Professor Roberts is by far the best professor I have had in undergrad thus far. The lectures are very interesting, but essay prompts can be a bit ambiguous; however, he is very accessible and willing to help. Heavy on reading but I personally didn't mind as the content was engaging.

Easy class but difficult to pay attention to, stopped going to lecture early on. Agree with the "too much text on slides" complaint. Not as interesting as you'd expect it to be. If you don't care and just want an easy class, take it. As a history major, probably the least interesting history class I've taken, despite the cool premise. Nice guy tho

Like another review said, I kinda feel bad rating him so poorly because he's such a nice guy but his lectures are INCREDIBLY dull, slides have WAYYYY too much text to absorb, and readings are super long and tedious. Speaking as a history major, this class is one to avoid, but it's absolutely free if you're looking for an easy A+ without attending.

Fantastic lectures, clearly very passionate about the topic. Class is pretty easy as long as you do the readings and go to lecture. Great class!

I almost feel bad rating Roberts so poorly but he is not an effective lecturer. Slides have too much text and it's hard to know what to take away from them, delivery is boring and I never feel like I learn anything. It's prob one of the easiest classes on this campus but if you think you're going to learn about samurai by taking this, you're wrong

Great lecturer; funny, informative, clear presentation. Accommodated the TA strike. However, weekly quizzes were a bit challenging and long, and papers were graded harshly. Prof is really attentive to student needs (made quizzes easy after we talked to TA, bypassed Gauchospace issues, etc...) but a tad curt 1 on 1.. Really great otherwise!

Prof Roberts is so great! The lectures are always interesting and the weekly quizzes on lectures aren't bad at all. We did have two 5 page papers but they were not difficult and he is very lenient when it comes to submissions on time. He really cares for his students and Id definitely take him again.

Very passionate about the subject, I've been thoroughly enjoying the lectures to the point where I actually went to his office hours just to chat many times. Never fell asleep despite it being an 8 AM this time. Overall a very cool guy and is more than happy to share his research and his collection of objects (books and coins mostly) from the time.

Graded based off of weekly one-page writing assignments, a 7-9 pager biographical research paper, and a 5 minute presentation. The professor is somewhat of a tough grader but he's very accessible and gives good feedback.

He's a sweetheart, nice easy class. Really passionate about the subject and his lectures are engaging.

Easy and interesting class, No separate final/midterm. lecture, reading, quizes each week. Super easy and 1 timeline u can fill out throughout the quarter. And 2 two-pgers that are so easy. Definently recommend for easy A if you need UD Credit.

One of my favorite professors at UCSB. Quizzes are easy if you watch the lecture. I took his Hist 187A during fall quarter, he is very patient when answering my stupid questions. If you are interested in Japanese history, you'll learn a lot; But if you are not, this course might be a little boring.

The course name "Japanese History Through Art and Literature" makes the course sound a lot more interesting than it is. While some of the content we learned was cool, I found his (online) lectures to be unbearably boring. He had a very flat tone and he didn't really seem too interested in the subject. The class is section-heavy but not very hard.

One of the best professors I've had at UCSB. The History of the Samurai was a really interesting class and Roberts taught it very well. Lectures were fun to go to but not really crucial. I really enjoyed the readings, too. Would highly recommend for history students. Great professor and great guy.

Fantastic professor with interesting lectures. Grade is three 2-pg reading responses, map fill in, timeline fill in, and midterm and final. He gives you the questions for MT and final a week in advance, and are based off lectures and readings. Very straight forward. Very easy if you are not lazy and pay attention. A must for Japanese history lovers

Attendence isnt mandatory but recommend going before the midterm cause he pulls from lecture. Easy class if you can write. Very enthusiastic about the subject and knows a ton. Would take him again cause he was great even though the subject wasnt my favorite.

An awesome class overall. TAs were wonderful as well. Take this class!

Just read the textbook and you will be fine.

Professor Roberts is one of the kindest professors I've ever had. Office hours are a joy. HOWEVER, even though he gives full study guides for his tests (answers taken directly from it), the study guides took days to finish. He is very, very particular about wording and docks off points for semantics. Made samurai somewhat interesting.

I took The Samurai bc I thought it sounded cool. This class is hard if you don't know any basic Japanese history, like I didn't. I wouldn't take this course if you're looking for a random UD. There's difficult assignments. The midterm study guide had 70 prompts for short answer essays. It turned out to be a stressful course for me my last quarter.

His lectures were interesting and easy to follow. If you go to every class and do the study guide questions you can get an A. He's extremely helpful too

You can tell from his lectures how passionate he is about Japanese history, and that only made me more engaged in the material. Very funny and knowledgeable guy. Also be prepared to participate in section.

I was surprised how much I liked this class. Roberts is a really passionate lecturer. Midterm and Final are a breeze because his study guides for both are great and very detailed. Very fair grader when it comes to essays (I got a B on an essay that I should have gotten a D on). He can get a little of track in lectures, but overall hes pretty good

There are no tests or quizzes in Hist 9. There is normally a one-page, single-spaced paper due every week, and that is the majority of the workload with the exception of the final paper. Roberts is always relaxed and humorous during class, and you can see that he truly cares about what he is teaching. Don't worry if you aren't a history major.