I transferred to UCSB from a community college and he is literally the worst professor I have ever had. His lectures are rants about the subject and will make you question if this school is giving you the education you deserve. Do not take. His grading rules are ridiculous and if your opinions don't match his prepare to get an F.

Do not take Sonnino. He is the worst professor that has ever existed. He is a very interesting person, but he is very old and very forgetful. He lets you re-write papers, but that is pointless because he will tell you to do something and will get mad when you do it. The content is very interesting but his lectures are dull and he's horrible.

Detests social sci. methods and postmodernism. And while his hatred of the latter is largely understandable, his own approach is combination of crude, "pack-rat" empiricism" and what he sees as retrospective existential psychologizing about particular individual motives. He seems to think that any other take on the past is groundless theorizing.

A very strange whose hard to decipher and not worth your time to try to do so. Appears to be contemptuous of all other historians and even of his own research/career. Why he became a professor is anyone's guess. Just got him a good lifestyle I guess.

He cares more about ensuring you write according to his style than the actual content. Philosophy and grammar are the big concerns for him. He is nice, but his style won't be used for any other class and getting bad grades because of one grammar error (passive voice) can easily hurt your grade.

Sonnino offered interesting perspectives that definitely have influenced my views on the time periods we studied, but the class wasn't my favorite. I did enjoy his humor though. I will say the final was terrible. There was almost no questions on the second half of the class. The TAs grade using Sonnino's reader so study the reader.

Don't take as a GE, so much work and the midterm/final are extremely random and difficult, oh and you only have 75 minutes for both. This class is basically memorizing the notes he gives you.

I will miss Prof. Sonnino's class. Maybe it depends on the TA, but I haven't once felt pressured to agree with his self-admitted radical opinions. Honestly, I find Prof. Sonnino's method to be admirable: he wants people to approach history with an eye on sorting historical fact from "truth". It also helps if you get his eccentric sense of humor.

Prof. Sonnino is seemingly past his prime. While the material can be interesting at times (largely due to his zealous retelling of his version of history) the lack of a textbook, unconventional teaching methods, and density of the material make doing well in this class somewhat difficult. If you do take this class, agree with him and his opinions.

A very funny and interesting professor. The way he teaches is refreshing, especially his ideas on the Renaissance. Have to have an open-mind for his class, because if you're closed off from his ideas you'll fail. Don't need to accept what he's preaching but grasp the concept all the same. Personally, he's my favorite professor, top of the list.

HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! Do not take any classes with this professor. Lectures are pointless, midterm and final have extremely specific questions which is very hard being that there is sooo much information to study (with no review sheet). When I asked my TA what to focus on, she said "everything" which as you can imagine is very unhelpful

All you have to do is ask for help and he will give it! He is very clear about what he expects from his students. No passives and the like.

He provides you the opportunity to resubmit your papers based on his corrections but then finds new faults that he ignored first time round. His insistence on following his style of writing is irrelevant to any other courses you study but essential to pass his course. Do your best to follow his guidelines but if possible dont take this class.

GREAT TEACHER. Buy into his system, and you will not be dissatisfied. I took 3 of his classes and learned a lot. I am amazed at how many people thought he was egotistical(It's his sense of humor!) He has a strict writing style you must follow, but once you understand it, class is a breeze. Easy, funny, cool, informative and enlightening. Take class

absolutely despised him. did not teach history at all, the class was more of a writing class to learn how to write in his style using the topics of history. he is egotisitical, senile, and a bully. i had to take his class in order to graduate and now i am in fear that i wont be able to because of his hard grading style. its also difficult to kn

This man is not an effective teacher in any sense of the word. He is egotistical, self-absorbed, senile, and inhospitable. "My class is not a history class but a philosophy and grammar class instead," is one of his favorite phrases. If you value your own opinion, like history, and don't want to ruin 75 minutes of your day..don't take this fowl.

This man is difficult--my impression is he is looking for an argument or even a fight. The class is interesting enough, but you MUST agree with him. Even then (and I am a very hardworking student), you can find yourself in his cross hairs. If you don't like criticism (the mean kind) stay away.

An odd duck. He speaks Italian, so I was able to practice my Italian with him. But he gives little guidance as to what he wants from students. Be ready for him to jump down your throat, or praise you highly for something, and you still won't have any idea what he is assigning you to do. He is fairly funny and gives pretty interesting lectures.

the guy is a control freak who cannot see anyones veiw but his own. he is not a nice human being in general and thinks he knows or discvoered everything about european history. if you thinking about taking a class with him do not. good words to describe re pompous, self centered, arrogant, and boring

A strange guy who is a good researcher and publishes a lot but who sseems to have contempt for his own field. Why he works so hard at it I don't know since he sees no larger patterns or meaning in the past. It's ll just complex stories about one of kind individuals and their specific decisions and beliefs for him. Not a useful or defensible view.

This class was a joke. I have never so much destested the teaching methods of any man or woman in my whole academic life. Sonnio masquaraded this class as a 'History' one but I instead spent the term learning about hit personal attitudes towards philosophy and the world. If you didn't agree with him exactly he berated you and marked you down.

DONT TAKE UPPER DIVISION WITH THIS MAN. For lower division, he's great. A T.A. b/n you and him allows you to sit back and enjoy his insanity. He is completely arrogant, irrational, and boring. On papers if you don't give his exact ideas back to him you fail. He assigns papers 24 hrs bfor they're due. I'm a 4.0 history major and this was unbearable.

He doesn't have a textbook, you only use a reader since he really doesn't teach by the book. The weekly writings are a pain, especially since you don't get a grade for them. You're not allowed to use certain words, 'cause he doesn't "believe in them". Also comes up with his own vocab terms. A side from that...he's pretty funny.

He's not bad, but still is not a great professor (and still relatively hard). The IDs on the exams are the hardest part. And the weekly papers kinda suck. But just take the class PASS/FAIL!!! and then you will pass no problem.