I was a little nervous to take this class because there were no bruinwalk reviews and no one knew anything about the professor, but I am so glad I did! I thoroughly enjoyed the class and think that Professor Penny did a great job at making the history of 20th century Germany interesting. Prior to enrolling in the course I knew relatively nothing about German history in the past century besides their involvement in the two world wars, this class taught me a lot and the professor was clearly passionate about the topic, making it much more interesting to learn from him. Another great think about the class is the GRADES, the class is broken down into four small assignments worth 10% each these are all super easy movie reviews/responses. Outside of that, there is a midterm paper worth 20% of the grade. This paper is pretty much just a review of a random artifact you found interesting in one of the museum visits you do as a class. The final is a blue book in class essay about continuity and change in Germany over the century and another question about shifting class and gender roles. All of these assignments were graded pretty easily in my opinion, so ended up being a decently easy A. Lowkey the professor alone makes the class worth it, hes just so silly goofy. Would definitely recommend the class if youre interested in recent European history, or are fine with an in person blue book final!

Absolutely loved the class! The professor is humorous and the workload is also quite good. As a history major student I thought that this class would bore me as I took AP Euro and World in middle school but the professor would reveal those uncommonly seen perspectives.
One thing tho, though the lectures are not required to attend the professor rarely records lectures and he says a lot of things that are not on the ppt so I would recommend getting notes from a buddy for the day you miss.

I HATE history, like absolutely despise it. But the class was really easy and not boring so easy to keep up. I liked the professor. I like never attended lectures or did the readings and still did great. Also he provided great preparation. for the midterm and final!!

Genuinely not as bad as you think, amazing professor makes the material engaging. Readings are low-key bust work.

I took this for a GE and was really not expecting to like it. It was far more interesting than I thought it would be given it was like my third go through of European history. There are almost no assignments so the workload is pretty light. There’s a ton of reading but you can skim the primary sources (would recommend looking at them as there are quizzes on them in discussion) and the professor himself says that the textbook is really just for reference; I pretty much only used it to study for exams. The exams are essay only and he gives a few possible prompts out ahead of time, a subset of which will be on the exam, so there is no getting blindsided and no expectation that you’ll have to memorize dates or anything. My favorite thing about the class was the lectures, he is clearly really passionate and he is therefore very engaging. He’s often very funny too. It can be dicey if you get a TA that grades harshly but overall this is not a very hard class. As a last note I would add that he can sometimes speak quietly, I could hear from the back but some couldn’t and I have very good hearing, so if you have trouble hearing I would just say make sure to sit in the front.