Adam Kosto

Dr. Kosto is a fantastic professor. He brings an abundance of energy and enthusiasm to the course, and he is incredibly knowledgeable about the works on the syllabus. I would highly recommend this class.

other culpa reviews made me nervous but he was very kind and made the class interesting. he made it easy to participate and his grading was fair. no essays because of AI

He was an actual psychopath! His grading is insane. He gives extra readings. He grades your draft and tells you what to fix only for him to penalize you for doing what he asked.

I came in thinking this class might get a little dry at points, but it was actually pretty interesting the whole way through. Kosto did a great job of interspersing fun anecdotes and mini-activities (like simulating a medieval “ordeal” to determine whether or not someone was a witch in class) to illustrate the topics he was talking about, and his genuine passion for the subject he teaches was infectious and made me smile every time I came to class. Kosto is the nicest guy and was helpful in office hours whenever I went. He was always open to questions during lecture, and made the class very non-intimidating for people who didn’t know much about the early Middle Ages. The readings for the class were mercifully short, super useful, and (for the most part) pretty interesting. Kosto and our TA, Ethan, also did a great job of guiding us through the entire process of writing our term paper, implemented preliminary proposal deadlines and making themselves available to help with brainstorming topics and ideas in office hours. Really good intro history course.

Kosto is brilliant. Though he may seem abrupt and assumes you have substantial stores of knowledge about the period, he is more than willing to help a lost or dazed student. When I went to him with help on my paper, he was quick to offer numerous primary source recommendations once I told him my area of interest, and sent back my rough draft within 2 days. His love, nay exuberance, for the material is contagious. Though the first half is a tad dry, the classes following the midterm were brimming with French accents and knightly impersonations. He draws on the primary sources frequently during his lectures and will often want to discuss them with the class. ** Make sure to do the readings- or at least the primary sources** If there is one thing he wants you to learn from this class, it is how read a primary source, and read it well. Some of the texts are more interesting than others, but focus on what seems important and what he talks about in lecture. His tests were difficult and you certainly had to know your stuff, but like he said, he is testing what you know and not what you dont know. If you go to class and do the readings you should be fine.

At first I didn't like Professor Kosto. His teaching/speaking style (if you can call it that in a seminar) is rather abrupt, and he often assumes that you know more than you do about current scholarship - which I suppose is fine for seniors, but as I'm a freshman it made the course difficult. As we began to write term papers, though, Kosto showed his helpful side. He was willing to suggest good source material and read several drafts of papers. The subject for this seminar was a rather nebulous one, so while I can't say I learned much (I learned that the topic was nebulous, for example, and how to do Chicago style citations of journals) I can say that the time I spent on this course was not a waste.

dr. kosto is one of the most kind, and generous professors at columbia. he has a unique energy toward the texts in a way that makes you interested even if you hate the book. he is the best.

I agree with the previous review in that Kosto teaches this course in a discontinuous style. His thematic approach to the material is unusual. Some students may find this approach welcome and effective. I found it difficult to reassemble the material chronologically to discern historical trends and causal relationships. Despite this criticism, I was surprised and pleased at the amount I learned during the semester. I dislike KostoÂ’s approach yet, I have to admit, his teaching style may be valuable and refreshing to some students. Kosto has an engaging, enthusiastic lecture style. His generational specific asides amuse some, but appear gratuitously juvenile to others. I was as impressed with his scholarship as he is. He generously shares his passion for primary source documents and manuscript study with his students, and a course with Kosto can be valuable for all who are interested in historical research of any kind. More than a course on the Middle Ages, this is a boot camp for primary source analysis. The TAÂ’s (Carlos and Alaine) were mature, focused and task oriented. I found the discussion sessions to be unusually valuable and was disappointed when they were discontinued mid semester. Carlos and Alaine were a grounding counter-balance to KostoÂ’s thematic lectures. I did not feel their grading was unfair. I do agree it was tough. I learned a lot from both the TAÂ’s and,…

a lot of readings, 2 papers (5 pages), 2 wiki postings, midterm and final

Multiple readings each week, one presentation on a modern scholarly work, 20-25 pg term paper.