Hands down, Speigel was the best professor I've ever encountered. I don't mean that in a "omg I love him he's so smart and funny and can do no wrong" kind of way - I mean it in a "holy crap, this guy KNOWS HIS SHIT" kind of way.

Seriously, you will learn a lot in this class. As you can tell from the other reviews, PS132 is very reading-intensive, but it's worth it. You'll be listening to him talk about Palestine-this or Israel-that and all of a sudden he'll say something like, "that reminds me of a time I was having lunch with Ariel Sharon..." and your jaw will just drop. It's kind of awesome. I know some people were frustrated by the way he jumped around in lecture, but it honestly didn't bother me because he's so engaging that it's easy to follow what he's saying. Not an easy A, but if you are interested in the Middle East and want to learn more, you couldn't ask for a better professor to teach you.

I had very little knowledge, if any, about the dynamics behind the Arab-Israeli conflict, but by taking this class I really learned a lot (and not just memorized concepts) about the topic. So far, my favorite class in two years at UCLA! Professor Spiegel knows a lot about the subject and is really passionated about it. Also, I appreciated how it was not pro-Israel or pro-Palestine, but fairly balanced between the two sides. Go for Scott as TA, he is awesome - one of the most prepared TAs I had, very helpful and a fair grader too.