The lectures are absolutely phenomenal, delivering dense historical material through captivating storytelling that keeps you genuinely engaged every session. However, the coursework is incredibly grueling, requiring hundreds of pages of dense primary readings each week, relentless memorization of terms and passages, and brutally difficult exams that demand serious, consistent studying. Do not enroll as a casual general education filler; only take this if you have a genuine passion for the subject and are prepared to treat it as a rigorous upper-level history course. If you simply want to experience the outstanding instruction without the punishing academic workload, you will be much better off auditing.
Overall it isn't as hard as he makes it out to be. Just do the reading and keep good notes and you will be fine. There is a big emphasis on the two exams, so get a study group together
Great class. The professor is highly entertaining and really knows his stuff. The class is great but there is a ton of reading. If you can push through the reading the class is definitely worth it.
Lendon is a treat. His class is not. If you take this class, be prepared for an extremely large amount of reading. If you are ok with that then you will definitely enjoy the class. He makes you want to go to lecture!
