I would take this class again 100 times over! If you want to take it, make sure you are ready to read as there is a good amount of reading. They are not boring readings though! Everything you read is interesting but I am sure that if you miss some readings it won’t affect how you do in the class. There is a midterm and 2 essays, all of which the professor adequately prepares you for. The lectures are detailed and engaging. I suggest taking as many notes as you can. I have no qualms with this class or professor at all.

Professor McBride is a fantastic teacher in lecture. He is really engaging and often adds elements of comedy into his slides, for example he brings his dog onto zoom sometimes. He finds very interesting readings for the class and has a unique perspective to the material. Highly recommend.

I had my qualms with Cluster 48A but went ahead and continued on to 48B because I didn’t know what else to do. My TA Rebecca was a lot better than my 48A TA Sharon. She really cared about her students, her discussions were a lot better structured, and she was an easier grader (still hard, but slightly easier). There were 2 6 page essays this quarter, each 25% of your grade, participation 25%, and your final, which is 2 4 page essays, worth 25% as well. This quarter in general was a lot more conceptual and literature based than 48A since in 48A you were learning a lot of the history but in 48B the focus is more on memory, justice, and representation (films, books, etc.) of political violence. The first essay of the quarter came really easy to me, but the second essay was based on the Armenian genocide and Prof Sengul’s lectures are really hard to understand and digest so the essay was really hard to write. This definitely was not my favorite class and I wish I had picked another cluster but it is ok to get by with some half assed effort.

Professor McBride is a great lecturer and knows what he is talking about. I never find his lectures boring, and think that his workload is perfectly reasonable. I personally did a majority of the readings but think that not reading some of the novels would not hurt you, as the work in the class is mainly contingent on the lecture material. Would suggest taking this class!

I really love this cluster series and the way the seminars are taught is far less boring as I would have suspected from a three hour class. The material is engaging and not too hefty, just do the readings and you will be fine.

I like this cluster a lot, but the topics were heavy. Similar to first quarter, two essays and the final. Manageable workload.

Professor McBride was great but this is more of a review of the class itself. Definitely not as easy as the previous years of reviews make it seem like. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET SWAMPED WITH WRITING AND READING. Readings aren't used until the end when the final paper requires you to use past readings. The cluster also traps you by making you take all three quarters to get the extra GE and writing II, but in the end its not worth it, so go with the freedom and take GEs whenever you want. If you get a good TA like Cucharo, then class is manageable but with a worse TA like Glasberg, it's definitely not worth it. Honestly, one of my most regretful decisions so far in college is taking this cluster.

More details about the class if you want to read:
Fall quarter - about 60-100 pages of readings a week along with 4 one page response papers every week in first half, one 5-6 page paper in second half, and two 3-4 page papers given and due within finals week (hated my life when I was writing these).
Winter quarter - roughly the same amount of reading, two 5-6 page papers for each half, same thing for final
Spring quarter - not done yet but its been alright compared to the past two quarters, but still wish I hadn't even gotten to this point.

30% midterm exam; 30% 4-5 pages term paper; 40% 4-5 pages paper for final; 1% extra credit possible if you attend a film screening or go to a museum on your own time. Three novels/novellas assigned for the class. You can get away with only reading one of them (the one you have to write about for the term paper) if you choose the non-novel/novella option for the midterm and the final paper. Professor McBride offers two options for all the midterm and the papers, so you do have some flexibility there. Interesting lectures and content materials. Textbook readings are not required (you won't be tested on them) but I found them to be useful, especially regarding writing for your papers (or just further preparing for the midterm). Professor McBride also posts some primary sources for each week's lectures. They are not required, but can be useful in helping you better understand historical materials/context covered in lectures (also one of the prompt options for the final paper is to analyze a primary source of your choosing). Pretty straightforward class that teaches you a lot about Soviet history.

Tests are difficult but if you show up for class you can easily get an A, he's very straightforward, look at the lectures and you can easily get an A

Professor McBride is a really interesting and funny teacher. I loved going to his lectures because he's so nice and makes the class enjoyable. He doesn't record the lectures but posts the slides online the next day. He thinks students who go to class do better. Sometimes he mentions things that aren't on the slides, so it's good to be there. He also offers 2 options for extra credit, but you choose only 1.

For the class, we read three very short books that went along with the midterm, a paper, and a final paper. The midterm was in a blue book, and we could choose between 20 multiple-choice questions and a short essay or 10 identification questions and a short essay. The answers to the multiple-choice questions were all in the slides. We also had to write two 4-5 page papers, one regular paper and one final paper.

Professor McBride is a great teacher, and I would definitely take his class again.