Not sure why so many people say this class is an easy A. Professor Terraciano is great! BUT your ENTIRE grade depends on your TA, and (at least in 2017-2018) the TA's are TOUGH graders.
The class is a midterm, final, participation in discussion, and two papers. Everything is graded by the TA. Most TA's give you participation just for showing up to class and speaking every once in a while. I spoke almost every class and didn't get full credit in participation.
For the essays, he said in order to get an A you have to "really go above and beyond and impress me." It's not enough to answer the prompt. In fact, if you just answer the prompt you will probably get a B or lower.
He wants you to answer the prompt AND make some sort of argument (even though the prompt does not say anywhere that it should be argumentative). The argument has to be something that there is not definite proof for, not "obvious" per say. Like you have to take passages from the reading and use those to defend your argument as to WHY, and it can't be the obvious, most like correct answer, because it's not going above and beyond.
I usually get A's on my essays for all of my classes, but in this class I got a B on my first essay. When I went to his office hours to figure out what he wanted and what I should change, he was very vague and when I asked for a more direct/concrete answer he refused to give it to me saying I need to figure it out on my own. For the next essay, I tried the hardest I could and actually felt really confident that I did what he wanted, and I got like a 91 or 93. It wasn't only me, I knew 5 other people in the section who also thought he was necessarily tough. (btw my TA said he will not be TAing next year, so maybe you will get luckier).
The midterm and final exam also take a lot of studying. This class was supposed to be an easy class for my 4-class schedule, but it ended up being the one I worried the most in and the only one I didn't get a solid A in. Midterm and Final also took a lot of studying, though professor Terraciano was clear with what would be on it.
Maybe I'm salty because it was supposed to be an easy A so I was expecting to put in less effort, but in the end I ended up with an A-. If you want an easy A, my word of advice is to take a class that is not as much as gamble (because it all depends on your TA).

Hi! I'm selling the blue and red course reader for $10 each. They're in extremely good condition as I had to drop the class early in the quarter due to unexpected scheduling conflicts. Let me know if you're interested: *************

As most of the other reviews say, the professor is passionate about the subject, he does his best to show a variety of perspectives from people of the time. I expected an easy A but it wasn't as easy as I thought. There is a lot of reading but a lot of it is unnecessary, but I stopped reading pretty late in the quarter, reading is mainly needed for essay sources, discussions and relevant topics. The grade is determined by the TA. My TA said he didn't like giving out A's unless the work was top notch, despite the grade distribution of the entire class. I had Guillermo, he was very helpful in office ours and did a good job at teaching the material but I think graded harder than he should have.

Easy class, interesting material. Just do well on the few essays and test and you'll be fine.

This class was really eye-opening and I found it so interesting. Terraciano is a really sweet professor and is SO passionate about this subject but the lectures and readings can be really repetitive. He provides a really nice and soothing atmosphere but it's hard not to fall asleep in class for that reason. He's very knowledgable in the topic. Lots of short primary source readings though, which are actually important when it comes to the final and midterm but not as necessary to keep up with until essay/test time. The blue course reader is basically what all the lecture material is on. My TA was a very harsh grader, particularly for the essays, and apparently other people thought so too, so just hope that your TA isn't as harsh. He would take off points for things like saying "native" instead of "indigenous". In general I enjoyed the material we learned and the pace we went at.

Professor Terraciano is a great professor. He's passionate, funny, and helpful. The class isn't hard. However, there is A LOT of repetitive and tedious reading.

I'm selling Mesoamerican Voices, Children of God's Fire, Letters and People of the Spanish Indies, as well as the Red and Blue Course Reader, which are all the books required for History 8A. All for $60, and each one for $15. Contact me at **********.

I had Professor/ Dr. Terraciano my first Fall Quarter 2016 and I wish all my other history classes had professors like him. The material was really interesting to me. There were moment where it could be dense but he was still able to make it engaging. You are in class and he sets the mood by playing music and it's so relieving after a long day. It is not pretty hard, but not too easy I thought because you do have to read and remember names for the midterm and final.

Professor Terraciano is an excellent lecturer in large part because he is so passionate about the subject. His class is fairly straightforward and easy but your grade largely depends on your TA. This class is almost entirely based on readings and there are a lot of them but if you keep up, then the midterm, final and essays are all easy. Terraciano also gives study guides that are extremely helpful because they have a range of questions that are on the exams only slightly altered sometimes. He often also goes over the questions for the essays and exams in lecture. Overall a great class to take.

I'm selling Mesoamerican Voices, Children of God's Fire, Letters and People of the Spanish Indies, Prof Terraciano's Red &Blue Course Reader all for $50 or each for $15. Email ************* if interested and can meet on campus for drop off. Good luck in the course and grade all depends on TA!