Fantastic lecturer, extremely difficult grader. His exams will be tough because you'll need to know ALL the readings really well. That combined with his ruthless grading makes this class more difficult than necessary, but I definitely learned a lot and a subject that should be boring (who cares about colonial America anyways?) is made more lively by Mark Thomas.

do the readings and go to class

Best lecturer at UVA. Exams are hard, require a lot of studying.

Although no prerequisites are stated on the course description, I think it will serve you well if you have taken ECON 202 or at least know the concepts behind Macroeconomics. A lot of the economics concepts that are used in this class are macro- based.

Also, I wouldn't really recommend this class to international students, unless you have some knowledge about US history from the colonial period to the early 20th century or have a great deal of interest in US history. This class is more of a history class, than an economics class.

Professor Thomas is a great lecturer, but you need to be able to recall details for the exams. There are only three, and the final is worth 50% of your grade. If you're not a good essay test-taker, don't take this class.

Lectures are great but they don't cover much of the readings at all. The exams are much more from the reading than the lectures. Difficult for a 200 level class

Professor is very enthusiastic about the material and the subject is very interesting. It takes the American History that you know and love (or hate) and puts an economic spin on it which makes you look at things you've known for many years from a completely different perspective.

Lectures were alright, but the subject matter was very boring. The exams were relatively hard for a 200-level course. I wouldn't recommend taking this class- it was one of the most uninteresting classes I've taken.

An obscene amount of reading and work. I've worked more for it than any other econ class I've taken (I'm an econ major), and recieved the lowest grade I've gotten at UVA (a B). Very interesting, but don't expect an A.

Your entire grade in this class is based on two tests and the final. He lectures well but in a roundabout way (he will explain one theory in great detail and then tell you why it is wrong). Make sure you remember some of the numbers he throws out and use them in your essays. The tests are hard but if you pay attention in lecture you can get at least a B-.