very low and it is sometimes hard to understand him. It is important to do the readings and to attend class! When you can hear him, he definitely makes good points about the topic at hand. There is usually no time for questions so much sure that you get all of that in during your discussion. The readings are a little heavy for the course, but I think it was worthwhile.

Overall, I found this class enjoyable simply because I really enjoy history. Professor Zunz is very nice, but he can be a dry lecturer. Sometimes he sprinkles in a couple jokes to lighten up the class, but for the most part his lectures aren't very animated. After a while you get used to it, but the first few few weeks were brutal. Don't bother buying the books. Just take really good notes. You can find the additional readings, including speeches, online. If you need a class to fulfill a requirement, you shouldn't take this class unless you genuinely enjoy US history in this era. There were 2 5-page papers, which were very manageable. There was also a written midterm and final. They weren't too bad. Having Allison as a TA was great. She was really resourceful and helpful. Her reviews were a major help with the exams because she basically tells you what to study.

The course covers a lot of material, but if you've taken APUSH then you probably have been taught about 75% of it already. So in that sense (of learning new material), I wouldn't recommend taking it. However, it can be a little easier because of that. What I appreciated most was Zunz venturing into the 21st Century, because it is rare to find a class in the History Department that does that. I enjoyed spending the last four or five weeks learning about modern material. The textbook is good (and a fine substitute for his lectures). You have to go to section because it's worth 20% of your grade. Take the course, but I prefer narrower history classes.

This was a really worthwhile class, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're not interested in history; there are better classes to fill the history requirement. Zunz is a really knowledgable, friendly guy, but his lectures could get a little boring. The class itself was pretty easy; the grade comes from two 4-5 page papers, a midterm, a final, and participation in section. Erik was my TA, I would definitely recommend him as well.