Hands down the best professor I have ever had at UCLA. This class is not easy but with the appropriate amount of effort, it can easily be done.

This was one of my favorite courses I took last year. I came in with an interest in Roman history, and professor Langdon did not disappoint. His class covers a lot of material but he makes his lectures lively and entertaining, and as long as you take diligent notes you’ll be fine. Due to the large amount of material covered each lecture, attendance is a must to succeed in the course. Make sure you use the course reader because it becomes really helpful for the optional midterm and mandatory final. Also the midterm is optional, but definitely take it. The two exams cover a lot of material but Professor Langdon is very clear about what to expect and he holds a review session to cover everything that is expected. I would definitely recommend this course for anyone interested about Roman History.

Dr. Langdon is an extremely passionate in the topic of Rome and its historical impact in modern times. He is approachable and joyful, making him accessible. My critiques for this class are within the parameters of pedagogy, misogyny, and exams structure.

Pedagogy:

Dr. Langdon is hard to follow during lecture as he is screaming his heart out to the class. I appreciated the passion and Latin words dropped here and there, but it a majority of the information was not digestible. There was no moment of learning for me, but rather a focus on just remembering dates and figures. As a student this was disappointing as I was open to learning about Rome. There is no room for engagement or questions as non-stop lecturing for the entirety of the class. It would have been helpful to pause during lecture and ask for any clarification or questions. If you are to take this class and you are not passionate or familiar with this historical period (there were very few students who were), prepare yourself for an extremely difficult time. His pedagogy needs a revisit, it is simply not effective nor engaging. There were very few times where I felt like I was happy to be in class. I actually dreaded it.

Misogyny:

The misogyny that was subtly integrated in his lectures when talking about women or queer figures in Rome bothered me, but did not surprise me given his past positions of power. If you are to take this class and are a Woman and/or Queer identifying, brace yourselves for his subtle disrespect. I don't understand what Dr. Langdon's deal was with the extra details about women in bed and men being queer in Rome. There were plenty of times where I wrote something down and had to do a double-take to process what was just said. This was another pitfall to the class.

Exams:

If you are a great test taker, this is the class for you, but it was simply not for me. The only grades given in the class are an [optional] mid-term + final, which were both in-class (oh yeah, and the extra credit). My critique would simply begin with: why? The amount of weight that is put on the mid-term and final is excruciating as the amount of content that one must remember is unrealistic and as mentioned before. For our final we had about 30 "who am I" IDs, two essays (5 paragraphs each), and one short paragraph (10-12 sentences) that we had to complete within the three hour time-frame.

There was one opportunity for extra-credit which was visiting the Pompeii
https://www.reaganfoundation.org/library-museum/special-exhibits/pompeii/

The Pompeii was not only was expensive, but inaccessible if you had no car. The extra-credit was in my opinion, unfair.

Overall, Langdon is a passionate educator, but his pedagogy needs a revisit, his misogyny needs to be eradicated, and the exam structure needs a revamp.

If you do not need to take this class, don't.

Professor Langdon is a great professor but his exams are too difficult. His lectures are very fun to watch, but he doesn't give time for the students to ask questions, and I always had to rewatch the lectures twice to write all the information down due to his talking so fast. Other than that, great professor!

Easily the best professor at UCLA. Dr. Langdon is, without a doubt, an exceptional professor. This was my third time taking one of his classes, which should indicate how highly I think of his teaching. His classes aren't easy by any means. There is a lot of reading and studying required, and your grade depends on an optional midterm and a mandatory cumulative final. Doing the required readings, attending his lectures, staying for office hours, and studying hard are absolutely necessary.
That being said, the more you put into this class, the more you will get out of it. I had a mild interest in Roman history before taking a class with Dr. Langdon, but he makes sure that you know Roman history inside and out. His lectures are really engaging, and he always has some funny side comments and unorthodox jokes that make his lectures enjoyable to attend. If you don't understand the lectures, he's really helpful and will answer any questions (and drop hints for the midterm and final) during his office hours which are always immediately after class.
If you're trying to fill your schedule or get an easy A, don't take this class. If you're actually interested in learning and want an in-depth, comprehensive understanding of Roman history, you NEED to take Dr. Langdon.

If you like Roman history, this class is for you. Your grade depends on one optional midterm and one mandatory final exam. Take the midterm even if its optional! Exams are difficult and readings are dense so do not procrastinate on studying. That being said, this is all do-able. Manage your time well, go to lectures, go to office hours, and you'll do fine. Go to lectures and office hours because Professor Langdon still notices who shows up and who doesn't and will take that into account when grading.

Professor Langdon is the most engaging history professor I've ever taken at UCLA. His lectures feel more like a TV show than an actual class due to the clever asides and the dirty details of Roman imperial drama he delves into, leaving the large, overarching themes and concepts mostly to the readings and briefly recapping them in class. I will say that his lectures are a bit difficult to take notes on because of this. That being said, when studying for your tests, you will be using the notes and maps given to you in the course reader instead of your lecture notes most of the time.

NOTE: The format of his tests and the class will be somewhat confusing if you do not figure out how they work. However, if you do, this class really isn't that hard if you study appropriately for his tests, and you have more time to sit back and enjoy the spicy drama from lecture.

1. Make sure you pay attention in lecture when Langdon TELLS YOU WHAT WILL BE ON THE TESTS. Once in a while, he'll drop a concept or time period that he says "you must know for the midterm / final". Write these down and study for it in the reader notes and you'll be fully preprared for the essay questions.

2. The other part of his tests are term identifications. These usually have to do with the morsels and tidbits of strange and unique facts about historical figures he loves to talk about in lectures (i.e. the emperor's boyfriend had more statues than the emperor himself) as well as the notes from the reader. Make sure you pick up on at least some of these in lecture, as they will help you out on the tests with around 30 - 40 % of the terms.

3. As I saw in other reviews of this professor, Langdon can make some... off-color statements. I wouldn't call this misogyny or homophobia, but I would consider it somewhat insensitive and a product of a man who hasn't yet caught up to the times. For example, he once referred to an aspiring young emperor as a "fruitcake" to call him crazy, seemingly unaware that it is also a derogatory term for gay people. I think that Langdon often has moments like this where he means no harm but comes across as out-of-touch and insensitive due to his poor choice of language and boomer mindset. This isn't to excuse Langdon from said mistakes, but to try to help people understand where he's coming from, and to say that despite his flaws he is still an excellent professor and I highly recommend him.

Please take him if you can.