People hate on Sonnino, but he's not that bad. Hilarious to listen to, although the way he structures lectures is pretty terrible. Midterm and final are not that bad, as the essay questions are easy to deduce and the ID's are fair. Only complaint: 50% midterm and 50% final determine your entire grade (curved 1/3 letter grade for section attendance)

I never went to lecture or took notes. The reader is relatively cheap and in it, there is a simplified version of the lecture notes. We had a 150 word essay due every week which was easy and you cold rewrite it as many times as possible. In addition, midterms and finals-just stick to the main concepts and you should do fine. I got a B in the class.

At first it seemed really pointless and the one page papers were ridiculous, but in the end I actually liked it. If you fully grasped his overall points, the essay portions of his test were easy. The important thing is to always take notes during class (even though he gives you an outline), because the notes he gives you are not enough to do well.

ID parts of midterm and final pretty tough. Essay questions easy and predictable for the most part. Weekly writing assignments were useless, I had to re-write mine several times and they don't even count as part of your grade. Although lectures are funny and keep you from falling asleep...don't take it if your looking for an easy class.

Worst history professor taken so far @ UCSB, this is coming from a history major. His style of teaching is completely ridiculous as well as useless. There's a reason why other History professors dislike him, he believes his method of teaching is superior than other professors which is complete bullsh-t. This guy needs to stop teaching asap.

Horrible, horrible teacher. The way he teaches the class causes it to function as nothing more than a platform for his ludicrous ranting and half-baked theories of history. The papers were worthless, the exams were horrendously unfair (testing on minutiae that he never stressed in class at all), and by the end of the class, I had learned nothing.

One of the worst professors i have ever had. 8 one page papers due for no credit. MIdterm ad Final are 50% of grade each. Does ID's on midterm and final but chooses things he either doesnt go over or thigs that are unimportant in how he lectures about. Just took his early final and even the TA's looked shocked when they first looked at the test.

You have to write 8 papers one page in length but you receive NO GRADE for them. You have to simply pass them all or you FAIL the entire course. For fulfilling a writing requirement, all the writing you do is pointless. His views on history are unique. All you are provided with is his notes. No textbook, so if you have a question your scewed!

Funny, different take on History. Absolute dictator about grammar (learn how to not use the passive voice). I'd recommend taking him, but after you've taken another history class so that his spiel will have some resonance. I disliked him the first time I took him, but grew to appreciate some of his iconoclasm in a later class.

Don't hate on Sonnino. This class always makes me laugh and all you have to do is highlight his lecture notes.

This guy is terrible and the class sucks. You get 8 2 page papers to do, but if you fail one, you fail the whole class. His style of teaching is terrible and very hard to follow. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!!!

This is a hard one to rate, because at first I hated the class because of all the grammar and little assignments, but then I realised it was the only class I wasnt falling asleep in, he listens to everyones points, always replies to emails that same day, and is very leniant with deadlines, so the stress level is quite low. Stick it out!

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Wow. This isn't a history class, it's a class on grammar. DO NOT TAKE HIM! I cannot stress how much this man ruined this subject for me. Be warned, grades are not commensurate with effort. Do not take this professor.

Wow, this guy is bad. It appears easy, but becomes difficult because he rips you for one passive verb and preaches his ideas non-stop. If we are taking a history class, teach history! Instead we get his distorted and pessimistic take on the world. I am all for different approaches, but present them objectively. Hist dept is great so take anyoneelse

I was in his honors section a few years back, worst mistake ever. He would pick one or two people a week and spend a good hour ripping apart their one paragraph for the week...he would make you rewrite your entire assignement for having something like having one passive verb.

Class is pretty easy; everything you need is in the short readings and the lecture notes he provides. Lecutres are interesting and usually pretty funny, but you don't always have to go. He has an interesting take on the Renaissance...plus you have to love a history prof who will tell everyone that he hates history.

I think he is reallllly chill teacher. He gives you EVERYTHING...right in the reader. Notes and all. Its not a bad class at all and I hope that I get sonnino as a teacher again soon. He makes it really easy for you. Just read what he gives you...you are in college...you have to do soome work.

Sonnino is ok. I really liked the fact that the only reading that I had to do was a few pages from a reader each week. Also, rather than having to write a term paper, all that was required was weekly paragraphs of 150 words. As others have noted, he does dumb down the material but I think that this helped make the class a little more interesting.

Sonnino dumbs down material, only provides documents that he himself translated, and preaches about Martha Stewart and propaganda. It is definately a large part his sense of humor, but the class should not be based on his opinions and it is.

This professor dummed down the material significantly. Tried to make things easier by only making us buy a reader, but vague notes made concepts difficult to understand. Is very proud of his ideas, and not helpful during office hours. very condescending. I Didn't learn anything I could take to a future history class.

Class was a joke. Not difficult, but definetely frustrating - class offers an in-depth analysis of historical documents but a shallow, confusing summary of historical people and events. Information is presented in a garbled manner in both the lecture and reader. Lectures are an effort in frustration, as he lists off a salvo of names and events.

Mad professor but very interesting and funny lectures, spreads anti-church anti-gov propoganda. Only has midterm and final 50/50 an hour each. The questions are simple and broad base only need to buy course reader which is cheap! Attend all sections very important and great material covered, grad school stuff.

If you pay attention and do the readings you will undertstand the points he's trying to make. It's refreshing to get see a different kind of historian like Sonnino. His tests reflect how well you understand his theories and ideas, but doesn't force you to accept them. Overall, great profrssor and fun class.