Prof. Chambers is a very strong lecturer. His lectures were usually enjoyable and not boring at all. His Marlon Brando impersonation was hilarious. The class is overall easy but choose the TAs carefully. My TA, from what I've heard, was one of the toughest and was VERY anal about participation in the class. The TAs have complete control of your grades. My TA was also instructed by Prof. Chambers not to give more than 3 solid As in the section. Anyways the midterms and the 2 essays are all made and graded by the TAs. Thus the difficulty is variable but the material is not tough. If you are a history major or you need to fulfill a GE, take this class.

Professor Chambers succeeded in keeping most lectures interesting. He's really approachable in his office hours too. However, I would have to disagree with the bottom post on the topic of his choice in TAs. My TA did not know anything about Western Civilization. He practically had the students lead class discussions for most of the quarter (the only credit I give to him was contributing the fact that most of the Spartan army was gay...) and from what I've heard from other students, the other TAs aren't all the great either. Yes, Chambers is an awesome professor, but his choice in putting your grade in your TA's hands was the worst (and most effective... in a negative sense) part of this class.

It was not until after I took the midterm that I found out that Chambers' lectures were rather useless - they only touch on the heart of the thousands of years of history you are to learn about. Not that that stopped me from going to lecture, however, since his lectures are very amusing. He focused on a number of items that, while they may not help you on the exams, are very interesting tidbits of ancient history. As for the difficulty of the class, it depends largely on your TA, who has a great deal of control over your grade. This is because your grade for the class is based on essays, exams (a midterm and a final), and class participation. Naturally, essays are graded subjectively, and the exams (which are short answer and essays) are graded subjectively as well, so basically, if you write what your TA expects you to write, you should do fine. Generally, TA's expect background information and dates for the short answer questions, and the selected readings (which were a lot) are important for the essays. Overall, the class is easy, and the hardest part about it was memorizing all the dates. I recommend this class whether you need it for a GE or for your major.

Professor Chambers is a true historian. Not only is his contagious enthusiasm for and his extensive knowledge of his subject motivating, but also his quirky personality makes his lectures exciting and memorable. Lectures were always something to look forward to. The bluebook exams were fairly administered, although the final was cumulative. Readings were wonderful and correlated beautifully with the course. One note, especially: take time to get to know this great man outside of lectures. You'll be glad you did.

Chambers lacks focus. If you like those professors who are just a living textbook full of factiods, then he is the one for you. He just goes on and on with trivalities that sometimes lack order and almost always lack relevance to the course. Well, that's a little unfair. Overall a mediocre professor.

Any chance you get, take a class with Chambers. He was simply wonderful.