Lisa Tiersten

Fantastic - really good course looking into patterns of consumption in Early Modern and Modern Europe. You get loads of flexibility for writing the final paper, and I found the readings well chosen. Really good class, and she leads discussion sections well.

She is very disorganized in lecture, belittling, and elitist. Tbh she ruined history for me. The midterm she gives you 30 IDs and 8 essay questions to memorize. The final is double. She expects you to regurgitate to a T what she tells you in lecture and belittles you if you ask her a question or challenge her. For me, this class thus far has been an awful experience.

Tiersten is a great professor for history and non-history people alike. The workload is incredibly manageable, with only one 5-7 page paper on basically any topic of your choice. This said, other reviews detailing her fast-paced structure in class are accurate--fast note taking is definitely a good skill for this class, especially for prep for the midterm/final. The content is very survey, with every lecture focusing on a new historical moment from the French Revolution to the rise of Fascism in Europe. Definitely recommend this course for anyone curious about modern European history.

If you love history, take this class. If you're interested in modern consumerism, gendered ideas of consumption, the rise of capital, the idea of the dandy, philosophical understandings of trains, or the evils of Walmart--take the class. The readings are wide ranging and the subject matter is super applicable to tons of stuff today. The seminar is relaxed and there's plenty of room for students to step in and contribute. Tiersten's focused on text sources, but she brings in relevant art and movies to the class. You'll get a great feel for early Europe and there's discussion about modern consumerism in America too. Whether you like consumer culture or not, the best reason to take the class is Tiersten. She's funny, down to earth, dedicated, and altogether a great historian. She knows her subject matter like the back of her hand. Ask her a question about any place or time in history and she'll spout off the top sources to read and things to know. More importantly, she wants you to succeed and is there to help you do it. Trust me, you want this class.

Let me begin by saying that I loved the lectures, throughout my entire time in the course. While this wasn't a particular area of history that I enjoy, I learned an incredible amount throughout the semester and really felt like I got to see a unique perspective that was thoughtfully laid out. I came to every class and took copious notes, largely due to how much I learned at each lecture. However, the feelings I took away were mostly negative, due to Professor Tiersten. I am not the type of student to complain simply because of a bad grade, if the grade is explained logically and reasonably. Yet her grading was strangely harsh and completely devoid of logical comments. I had always had a good opinion of her in class, she had always seemed very nice and friendly. Then I met with her to discuss a paper which I felt had been graded much too severely. I've never had a meeting with a professor who was so condescending and disrespectful in my entire college experience. Several times, she would ask me to explain something and then interrupt with her own interpretation before I could get even a sentence out. The punitive grading continued with both exams, it seemed as though she was manufacturing reasons to take points off. The course had great potential, but turned into a nightmare because of the way it was handled.

When I say Professor Tiersten knows every little thing about European History, I'm not kidding; it's actually a little bit scary. She speaks extremely quickly, which makes it really difficult to take notes. Either do the readings or go to class and try to write down everything she says; don't do both. Literally everything you need for the Midterm and Final she says in class, so I would recommend going instead of doing the reading. All in all as long as you go to class/discussion and do the study guides, you should have no problem in getting an A.

I have to agree that Lisa Tiersten is awesome. She is feisty and outspoken -- and most importantly, she'll correct you when you are wrong or saying something dumb. Unlike some professors who allow some to rant forever about something dumb, she'll challenge you if she feels you're a littler (or a lot) off. She's also really funny and down-to-earth. You don't come across that last quality too often while at Columbia and Barnard. The texts we read we're interesting, completely relevant to feminist traditions, and useful for a comprehensive overview of feminist theory. She allows students to facilitate class, so it's peer-led, but she'll jump in when she needs to make a point or guide the discussion in a more correct direction. Definitely worth taking a class with her. Oh, and she's so cool, she even created a snack schedule for the class.

I agree with many of the previous reviewers, good and bad. People do talk crap about Lisa Tiersten - but I think these people are missing the point. True Lisa Tiersten repeats and interrupts herself, true her lectures can sometimes be disorganized and true sometimes she doesn't tell you as much about something as you'd want to know. But, the beauty of this class is that none of that catches up with you later on. Extraneous, interesting details are presented in that disorganization - but, there's an excellent chance you'll never ever be tested on it. If you get the gist - awesome, you know something more about it, if you don't - oh well! you got the main points, right? If you want to know more about it - chances are there's a lot more about it in your hundred-page course reader, text book, and, if its not, she's so approachable, you can just ask her, and as someone said before - she'll come in with more information about it than you possibly could have wanted. She's so enthusiastic - and that is amazing in a professor. Her classes are ones that you never have to worry about, you never feel tremendous pressure over and to boot - she's really fun. I mean, if you're looking for deep, in-depth, pushing-you-to-the-edge-of-your-intellectual-seat history classes, Columbia and Barnard have plenty, but yeah, this definitely isn't one of them. If you want to learn some interesting things…

I would 100% recommend anyone take a history class with Tiersten. She is so amazing and knowledgable—classes are incredibly engaging and attendance is always high. She manages to fit so much detail into a survey course, all while keeping workload very manageable. If you are considering taking one of her courses (I've also heard Colonial Encounters is amazing) there are no downsides to Professor Tiersten!! You will know all the possible essays on the Midterm and are able to prepare accordingly. It is difficult to do bad on one of her exams.

This class was one of the most unenjoyable experiences. The first class, I wasn't thrilled, but I was intrigued to see how the Professor would break down and disseminate all of the information (It is a huge amount of time to cover). The second class left me feeling that all too familiar, "maybe I should shop around the course catalog," but instead, I ignored my initial reaction, and stuck with the class. Though I wish this was one of those stories where I go on to tell you how happy I am to have stuck with it, and how rewarding the class turned out to be, that definitely was Not the case. This was the only class where I had to force myself to keep my eyes open, and please, do not mistake me for a student who sleeps in class, because that is not the case. She rambled on and on about such minute facts, yet sped through significant, monumental events in history. History is not my major, but after having taken an Amazing American History course the previous semester, I felt inspired and I desired to become more acquainted with European history. Well, the only time I learned anything of significance was before studying for the exam, and it was not enjoyable, nor enriching. With that being said, exams are fair, and a study guide is handed out a week before, but you are at the mercy of a TA who grades all of your work (unless you end up in Tiersten's section for discussion). My TA wa…