This was without a doubt the best class I have taken during my UVA career. Waldner is a terrific professor who is genuinely passionate about the content he is teaching, and really has the ability to entertain and connect with his students. Though the class is incredibly rigorous (100s of pages of nightly reading), the content of the course readings allow for captivating discussions throughout the entirety of the daily 5 hour seminars. Waldner may expect a lot out of his students, but the small classroom setting challenges you to come prepared everyday and EARN yourself a good grade. If you are willing to push yourself then you will learn more during in this 9 day seminar than you will in most semester-long politics classes offered at UVA.

Incredibly intense, but exceptionally interesting. Expect to put in tons of time (at least 5 hours of reading a night, on top of 5 hours of class a day). Waldner has high expectations (it's incredibly hard to get an A), but does a great job of leading discussion. He's informative, exceptionally honest, and entertaining. I learned more in 8 days than I ever have before!

I took this as a J-term course so it was more intensive than it would have been otherwise

one of the hardest j-terms, but well worth your time, effort, and money if you truly care and want to know about Iraq. you will leave with a detailed knowledge of US-Iraq interactions.