Professor Gelvin is organized, clear, and wickedly intelligent. It's a five unit class...so there is a lot of reading and writing. Take good notes of readings and lectures because they will come in handy when the essays start rolling in. I usually put his lectures on 1.5x (sorry Gelvin, my attention span is like a carrot).

Also, please go to his office hours. He ALWAYS has something to say. He wants the best for his students and understands the circumstances we are all in, so do not hesitate to reach out to him.

I enjoyed this class. Even if you have no interest in this class, you will leave the class with at least one takeaway, or have a general idea of what is happening in the Middle East.

As a STEM major, I found the online lectures and reading to be painful but extremely interesting. This class absolutely destroyed my writing hand (I take notes by hand) but it was worth it. I came out of this class feeling very knowledgable about the middle east which, as an American, is difficult in its own right. Yes, the writing assignments were tedious (1 one-pager a week) but their frequency made writing for the two papers (5 pages each)/final op-ed (3 pages) very natural.

With regards to discussion section, make sure you do your reading! My favorite part of this class was going to section (I know this sounds like a blatant lie but I'm serious). It was challenging at times but hearing other people's interpretations/questions was like attending a mini review session every week and was extremely helpful in understanding the material.

If it weren't for the, at times ungodly, amount of work we had to do, I would easily give this class a 10/10. Nonetheless I would still recommend this class to anyone who can fit this into their schedule.

Side Note: When you read professor Gelvin's syllabus, you could easily (wrongly) assume that he is a total a**hole, but that is far from the true. He is actually an extremely knowledgable, caring, and honest professor, and I highly recommend attending his office hours.

Professor Gelvin is easily one of the best professors I've ever had. Take as many of his classes as you can. Personally I think this class was just challenging enough that it pushed me to think differently and didn't bore me, but was not so challenging that I was crying in Powell every night until 2am. If you do the work, you'll be fine. And seriously Professor Gelvin is a GEM, go to office hours as much as you can, just to hear more of his thoughts.

Prof Gelvin is a really funny guy and often tries to make jokes in class (although we don’t really get his jokes since he’s old school). He’s lectures are very engaging and materials that are taught in class are definitely relevant to everyone in this age.

This class was really interesting and had a lot of relevance for events today. Professor Gelvin and the TA Daniel were great! They were very helpful and definitely knew their stuff! The workload is not that bad, 2 papers, a small critique every week and a final at the end. I still don't know why I got an A- though as I aced the papers, got a 100% on the critiques, and though the final was easy. But, whatever, would definitely recommend this class!

This was a really interesting and relevant class. It spans a huge amount of history but Professor Gelvin selects certain events so it never becomes overwhelming or boring. The reading only comes in useful while completing the papers and even then only if you're notes are lacking. The lectures are extremely detailed and cover everything that you need. The sections were one of the best parts of this course. The TA, Daniel, was excellent at leading them and the entire class was fully engaged.

It is also very possible to do well in this course there are weekly critiques that amount to 20% of your grade and then two 6 page papers. So, the work load is also perfectly manageable.

I loved taking history 9D with professor Gelvin! He connects what you're learning with modern conflict and politics and the class gave me a lot clarity on the middle east. Every week you have to read one- three articles and write a one page analysis on them. There are also two essays that are based off of books. The books were pretty interesting, but don't leave the reading til the last minute cause it is a whole book. The essays are really easy to get A's on because he gives you a list of questions that you have to answer and if you answer all of them and don't mess up grammar too much you'll get an A. Gelvin is also really funny!

he is definitely a smart guy. you will love his sense of humor. dont pay attention on every single detail you hear in the lectures. if you take history 9D just understand the relationship between weekly readings and make sure you get the ideas presented by TA. that's all you need to do for the final. for two papers on two books just reach the minimum page limit thats all. you got at least B+, me? i got an A-...

Gelvin is a great dude, and REALLY F*CKING SMART.

He has a no-nonsense approach. He is blunt about his intentions and expectations.

If you go to lecture, he will literally lay out all you need to know, in a clear outline form. He actually makes it painfully easy and simple to understand the material. And to all of you who aren't into history or Middle East history, he doesn't expect you to remember basically any names or dates.

The two papers are kind of annoying, as they are both about books that don't have a whole lot to do with the subject matter. The final is standard, IDs and essay questions. It's easy to prepare for the essay questions - as I said, he literally will lay out an outline FOR YOU in class.

I'm a Middle Eastern + North African Studies Major, so to the few of you who care about his perspective on modern Middle East politics - he basically thinks that all of the various populations/leaders of the Middle East are equally stupid. It's hilarious.

All in all, the papers are annoying, but reading is light and lectures are entertaining. Take the class.