I am writing this firstly to commend Professor McBride for the tremendous experience he built within this Cluster class, and secondly to defend Sharon, a TA, for unfair and rude criticism expressed in another review. As a professor, he created informative yet engaging slides that compelling conveyed class concepts in a digestible manner. As an administrator, he put much effort into organizing out-of-class events for the Cluster class. Despite their lower-than-expected attendance, these were great events that I encourage people to attend. The Cluster is ultimately a year-long class and getting to know some fellow students and interacting in a more cordial setting with the professors and TAs can be a huge help. Developing these relationships is one of the most rewarding aspects of the Cluster program. Sharon was an exceptional TA who tried her hardest to accommodate the needs of a class of mainly unenthusiastic students taking a course outside their major. Of course, this lack of enthusiasm is natural and expected, but a lot of students were actively hostile towards Sharon and the course in general, making it hard for her to work with everyone at times. However, Sharon nonetheless went to great lengths to ensure we were never alone when it came to course content. Sections were dominated by class discussions where we unpacked weekly readings in-depth. This way, even if you didn't read a page of the assigned weakly readings you would walk away from section with a sufficient understanding of the concepts, themes, and essential information within each reading. Her grading of papers was, in my view, balanced. I wouldn't say it was easy per se but it surely was not unfair or harsh and you essentially got the grade you deserved. She is incredibly understanding and sympathetic to circumstances and will generously grant exentions if you have at least some reason.

I seriously enjoyed this class. The amount of reading is fairly heavy, however a majority of the readings were primary sources and fun to pick apart and dissect (on top of being short). The books assigned can be long, although they are still entertaining in how they are stories giving an insight into Soviet Russia rather than a long and dry textbook.
The lectures are invaluable to the course and will be needed for the in class mid-term and take home final. If you do the readings, attend lectures, and study the material to fill in an hour and a half of testing, you should do just fine.
If you are at all interested in Soviet history, I HIGHLY recommend taking his course.

Took this class in my freshman year. There will be a lot of content to go through because you're essentially cramming 300 years worth of history into 10 weeks but the tests were fair. If you study with the study guides and read up on some main themes on the textbook it will be fine. Be prepared to put in a reasonable amount of work though. The professor himself has a very thick voice and you will fall asleep in every lecture but it's going to be okay if you attend TA sections.

As someone who is minoring in history simply because i like history, i took this class only because i wanted to learn about the subject. I think mcbride really fulfilled that purpose; his lectures are very informative, like he wastes no time. They're very dense and he goes really fast so i would recommend typing your notes (!!) but i personally thought he was a great lecturer and i enjoyed the class solely for the learning aspect. the class has one midterm and FOUR 4-5 page essays which i really dreaded for some reason like i really had no motivation to do them but mcbride was really merciful upon me turning in the first two essays so late!!! he did take points off but not as much as i thought he would. I will say that the first two essays were due the monday after thanksgiving which is annoying because who wants to write papers during thanksgiving?? the grading for the midterm was pretty harsh, i studied thoroughly for 3 days and used the textbook (which is on reserve at powell) but i did not get the grade i expected. he assigns 3 books (novels, not the textbook) but they are only necessary if you choose those options for the midterm and the essays; you can definitely avoid them if necessary, i only used one of them as essay sources. this class was very challenging because of the papers, harsh grading, and fast-paced/dense lectures. definitely not an easy A, but if you are actually interested in the subject then take the class. mcbride is also a pretty hip and young professor, throws in some jokes here and there, and is pretty approachable. his lectures are really organized and he seems like a chill guy.

All the professors that teach this class are very engaging and very passionate about all their subjects. You can really see that they put in a lot of effort to make this a great class and is very organized in its structure. it's overall a very fun and engaging class especially since the topic is unique as a subject. There are a lot of opportunities to do well in this class because they are very clear with their directions in writing the paper and the final. I got an A- because I was late to section quite often so attendance and participation does matter otherwise this class is very easy. Winter quarter they also give extra credit if you attend event. Questions are also welcomed every lecture and the professors love answering questions plus it's in De Neve. Amazin

This was a great class! I absolutely love all of the professors and they are so knowledgable and helpful. I would really recommend this class to any 1st year student, because I've been able to get to know professors and other students due to the fact the course runs the whole year. ALSO: STEVE CUCHARO IS A GOD AMONGST MEN!!!

Cluster 48 was by FAR my favorite course I've taken this year. The subject is incredibly interesting, the professors are incredibly knowledgeable about their particular case, and do a very good job at incorporating humor and personality into their lectures. Although keeping up with the readings can be tough, it is very doable. Additionally all the TAs were extremely kind and helpful. I heavily recommend taking this cluster ; )

All the professors for this Cluster are extreme experts on their topics. If you're into history and analysis of genocides you'll be very interested. I'm not really into that stuff but they were able to draw me in. Easy cluster to take but it depends on your TA bc they're the ones grading your papers. You have long readings each week and two optional lectures. I didn't do the readings, nor go to lectures and still managed to write A worthy essays. You have like 2 essays a quarter and then one as your final exam. The discussion groups talk about the weekly readings but if you get the gist of the three case studies it's easy to bs your participation. My TA was the best teacher I have ever had, Bradley Cordozo. He is super fun, humorous, and understanding for extensions and stuff like that. He is also so helpful and always available for appointments. He is one of the main reasons I recommend this course. The first two quarters are the same in structure but the third is apparently a seminar style class, which could be easier or harder, we'll see.

Strongly agree with the other reviews, this was one of my favorite classes I've taken so far. I wouldn't say that history is my favorite subject in general, but this cluster was still very compelling to me. I think this is because the lecturers are so knowledgeable in their respective subjects (Prof Robinson on Indonesian Mass Killings, Prof Sengul on Armenian Genocide, and Prof McBride + Prof Rothberg on Holocaust). The TAs are also all very knowledgeable and helpful (Yair = very cool guy). As one might expect the subject matter can be pretty heavy sometimes, but the class didn't feel overly negative or depressing. I have to also mention that people were more engaged in the discussion section than in any other remote class I've been in (at least for Yair's).

Homework in first quarter consists of weekly readings for discussion and short response papers, though the response papers stop in the second quarter. There is one longer essay (~5 pages double spaced) on Indonesia at the end of the quarter. No rewrites, just a first draft and then a final draft, but plenty of time to think about subject between lecture and discussion. Normally there would be two essays on the other two cases in the second quarter. I would say that lecture attendance is important since the lecturers are so good. Overall, not a bad workload, especially for a 6 credit class. There are even a few chances for extra credit watching films.

All in all, big props to this class. Would recommend to anyone looking for a cluster to work on GEs, or even just for the opportunity to take such a consistently quality history class.

Love Professor McBride so much!! He's an amazing professor and a really really great lecturer. All his lectures were so engaging and he really makes learning fun. He goes a LITTLE fast sometimes so there's no time to zone out during lectures. He also tries to arrange casual meetings with students outside of office hours and I really appreciate that. I was so emotional when this cluster ended because it genuinely was the best part of my first two quarters at UCLA. The workload for the class is a bit heavy because of the readings, but you can get by with skimming through them. Take Julia as your TA, she is quite literally the best thing that will ever happen to you. Overall, the class was really easy for me.