Incredible class taught by a rising star in the history department. Professor Varon delivers a simply amazing experience in this class. Her lectures are jam-packed with information, but have a great narrative thread. Furthermore, she is so welcoming and helpful during office hours.

This class is not easy, but if you work hard you will do well. There is a lot of reading. It is all helpful reading, but not strictly necessary to do every last word of it. There is also a LOT of writing.

TAs Lauren and Jon were also both fantastic. Highly recommend.

This is an all around great class. If you're interested at all in the Civil War, it gives a wonderful perspective on how antebellum politics and society contributed to the war. The only downside is that Varon is an extremely fast lecturer, and it's sometimes hard to keep up with what she says. From what I understand Varon is a fairly easy grader, but the TAs were pretty strict. The exams are a take home midterm and final, two essays each of 5-6 pages. Highly recommend.

Professor Varon is great. Her lectures are very interesting and informative. Lots of the information you need for the exams (which are all papers written outside of class) is covered in lecture. Taking good notes is beneficial. There is lots of reading assigned, and I hate reading. As a result, I did almost none of it. I ended up with a B+ in the class, but I cannot be too disappointed because I put in very little work outside of writing the papers. I would still highly recommend the class, as I learned a lot and really enjoyed it.

Varon is fantastic! The way that the class is set up is super easy to. Although she assigns a fair bit of reading, as long as you're prepared for discussion you'll be fine without doing all of it as the midterm and final are both take home and open book.

She does lecture at a decent clip but she reiterates important facts and details. Make sure you have a good TA for this class. They do all of the grading and participation in discussion is a huge portion of the overall grade (25%)

I loved this course, it was super interesting and completely manageable. Lectures aren't dull and she always stays on task. It's a bit heavy on readings, but as long you keep up with them you'll be ok! Take home midterm and final (2 five page essays each) and one longer term paper. Varon is super approachable and helpful. She also gives extra-credit!