[HIST W3377] International and Global History Since WWII

I have very mixed feelings about this class. International and Global History is sort of a mis-statement given that most of the material is focused on American History since World War 2, or at the very least the US' involvement in world events. Nevertheless, this class is great for those interested in that type of history. I also feel mixed about the class style. The lectures were interesting, and it was okay to skip a few here and there and not get behind. However, the midterm/final situation was horrible. You had to write two 6 page essays basically in 48 hours based on a packet of filled with many very long and boring articles. The very small time requirement was very strange to me, and I don't think allows people to write very good essays, but that could just be my opinion. Also, Prof. Connelly is not the warmest professor.

I agree with the positive reviews. I thought this was a very interesting class; the lectures were very interesting, people were really animated and had real debates in discussion, and I liked Professor Connelly's lecture style. The readings were really very interesting; I think any history person should like reading the transcripts of JFK and RFK arguing about what to do about the Cuban missile crisis. Also, I definitely thought it was organized, and you could see how there were a few different intertwining and continuing strands. To those who complain that it is too specific to certain subjects and perspectives: maybe you should have considered that a course with such a broad topic will have to concentrate on particular parts of that topic. And, yeah, the tests were a huuuuuge pain, but I really did learn a lot from them; more than I would have with another format.

Professor Connelly is a friendly-looking, black turtleneck wearing, sorta nice guy type of person. He's also pretty smart, all-ivy resume, however, he's rather disorganized and has the amazing ability of turning the most exciting sections of history into the most dry and boring 75min lecture ever. Almost all his lectures are powerpoint slides (he also likes to use a lot of animation, so pictures and words are flying into the slide from left and right). There were a couple of non-powerpoint lectures, but that was because his computer crashed, which happens quite frequently.

I agree with the previous reviewers that Connelly takes a poli-sci plus American foreign policy approach to this course and therefore is different to what I thought I signed up for. He also takes his lectures from the reading material, so if you kept up with the heavy readings by chance one week, you'll realize that he summarizes the main points or takes the author's arguments and pastes them into his lectures.

The main problem I have with his class is the format of the midterm and the final. His questions are incredibly broad and for the midterm you had 52hrs (Wednesday 12:15pm till Friday 5pm) to write two essay questions with a 3500 word limit (12pages double-spaced). In other words, if you have class on Wednesdays and Thursdays, you're tight for time. He gave us 2 extra days for the final, however, it was due on the Friday of reading week and therefore that cuts into your studying time for other classes.

Professor Connelly is a good guy. He's smart, approachable, and down-to-earth.
What I think the previous reviewers are getting at is that the class is not what they expected. For History majors, the class is more like "History-Lite" and instead of focusing on well, strict history, it focuses more on foreign policy, especially economic policy and political economies in a way that is frustrating to many a history major. And, alas, the class does not provide much of an international perspective but mostly an American viewpoint--something that is very much Professor Connelly's fault.

That being said, I found the class interesting, varied, and a challenge. Connelly lectures with a lucid, "I don't take myself too seriously" manner that helps make the material more understandable than it might otherwise be. Of course, I was looking for a class about political economies and stuff, so it fit the bill perfectly.

Wow, these other reviews are HARSH...Professor Connelly is a very nice professor and he does know what he is talking about, contrary to what these other reviews say. I think this course's problems come entirely from its organization and the subjects Prof. Connelly chooses to focus on. It is true that everything we study is from an American point of view, and it is like a repeat of Anders Stephanson's Foreign Policy class. So I blame Prof. Connelly for not organizing the course better or presenting different perspectives on the subjects we studied. But he is not an idiot. The way the course was organized was the main problem.

in my opinion, this man is an embarassment to Columbia and to the history department. His lectures are disorganized, superficial, and sometimes factually wrong.

At the end of the semester, I'm still not sure what the point was. I signed up for a history class, but this course is neither international, nor global, nor history. In fact, the only part of the title that is true to the course is "since WWII." This is really a warmed-over U.S. foreign policy class, but if that's what you're looking for, don't waste your time and money here and take Anders Stephanson's infinitely better class.

Someone, please do something about this! In the meatime, avoid this bad joke of a course.

I cannot agree more with the previous reviewer. HOW DOES COLUMBIA LET THIS GUY TEACH HERE? To be fair, I dropped the class the last day I could, so maybe it got better, but it was awful.

Is this guy for real? I couldn't really figure out a reason he was there. You know how regurgitating the textbook is supposed to be bad? Well, that's all he got! There is no substance to what he says, nothing. I can't believe he is allowed to teach anything. Oh and he's really disorganized--he couldn't come up with a syllabus for the longest time and kept saying "I don't know much about that, I haven't made up my mind." Yeah? NO ONE FORCED YOU TO TEACH A CLASS YOU WEREN'T READY FOR!!!! Unbelievable. I don't know if we have rights like getting people who are obviously below par kicked out but man, this guys is just the dumbest I've ever seen.

Ok. So I am a history major and I've taken other professors who knew their material and were able to convey a perspective (or many). And maybe it's just because he's new at this and he's too awkward. But I really don't believe that's the issue because you can't make up the stuff the outrageous stuff he says.