I found the lectures for this class very interesting and I liked the topic itself, but discussions were painful. I had heard so much good things about this cluster but I really got messed up with my TA. I had Sharon as my TA. The discussions are nearly 2 hours of boring hell. Luckily it’s just once a week and you can easily bullshit your way through it, but still. She expects you to of read the readings, and when no one has, the class is just silent while she asks questions about them. It might of just been my specific discussion section not vibing, but Sharon herself lacks a lot of enthusiasm, too. For our major grade paper I had asked her in class about my thesis, which she said was good. But when she graded my paper, she gave me a B and said my thesis had problems. You said my thesis was good when I showed it to you and I didn’t change anything????? I never consider myself to be a great writer so I’ll take my B like a champ but it still sucks. Besides the weekly readings that aren’t assigned (but really are if you don’t want to look like a fool in discussion), at the beginning of the quarter there are 4 response papers over the readings where you basically just talk about the readings and note about something interesting (1 is a rewrite). Don’t overthink these, I got too analytical on one and my grade was worse for it. These response papers are worth 25% of your grade. Participation is 25%, the paper I mentioned earlier is also 25%, but you get 4 whole weeks to work on it with a part of it due each discussion section, so it’s really not a lot of work in the short term. Then our final was 2 essays we picked from 3 prompts worth 25%, but we got a whole week to do it and it was based just on lecture and reading content. Overall, if you get a good TA and a vibey section you’ll be fine.

I would take this class again 100 times over! If you want to take it, make sure you are ready to read as there is a good amount of reading. They are not boring readings though! Everything you read is interesting but I am sure that if you miss some readings it won’t affect how you do in the class. There is a midterm and 2 essays, all of which the professor adequately prepares you for. The lectures are detailed and engaging. I suggest taking as many notes as you can. I have no qualms with this class or professor at all.

Professor McBride is a fantastic teacher in lecture. He is really engaging and often adds elements of comedy into his slides, for example he brings his dog onto zoom sometimes. He finds very interesting readings for the class and has a unique perspective to the material. Highly recommend.

I had my qualms with Cluster 48A but went ahead and continued on to 48B because I didn’t know what else to do. My TA Rebecca was a lot better than my 48A TA Sharon. She really cared about her students, her discussions were a lot better structured, and she was an easier grader (still hard, but slightly easier). There were 2 6 page essays this quarter, each 25% of your grade, participation 25%, and your final, which is 2 4 page essays, worth 25% as well. This quarter in general was a lot more conceptual and literature based than 48A since in 48A you were learning a lot of the history but in 48B the focus is more on memory, justice, and representation (films, books, etc.) of political violence. The first essay of the quarter came really easy to me, but the second essay was based on the Armenian genocide and Prof Sengul’s lectures are really hard to understand and digest so the essay was really hard to write. This definitely was not my favorite class and I wish I had picked another cluster but it is ok to get by with some half assed effort.

Professor McBride is a great lecturer and knows what he is talking about. I never find his lectures boring, and think that his workload is perfectly reasonable. I personally did a majority of the readings but think that not reading some of the novels would not hurt you, as the work in the class is mainly contingent on the lecture material. Would suggest taking this class!

I really love this cluster series and the way the seminars are taught is far less boring as I would have suspected from a three hour class. The material is engaging and not too hefty, just do the readings and you will be fine.

Don't let my C+ freak you out. I had my first child two days before school started. Mcbride is a good professor, and his midterms are pretty easy to do if you come to class and take notes. His papers were a little strangely graded since the T.A. told me my final paper was very promising, but I ended up with a C-. It seems if you have time to take your writing to office hours and have him look it over, you should be okay.

Professor McBride was great but this is more of a review of the class itself. Definitely not as easy as the previous years of reviews make it seem like. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET SWAMPED WITH WRITING AND READING. Readings aren't used until the end when the final paper requires you to use past readings. The cluster also traps you by making you take all three quarters to get the extra GE and writing II, but in the end its not worth it, so go with the freedom and take GEs whenever you want. If you get a good TA like Cucharo, then class is manageable but with a worse TA like Glasberg, it's definitely not worth it. Honestly, one of my most regretful decisions so far in college is taking this cluster.

More details about the class if you want to read:
Fall quarter - about 60-100 pages of readings a week along with 4 one page response papers every week in first half, one 5-6 page paper in second half, and two 3-4 page papers given and due within finals week (hated my life when I was writing these).
Winter quarter - roughly the same amount of reading, two 5-6 page papers for each half, same thing for final
Spring quarter - not done yet but its been alright compared to the past two quarters, but still wish I hadn't even gotten to this point.

I like this cluster a lot, but the topics were heavy. Similar to first quarter, two essays and the final. Manageable workload.

30% midterm exam; 30% 4-5 pages term paper; 40% 4-5 pages paper for final; 1% extra credit possible if you attend a film screening or go to a museum on your own time. Three novels/novellas assigned for the class. You can get away with only reading one of them (the one you have to write about for the term paper) if you choose the non-novel/novella option for the midterm and the final paper. Professor McBride offers two options for all the midterm and the papers, so you do have some flexibility there. Interesting lectures and content materials. Textbook readings are not required (you won't be tested on them) but I found them to be useful, especially regarding writing for your papers (or just further preparing for the midterm). Professor McBride also posts some primary sources for each week's lectures. They are not required, but can be useful in helping you better understand historical materials/context covered in lectures (also one of the prompt options for the final paper is to analyze a primary source of your choosing). Pretty straightforward class that teaches you a lot about Soviet history.