Such a nice guy. Very enthusiastic about his subject; he really cares about the environment and getting his students to also care. Lectures were usually interesting, as well.

Easy class. straight lecture. ALOT of reading. very interesting class. Midterm and take home final

Attendance is definitely mandatory if you want a good grade. There is a lot of information, but most of it is very interesting (especially if you like history and the environment) and he structures it so it's easy to take notes and remember key points. Overall, a great teacher and a great class. Never opened reader and got A

Graves is a boring teacher who's humor needs reshaping. His lectures come from a power point that he tries to go over without skipping around but he always does and it can be hard to follow him. nevertheless, its not hard material or hard yo understand its just plain boring. Take this class if you have to but dont if you cant get around it.

He was great, you must attend lecture though. His TA Jef is super helpfull. Stay away from his reader though

Professor Graves is a wonderful professor. He always plays music before lecture and tells jokes and seriously takes an interest in his class. The midterm and final were based off of essays that drew heavily from lecture, but so long as the students took notes while he was speaking they did pretty well.

Great class, provides a unique look at world history and human/environmental relations. Must attend lecture and take good notes, but you can skim the reading and still do well. Tests are essay exams. Graves is a funny and well spoken lecturer.

amazing professor! i recommend typing notes in lecture, it makes studying for the midterm and final much easier. i probably only missed 5 lectures the whole term, but it paid off, just by rereading my notes a lot before the tests i was able to get an A

I found this class to be very challenging but as the quarter progressed the topics became more interesting.You must attend every class-take very detailed notes.The amount of material that needs to be memorized for the exams is unbelievable.The music that he played at the beginning was so loud that it sometimes gave me a headache:( Overall he's good

Graves keeps this class interesting and entertaining. His lectures contain a lot of info for 50 mins, so you have to take lots of notes. And you have to go to the lectures or you won't know anything. The final is 2/3 of your grade, but it's a paper which is fairly easy.

Graves is amazing. didn't plan on keeping this class after the first lecture but towards the later half of the quarter, it got very interesting & ended up being one of my favorites. Keep up with the readings & take detailed notes in lecture.

His lectures are outlined clearly with key words and all you have to worry about is taking down the notes. Final was a 10 page essay, all I did was copy my notes directly to paper format and I passed with a B+. Plus, he's representing for all us Okies!!

He is a very easy going teacher, and there were NO EXAMS, just papers! No rigid dates/places to memorize. I learned alot because you have alot of freedom in the papers to explore ideas. The atmosphere is very laid back, he is extremely approachable and friendly, highly recommended!

Great professor, probably most enjoyable class i've had at ucsb. Graves is fair and helpful. There is a prompt for midterm so you know what to expect. Final is a take home 10-13 page paper with prompt as well. I went to lecture and read briefly and got an A-, reccomend taking this class and learning about our state!

Definitely not all he's cracked up to be. Focuses way too heavily on infrastructure/environment, completely ignores politics/ideas/themes. Complacent about giving unfairly mediocre grades. Readings useless, esp Human Trad, never needed for assignments or even referenced in lecture. Was expecting more from this class. Wouldn't take again.

Most topics were interesting but can be a bit much for a 50min class. 2/3 of the grade rides on the take home final, so the insecurity of your grade until the very end can be though for some people. Must attend lectures because no textbook. Just skim the required reading books for the paper and you'll do fine. Nice guy, reasonable grader.

he looks like jon arbuckle! class was a bit boring at first but got much more interesting in the second half, based on reading 2 books and IDs in lecture. he can be a bit dull but hes a nice guy and the material is pretty good.

Decent Class. Was very uninterestd going into the class, so if you like the subject i'm sure you'll love the class. Only a midterm and take home final-Don't mess it up, and spend alot of time prepping for both

"must take" for any conscious person. Approach is amazingly broad. Uses humor, artistic touch and his true concern is to be fair in his own presentation of the information (which he is). The beauty of the class resonates in the readings and what he wants in the papers. He asks for reflection on the subject to be felt on a deeper personal level.

GREAT CLASS AND GREAT PROFESSOR. I have taken 2 history courses with Graves and have absolutely loved both courses! He is a very entertaining lecturer and really knows his stuff. He is also very passionate about what he teaches and is always willing to help students out if they have any questions. I highly recommend any classes taught by Graves.

if you are going to take this class make sure you get a good TA. my TA sucked so much. He graded really hard. I'm an ES major so i had to take the class, but if you aren't I wouldn't take it.

This class is not that easy. A lot of reading is required.

requires ALOT of studying.

He's way cool and he's funny. He always tries to make lecture fun which makes it more interesting.