Professor Marotti is one of the best professors I have taken at UCLA. His lectures were done in Socratic style, and he is incredibly animated when he does lecture. You can tell that he loves his subject when he teaches. That being said, the class is not easy. There are weekly assignments and three papers which will consume a good deal of time. If you have the time and the interest, I would absolutely suggest this class.

I'm surprised no one has evaluated Dr. Marotti yet. He is an underutilized gem at UCLA. He exclusively teaches Japanese history. Marotti is an excellent professor with a different approach to teaching. Rather than lecture to a catatonic audience, he actaully engages his students. he makes his lecture into a discussion. In his class, you read documents, and you come prepared to discuss (or listen) about them in class. So it's not so much straight history with dates and wars, but rather a focus on primary documents to tell the story. And anyone knows primary documents beat some lame textbook anyway. Marotti himself is an excellent lecturer, pacing the room, biting his lip, jumping up with some brilliant idea, randomly yelling in class about his frustrations - he's a real character. He is also incredibly dedicated to students, holding strong office hours and always making sure to make them! One warning about Marotti is that his classes aren't easy. As a high performing professor, he expects a lot out of his students. Except more work in his class than most other history classes. Additionally he takes attendance and has question responses for EVERY class. But in the end, it's all worth it. If it's about the learning rather than the easy A, Marotti's the man.