Cannot reccomend this course enough. About two readings a week which weren't too bad and the lectures helped explain them a lot. Bishara is an incredible professor and makes the content extremely interesting. The grading was pretty fair I thought. Make sure to go to the discussion section and participate though, that's very important for your grade. Awesome awesome class, take it if you can.

Prof Bishara is really sweet and knowledgeable, and his lectures are usually interesting. The quizzes were easy if you took notes in class, and the weekly discussion posts are pretty much graded on effort. However, the TA, Robyn Morse, was a really harsh grader. She gave me a B- on my final paper, even though I had gotten an A on the midterm (which prof Bishara graded). Attendance and participation in discussion are a huge part of your grade (30%), so make sure you go every time (I only missed one class and got an 85). Overall good class, but the TA kinda ruined it for me.

This was truly an incredible course. Prof Bishara is energetic, passionate, and extremely knowledgeable (and pretty funny too). He uses key readings from Marx and North at the beginning of the semester as a framework for interpreting the concepts in the rest of the class which was really useful for tying everything together. There was one mid-term paper (with a specific prompt) and one final paper (that we could make our own prompt for). Essay grading was not too harsh. There were a few take home quizzes (potentially because of the online format) that were very easy if you took notes during lecture. TA Robyn Morse was incredibly sweet and knowledgeable as well. Professor Bishara made an effort to address questions in discussion posts and (often identifying themes among the questions and then effectively addressing them in groups). Overall this was a really great class if you are interested in econ, history, religion, or law.