Professor Langdon is very clear about the topics for his midterm and final, however he does not give any specific study guides for them. He does hand out words/lecture notes at the beginning of lecture, but unless you are willing to sift through over 80 names and places for each lecture, just focus on what he tells you are the main themes for the class (which he will repeatedly state). He is extremely enthusiastic about the topic, which is not boring in itself, however he'll throw so much information at you that you may not know what's important. He is refreshing in his energy, but intimidating in the way he presents information during lecture. I missed out on the midterm (which was optional), took the final for 100% of my grade, didn't follow the instructions, e-mailed him about it, and got a B in the class. Either an extremely caring and lenient professor, or I got amazingly lucky. Recommended if you are interested in the subject at all and willing to do a fair amount of reading.