This class requires a lot of reading which would not be so difficult if the book had a concrete structure. The chapters that are written by Hovannisian are all over the place. He puts so much information and so many facts but at the same time he forgets to explain them. Sometimes he talks about different dates in the same paragraph and makes it hard to follow the reading. The book is very dense and covers a lot of material. Take a lot of notes during lecture. He goes back and forth between events and this can make the lectures more and more confusing. You have a midterm and a final and a book summary. The book summary is about the book that his grandson wrote. It's not the best book. It has a series of disjointed thoughts and ideas and can improve a lot in structure. It seems as though his grandson was thinking while as he was writing the book. The midterm and final are not too bad. Just make sure to write a great essay. He tests you in an I.D. format so be sure to have a clear essay and a clear thesis. he gives study guides so be sure to go over those and write out the essays and memorize them. He knows a lot of info and is educated but when it comes to lecturing, I can say that there are better professors. Yes he knows his stuff, but he does not know how to articulate that so you can follow his lecture. He may be rude and blunt at times but he is nice guy.

Professor Hovannisian is amazing. The class is definitely not easy, but his enthusiasm and charisma about the topics makes you want to learn more about Armenian history.

If you're not Armenian, you might have a hard time with the names, since it's hard to distinguish people's names, places and events if you're not familiar with them, but it's definitely worth taking because Armenian history intertwines with the history of that region in so many ways.

And also, if you're Armenian, don't expect an A in this class just because of your IAN ending.

Definitely a class worth taking.