*Clarification: I am the writer of the previous review (posted July 3rd) and took History 9 (Historical Methods) with Mendez, not history 8.

Professor Mendez is incredibly passionate about her field of study, and taught me important lessons regarding critical thinking in social sciences, examining primary sources, and conducting independent research. She really pushed me to grow intellectually, and gave me valuable communication skills. Reading is long but manageable, would recommend!

10/10 recommend. Prof is passionate, helpful, and entertaining! The homework & readings were manageable + standard to a hist course. Getting an A is very achievable - just do the reasonable amount of work given (she even lets you take notes into exams!) Don't let this page scare you, she's a great prof teaching an interesting class! I learned a LOT

This class would be amazing if another instructor teaches. Prof Mendez is very disorganized, unsympathetic, and a terrible instructor. Always tripping over herself lecture, guilt-tripping students, patrolling around about phones rather than actually lecturing, etc. Made me dread coming to class. TAs carry. Avoid this class (her) if possible!

I think the ratings are very harsh; I honestly thought this class was extremely interesting and mattered deeply to the current happenings of our world right now. Very reading heavy, but it was important for your midterm and final take-home projects. I suggest you engage and think about the material deeply to do well and get lucky with a nice TA

Some of these reviews are harsh but rooted in honesty. Your experience and grade will depend entirely on your TA. Prof Mendez is extremely passionate and knowledgeable but struggles with organization. Lectures can be rough and she LOVES to cold call. A fine GE class but very unstructured and content heavy. Not a hard class but your TA is everything