Firstly, Langdon's lectures are not for those who want an easy A. With that out of the way, his classes contain the most informative and engaging lectures I experienced over my two years at UCLA.

He lectures for the entire time, usually starting a tad early and usually finishing late. This is because he has incredible amounts of information he imparts to you and, if you keep up to date with the prescribed readings, the lectures can be a blast since you are capable of easily following along in his grand retelling of the story of Rome.

He has an optional midterm and a final and that's it. No papers, no weekly assignments. You either do the readings and come to every class for the invaluable lectures, or you will not do well. However, the textbooks and primary sources he assigns are great and nothing is superfluous.

On top of having the best lectures filled with historical drama and his brilliant wit, he is also the most caring professor I've come to know. He cares about his students succeeding and provides every opportunity to do so. He even records the lectures that you can obtain during office hours and puts together a binder that will guarantee success if you use it properly (granted it's a pricey and hefty binder, but well worth the price for what's in it)!

In short, he was my favorite professor at UCLA and I would recommend him to anyone and everyone!

Professor Langdon is by far my favorite professor I had throughout my time at UCLA. While the classes have lots of information, Langdon effectively guides students through complications in history with funny stories and interesting facts. I loved his lecture style because it was entertaining and engaging: He tells history as a story rather than as a dry lecture burdened with facts, and makes each character come to life. If you do not understand material or are struggling with the class, just make time to visit Langdon during his office hours, as he is always willing to help. I felt that, throughout the many classes I took with him, he always wanted his students to succeed and was very dedicated in that regard.
To any prospective student of Langdon's courses, please know that it is necessary to read in order to most effectively make sense of the material. These are not classes where you can buy the books and set them aside for the rest of the quarter. If you are willing to put in the outside work however, you will not only be able to succeed grade wise, but will also enjoy these courses and find them to be very fulfilling and worthwhile. For me personally, the challenge of these courses have helped me a great deal already in post-UCLA life, and led me to grow academically and professionally. They also fostered a love for Roman culture and interested me in its links to the modern American government, which is fascinating to say the least. If you can make the time to read for this course, don't miss out on the best classes UCLA has to offer and one of the most caring professors on campus!

This man is wonderful. I take his class in the afternoon which is usually my nap time so i am almost always tired but his lectures are so interesting and so engaging. His lectures are like story time. He is a brilliant and wonderfully nice man however this is NOT AN EASY CLASS. There are hundreds of latin terms and names you need to know. It is hard to follow along in the class because ,like i mentioned before, it's story time and he does not always teach it chronologically and you get lost in the mass amounts of material. So many of my classmates are struggling right now, as am I. I do not know what I will end up with in the end, small chance of an A, probably a B but that is because i am working my ass off. Reading is a must, there are 4-5 books and i suggest u read all of it. I have learned so much but i am here to warn those that think taking a history class is an easier option- WRONG.

This class is extremely heavy on reading and material. Yes, it's Rome, so there's a lot to cover, but it is A LOT for one quarter. Be prepared to devote a significant amount of time to this class to succeed. You need to remember every detail of the Roman Republic to do well on the exams. You HAVE to be ahead in the readings to understand/keep up in lecture, and he doesn't let you forget it because he brings it up seemingly every other sentence in lecture. Professor Langdon is probably the most arrogant professor I have had at UCLA. Yes, he knows everything about Rome, but his lectures are essentially him just yelling at you and he always goes over time and he often goes off on rants hinting at his own opinions about modern issues and politics which can get kind of uncomfortable. He also uses a lot of Latin words, which is just another show of arrogance because Latin and an Intro to Rome class are not prerequisites. Definitely look at the terms before each lecture in addition to doing all the readings. I will say it's a decent class if you have a deep interest in Rome, but be prepared to sit through an old man yelling his opinions at you and stressing how important his class is every five minutes. It got a little exhausting by the end of the quarter and it really diminished my interest in the subject.

Don’t make the same mistake I did by taking this course. The professor is so boring and just lectures to you without any visual aid. I couldn’t stand to attend lectures and the material was so dense and boring that you wouldn’t want to either. The midterm and final exams are both impossible to complete in the timeframe and contain the amount of material you would expect to have in a graduate level course. The professor says he grades on a “suggest competence” Grading scale which he explained means that you need to remember a little more than half of the material on the exam to get a C. All in all this class is going to be the worst decision of your life. don’t take it.

Professor Langdon will make sure that you leave this class knowing Rome like the back of your hand. The sheer amount of readings he assigns can be frustrating but you can learn how to prioritize as a lot of the information overlaps. There are a lot of Latin terms to know and a lot of people to recognize. There is an optional midterm and a final, the final is just like the midterm but double. The midterm is one historical paragraph, one historical essay, and 22 IDs. He occasionally takes random attendance and uses it when deciding between two grades. Overall, this is a very interesting class for history majors. I only wish he left more time for discussing Rome as the entire class is an extremely fast paced lecture.

Langdon is great, but the class was not my favorite. Definitely struggled with the nine-hundred and something IDs and storylines in the reader he provides. The exams were pretty difficult, IDs were short story descriptions, and the essay questions were also intense. If you don’t know your shit, and I mean, every single person, event, and their significance, it’s a wrap. I studied countless hours with my classmates and I just wasn’t able to grasp it all. Langdon’s advice was to study 15 IDs from each lecture and stick with storylines that you found interesting, but that just was not the case when taking his exams. I WAS interested in taking this course, but the lectures ended up being boring with lots of ranting, and probably another reason I was over it. Shit on top of shit. Office hours are a must. He’s really helpful, but does tend to rant a bit. Overall, just happy I was able to get through this class. Would I take another class with Doc? No. But, I would not mind discussing politics with him if I saw him roaming the halls. He is a character.

As always, Professor Langdon makes his class one of the most rewarding of history courses in UCLA's history department. He is a true expert in Roman history, and you'll be leaving knowing a whole lot more about Roman history than you did after taking AP World History in high school. For any history major, I strongly recommend you take this course with Professor Langdon, and for anyone who just likes Roman history in general, you will also find this class just as rewarding. Sure there's a lot of reading involved and the tests involve essays etc., but it's a college history course, that's what it's supposed to be all about. Again, just put the effort in and attend the lectures in person and you'll find this one of the most rewarding experiences at UCLA. I've taken Professor Langdon for his 116 series about the Byzantine Empire and will be taking him again for 114B for the continuation of Roman history.

Professor Langdon is one of the best professors I have had so far. He is very engaging and ensures that all students fully understand the material.

The course reader is very important. It has everything that you could need for the midterm and finals.

Attendance is mandatory in this class if you would like to succeed. He does record his lectures but won't give them out without a valid excuse so you need to go to class to get the materials.

He doesn't use slides and usually just talks about the subject so I have found that recording it myself so I can refer back later is the best option because at first I had a hard time keeping up.

The only 2 assignments in the grade book are the midterm and final:
The midterm consists of 20ish "who am I?"/ID questions, 1 short historical paragraph, and 1 essay.
The final consists of 40ish "who am I?"/ID questions, 2 short historical paragraphs, and 2 essays.

If you study the course reader, go to lecture, and attend a few office hours, you will do fine in this class.

Look, the guy is really nice and intelligent but unless you're a glutton for punishment... RUN AND HIDE.
Look, I get that it's college but that doesn't mean his class structure is great!
I have had classes that require reading and studying but none with this much of s confusing mess.
His course reader is great sure, bus his lectures are impossible to catch (even with a laptop) and he's so passionate that he just can effortlessly go on and the rest of the class is drowning through random name-dropping and latin.
For those of you who actually got an A and had the time to keep up, I truly applaud you because this class was not realistic for me with three other classes, and a job ... I know my limits and this class was giving me a panic attack and I am SO glad I dropped.
Obviously it's doable since people have passed but ask yourself how much you can handle because this class ain't for the weak and I thought I was strong till I sat in class THREE TIMES.