I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Meranze's class. I was initially turned off to the class because his voice reminded me of the Clear Eyes commercials, but once you get past that, the lectures are well-organized, interesting, and thoughtful. He makes post-revolutionary/pre-civil era war interesting. We had a 25% midterm, 35% paper, and 40% take-home paper final. I attended all lectures and did perhaps 40% of the readings and got an A-. He posts slides to the course website, but I highly recommend attending all of his lectures as most of the material covered there are on the midterm and will help with the final. I would definitely take another one of his classes.

I am currently taking Meranze for US History 1800-1850. In reality, he spends a good amount of the first two weeks on the last decade of the 1700's and will most likely only get to 1848. He is not the most entertaining lecturer, but he has a mastery of the materials and is very approachable when you have questions. The reading is light, one main novel and three shorter accompaniments. He doesn't like people recording lectures, but as long as you don't sit out with your tape recorder in the first row, he won't notice.

If you're reading these reviews and see the last two people commenting on his lack of a study guide, and agree with those reviewers, then don't take this class. You are in college, Meranze realizes that people at a top ranking university are intelligent and dedicated individuals, and expects you to act like one. If you can't be bothered to go through the notes of lectures (which he lays out relatively well with main themes and key dates) then this isn't the course for you and you should find something to cater to your laziness.

This class is rewarding and helps to build a very strong base in early US History, if you pay attention and do the reading, you're going to do just fine on the exams and get a good grade.

I had Prof. Meranze for U.S. History 1800-1850, and overall it was not a good experience. The class consisted of a midterm (30%) and a final (70%) in which he fails to provide any type of study guide; thereby requiring that you study everything, i.e. notes and readings all the while hoping for the best. As a history major who loves U.S. History, I found myself studying endlessly for his exams only to end up with a B+ in the end. If you enjoy sitting through boring lectures, and walking into a final exam that is worth 70% of your grade then by all means take this class. If instead you value your GPA and don't want to take a class that makes you hate U.S. History then don't bother. This class is not worth the stress, wait for a better class.