Let me be blunt, I am an engineering student whose never taken American History before this class. History's not really my thing. During lectures I oscillated between being genuinely interested and really bored. If you knew all of this from APUSH, then you'll probably be bored.

Okay, for the essays, make sure you get your TA to skim through it. My TA, though a hardass while grading, was very nice. He gave great feedback which was probably responsible for my good grade.

There is plenty of reading, reading Foner, the textbook, though not strictly necessary for discussion helped me out a lot. It gave me the background for giving input during the discussions. Just talk during discussions to get a good participation grade.

Read Foner before the midterms. Midterms require you to showcase your knowledge, rather than you argumentative abilities.

Getting an A is 100% possible, you just need to put a little work into it.

I had Prof. Meranze for U.S. History 1800-1850, and overall it was not a good experience. The class consisted of a midterm (30%) and a final (70%) in which he fails to provide any type of study guide; thereby requiring that you study everything, i.e. notes and readings all the while hoping for the best. As a history major who loves U.S. History, I found myself studying endlessly for his exams only to end up with a B+ in the end. If you enjoy sitting through boring lectures, and walking into a final exam that is worth 70% of your grade then by all means take this class. If instead you value your GPA and don't want to take a class that makes you hate U.S. History then don't bother. This class is not worth the stress, wait for a better class.

I am currently taking Meranze for US History 1800-1850. In reality, he spends a good amount of the first two weeks on the last decade of the 1700's and will most likely only get to 1848. He is not the most entertaining lecturer, but he has a mastery of the materials and is very approachable when you have questions. The reading is light, one main novel and three shorter accompaniments. He doesn't like people recording lectures, but as long as you don't sit out with your tape recorder in the first row, he won't notice.

If you're reading these reviews and see the last two people commenting on his lack of a study guide, and agree with those reviewers, then don't take this class. You are in college, Meranze realizes that people at a top ranking university are intelligent and dedicated individuals, and expects you to act like one. If you can't be bothered to go through the notes of lectures (which he lays out relatively well with main themes and key dates) then this isn't the course for you and you should find something to cater to your laziness.

This class is rewarding and helps to build a very strong base in early US History, if you pay attention and do the reading, you're going to do just fine on the exams and get a good grade.

I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Meranze's class. I was initially turned off to the class because his voice reminded me of the Clear Eyes commercials, but once you get past that, the lectures are well-organized, interesting, and thoughtful. He makes post-revolutionary/pre-civil era war interesting. We had a 25% midterm, 35% paper, and 40% take-home paper final. I attended all lectures and did perhaps 40% of the readings and got an A-. He posts slides to the course website, but I highly recommend attending all of his lectures as most of the material covered there are on the midterm and will help with the final. I would definitely take another one of his classes.

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I actually took Meranze for American Intellectual History 142A, but am too lazy to create a whole new profile so here is the review. This class was set up like the one here, with one midterm (40%) and one final exam (60%). For 142A he had a TA help him grade midterms, she was a beast, so pray you get a cool TA that does not enjoy going crazy with the red pen. Meranze allows for students to ask questions, which was interesting but setback the class, we did not reach the end of the syllabus. Sometimes this is a good thing but not for this class because I had bought the materials beforehand and we did not end up reading Harriet Jacobs. I collect books so this was not a bother, but if this is not you or you're strapped for cash, buy books as the course progresses. Also, Meranze was the most unwelcoming professor during his office hours. Actually the only one who was this way. Perhaps I got him on a bad day, or maybe our personalities did not mesh. Lastly, Meranze gets irritated if you walk in late, he chewed a couple of people out for this and does not allow for students to record him because he "does not like the sound of his voice." A bit superficial and uptight in my opinion.

40% mid-term, 60% final. The class can tend to get boooooring, although Professor Meranze makes little jokes here and there that alert me to attention. I don't think his exams are too bad, but it's really unfortunate he doesn't give us a study guide or review session. It's extremely time consuming to study EVERYTHING we went over in class, especially since a lot of the stuff we copied down for notes (like every monarch in England for 200 years) didn't relate to anything on the exam. Unless you REALLY want to know constitutional history, there are surely better history classes to take.