[HIST W1151] European History since 1789

I don't think any of his students would call Prof. Woloch a *sweet* or especially *warm* man as I hear his wife (also a Columbia professor) is. He has a sharp edge, and he seems very intimidating at first. But he is an incredible teacher. He jampacks a lot of interesting information into every lecture, and I walked away from the semester feeling as if I had a really good base in European History. Clearly he cannot explore every aspect of this time period in one semester, but I think he did a great job of choosing important topics and examining them pretty thoroughly. This is a survey class-- and survey he did. Though sometimes long, I genuinely enjoyed the lectures-- Prof. Woloch is a great speaker and knows his stuff. His passion for history makes his lectures really engaging. I highly recommend going to his office hours. He's extremely receptive to you if you show that you are interested in the topics at hand and would like to explore the topics further. He always makes himself available to meet one on one with you. I was blown away by the fact that a man who is so prominent in his field and has so many students makes himself so accessible to students. If you want to get a solid foundation in European history and don't mind working hard, you will love this class. If you want an easy intro class without a lot of work, this is not the class for you.

This was a decent course, ideal for first-years getting their feet wet in history; if you have any history under your belt already, however, you might end up feeling somewhat unsatisfied, as I did. This is a vast span of time, so you won't really have time to go into any depth on any of it; we spent one day on the Russian Revolution, for example -- something that you could definitely study for your entire life. Maybe my dissatisfaction was more a matter of taste than of anything else. Woloch's lectures were good but dry. He's apparently a big name in French Revolution scholarship, which you can tell from his astute analysis of French history, but unfortunately it's hard to appreciate how subtle his analysis might be without having a really solid background in the subject, and (as I learned in this class) you just can't get that in a survey course.

Absolutely the best teacher you'll ever have. Her lectures are interesting, thorough, and really lively. She's an energetic person and it radiates through all that she does. Her grading is fair and accurate - and if you go to class, there is no way you can do poorly. No messy discussion sections to make room for outside of class - they happen every few weeks in class. She knows her stuff like nobody else, and is just a great teacher to be around. Seriously, you could have hated history all your life, but take this class and fall in love with it. She does that to you.

The other review was too harsh. Granted, Isser is not the friendliest guy in the universe (my friends and I in his CC class called him "Pisser"). Nonetheless, chat him up during his office hours and if you somehow manage to do well in his class, ask him to write you a recommendation. He'll be tremendously receptive to you. Along with his lectures, you'll receive a free lesson in professorial calisthenics. You'll marvel at the way Woloch contorts his body during class. The lectures are jam-packed with all sorts of facts. Just don't mind the look of pain on his face as he realizes that attempting to teach two-plus centuries of European history in a semester is just not feasible. He manages to stay pretty darn organized, but it's not too hard to figure out that his specialty is the French Revolution. He gives guides to studying for his midterms and finals. Be forewarned: the guides don't mean that the exams are any easier.