HIST 3281

Rossman is the best! He made so many references to what is going on in politics today (with the election) and related it to history. He is so interesting and I would recommend any class with him. Unfortunately the TA was a very harsh grader and I think it made my grade worse than it could've been. Would definitely recommend though!

took this class cause i thought it would be pretty interesting to learn about. Prof Rossman is super pretentious and you can barely even understand half the things he says, also super monotone so difficult to pay attention to. he also has 0 relevance to the class other than just giving lectures. doesn't do grading, barely holds office hours. also had the worst TA of all time, Tom Butcher. there was 1 TA for a 180 person so it took him light years to grade anything. didn't receive one grade before add/drop or withdrawal deadline so I had no idea how I was doing in the course. consists of 3 paper a midterm and a final. he's a super hard grader and also pretentious af just like Rossman. you basically have to teach yourself everything in this course by doing all of the 20 readings assigned per lecture. also had to spend what felt like over $500 on all of the books this class requires. definitely would not recommend.

This professor is so intelligent and the class is really well-run. The professor does go off on a couple of tangents that put us a little bit behind schedule during the class but I think these little distractions are still helpful because he knows all of the ins and outs of every subject possible in this subject. This class is definitely very challenging but it's also probably my favorite class this semester. You get out of it what you put into it. So if you do all of the reading (there's a lot), you'll probably do fairly well in this class. Also, it's a lot of information so it's important to review as you go and to take notes on what he's saying, not just on lecture slides. It's the hardest class I've taken at UVA so far but I definitely really recommend it, especially if you're interested in human rights.

I thought this course was superficial in that it did not dive beneath the surface on any of the case studies.

Great course. You first have some thematic background about utopian ideologies, then you move into case studies covering: Native American genocides, Armenia, Stalin, Nazi Germany, Mao's China, Pol Pot, Yugoslavia, and Rwanda. The course finishes with more thematic lectures about topics such as international justice.

The course is graded on a) discussion participation b) three short papers c) a midterm and d) the final. Discussion participation is straightforward. The short papers are annoying but you will get the hang of it. The midterm and final are standard for a history class, IDs and some essays.

Rossman is a great lecturer although he tends to fall behind a bit. There are no real surprises on the tests. The biggest problem with the course is you end up spending a lot of money on books that you only partially read, and ultimately they are not necessary. Overall, great course and really important topic.

This is a really interesting class, but I would only recommend it to History majors, or people very interested in the subject. Rossman is a good professor, although he rambles a bit. You can tell he really loves the class though, and he makes lectures interesting. There's a TON of reading assigned, but as with many history classes you can skip a lot of it and do ok. The grade comes from three essays, midterm, final, and participation in section. The TA Tom was less than stellar and a really harsh grader, but hopefully he won't be back.

Grade depends wholly on your TA. Exams ask way too specifically. Not recommend.

This has been by far my favorite class at UVA. Professor Rossman is oddly humorous for the topic, but his lecture style kept me engaged in the material. The class is incredibly organized so every week you study a new genocide (with a few exceptions). This structure prevented the class from being too rambly, because there's simply too much information for every lecture so you 100% have to do the readings or else you will get nothing from this class. I've heard students say this was hard but my TA Wu was a pretty mild grader, though you had to participate to do well in discussion. Overall I would definitely recommend this course to anyone who is interested in the history of genocide, or even the development of human rights. Also, do not take this class if you won't do the readings because there are so many expensive books that while enriching, will waste your money if you don't take advantage of them. The last note on the books is that they all cover different topics so it's not like it's repetitive. Finally, the "papers" are 600 words so if you love history but don't want to write (or are inexperienced/ first year nervous about a 3000 level HIST class), this class would be perfect for you.

I took the class because I thought it was going to be interesting instead of professor Rossmans was very boring and I couldn't focus in class. Additionally, he is very pretentious, and in one of his lectures, he referred to indigenous peoples as Indians which made me very uncomfortable. Your GPA for the class depends on how your TA grades. The tests are very specific and do not give you enough time. I do not recommend this class. It's possible to get an A but it's not worth it.

The content was interesting... did not love the professor. With an asynchronous class, there was no communication from him really. Lectures were posted late every week.