Overall, if your just looking for a GE or a pre-req as a history major, this class is a decent choice. Not much at stake to be honest with this class. When he lectures, the professor sometimes randomly shouts to get his point across. Again, these raises in his voice are very random and don't really serve much of a purpose. He's not even doing it to get the attention of someone who isn't paying attention, he just does it randomly.

Anyway, his final is just a final paper, and I went to his office hours to get help and he asked to send a copy to him because this was around when the COVID lockdown started. I wasn't sure how he was gonna help me with advice on the essay, but he sent a copy back where he just corrected and revised the whole entire thing for me. That was pretty cool of him, I've never met a professor who virtually finished an essay for me. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

Professor Aron was super helpful and kind. He offered a great perspective on US History that was definitely refreshing, so it never felt like I was just relearning boring information that I had learned in previous history classes. He was super considerate, and he gave me a week-long extension on my final paper due to a super busy finals exam schedule (just make sure to email him super early - I emailed him the day the paper was assigned, so probably during like week 7 or week 8). The midterm and midterm paper are both super fair. The midterm gives you a list of terms to ID and you get to pick which ones to write about. The midterm paper is super short, so it's easy and quick to write! Textbooks are also online for free, and Voices of Freedom was pretty important for the class to read, but also fairly interesting.

I highly recommend this class as an international student. Easy way to fulfill both American History and Diversity requirements at once. Dr. Aron is a very good lecturer and very helpful in-office hours. I did not find the course boring at all maybe because I had zero exposure to US history and everything was new to me. Use Voices of Freedom Textbook for Midterm and Final papers. Study chapter key terms from Give Me Liberty Textbook for the in-class exam (honestly will not take more than a couple of hours to learn all the tested chapters). Go to the lectures for extra credit quizzes (very easy) and discussion sessions for participation points.

What an articulate butthole.

I really enjoyed this class. I thought Prof Aron gave engaging lectures. I liked that each lecture focused on examining US History through a different lens that it is commonly viewed. Prof Aron is very too when he calls people out. Would recommend!

This professor is a major narcissist. He's very into his own ideas and it's very to tell. He also sells his own book on campus (albeit, for a very reasonable price), but I've had to purchase his book for other history classes. Although he may of great command of the subject, he I don't see any purpose for selling his book. which is a very brief summary of an event and offers no in-depth analysis. If professors are going to sell their ideas on the campus that they teach on, they may as well sell something that we can take out of it.

I took this class in the Winter of 2016, and received an A. First of all, Professor Aron is a very intelligent person, and is a superb lecturer. He knows his stuff, and is very engaging, and gets the class involved (that is if you want to participate). However, the lectures were at 8am, and were incredibly boring to me. I often fell asleep during the lectures, despite the fact that they were engaging. I took this course as a GE, and do not enjoy reading and writing (I am a cs major), but took this class because I already knew about US History. The workload is quite heavy, but manageable. My TA was a legend, serious beast for sure. He was super chill, and I enjoyed discussion. The papers were decent, and like with all writing classes, the grades are based off of your TA as they do the grading. So that being said, this class is TA subjective; I was fortunate to get a solid TA, who was fair and passionate about the material. The tests were essay based, and were based off of the readings.

If you hate history, it's an easy A without going to lecture. I went to one lecture and fell asleep... Sorry but his class is boring...

Note: The following information is subject to change.

Lecture: Professor Aron is an enthusiastic lecturer. The lecture slides are uploaded to the course website, but they mostly contain headlines. The professor uses the slides as a guideline and gives more in depth information in lecture.

Discussion: Participation counts for 20% of grade. Depends on TA, but in my section (Aaron Freeman) we discussed the coursereader assigned readings. Some TAs may give extra writing assignments.

Textbooks: The Foner textbook contains assigned readings. It can be used for papers but is not required for the midterm. The coursereader contains the assigned readings that are discussed in section and is the best source for quotes for the papers.

Midterm: The midterm (20% of grade) is composed solely of information found on the lecture slides. It includes three sections. Section 1 consists of 15 people/events and you choose 10 and write 3-4 sentences about each. Section 2 consists of 3 primary source quotes and you choose 2 and write 4-5 sentences about each. Section 3 consists of 5 images and you choose 3 and write 4-5 sentences about each. Any event/person/image is fair game no matter how seemingly unimportant (i.e. Mungo Park). The exam is not difficult as long as you prepare.

Papers: The class includes 2 papers (the second in lieu of a final). The first paper (20% of grade) is 1000 words and is fairly open ended. The second paper (40% of grade) is 1500 words and includes a choice of various topics. The TA grades the paper so they will set the required number of primary source quotes.

I ended up with an A in the class.

He is super nice and engaging especially if you show equal interest! If you sit in the first couple rows he will remember you and really appreciates it.

Class is fairly straight forward. 2 papers, one is your final and then a Midterm. The midterm comes straight from the lecture so as long as you go to class you will be fine.

Discussions are pointless and the readings are kinda long but all info that you learned if you have previously taken a US history class.

I would totally recommend this class if you need to fulfill a GE, Professor Aron is funny and it is really easy.