Mark Carnes

This is easily the best class I've taken in college. Prof Carnes' lectures are fast-paced and soo engaging. He traces important themes and has high enthusiasm. I find myself referencing information from this class constantly, years later.

I agree with all of the reviews about Professor Carnes being a great lecturer, and overall I would advise people to take this class, but I would caution that the grading is surprisingly difficult because he reverse curves. For the midterm, for instance, the cutoff for an A was a 96, even though the upper quartile score was a 95, and the median grade on it was an 88.

I had high expectations for this class as many people recommend Carnes and say he is a “must-take” while also being difficult. These expectations were met and I really enjoyed this class. He taught the history as a story of subsequent events that impact the next event and so on. He is animated, passionate, and engaging. I found the content super interesting and even the content I thought I already knew, I gained new perspectives. Sometimes the slides are disorganized so just go with the flow. I learned a lot.

Amazing class start to finish. Carnes is one of the best, funniest professors I've had. He developed his own style of pedagogy, which involves this roleplay/call and response/style class, which is highly engaging and creates a genuinely joyful environment. If you sit in the front row, especially, be prepared to have Carnes stand over you with huge eyes asking you to solve the Vietnam War problem, or the Arms Race, or literally anything else. The class follows stories, usually about Columbia students, instead of the standard lecture format. This can be a bit confusing, since he'll teach 20 years of nuclear history, then go back to the beginning and teach 20 years of racial history, and so on, but he does a good job of tying these threads together in the end.

Took Reacting to the Past with him- LOVED IT SO MUCH. This class was literally the highlight of my freshman year and I have never been in a class like it before. Our roles really take over our lives and sometimes things get personal but at the end of the day, it's an amazing experience. I'm a STEM major and this was super super fun. It definitely wasn't an easy workload compared to other Reacting classes- it actually seemed to be much more work. But, an A is possible! If you want to learn like you've never learned before, take this class with Carnes. He's fantastic and will change your experience in the classroom forever. However, you will need to speak in front of the class and embody your character well so if you aren't into public speaking or get super scared of talking in front of people, maybe the class isn't for you.

Hands down the best course I've taken at Columbia. Combining politics, history, debate, law and theatre, I've learned and retained more from Reacting than any class I've taken in my 17 years of education. Mark Carnes is a genius and will first teach you the material in an exciting way, and then will let you act out the material for yourself. He will work with you in developing any ideas or strategies you may have. As someone who is terrified of public speaking, I have become so much more confident after this class. I have made friends (who can say THAT after any other class at Columbia??), and come away with solid memories. TAKE THIS CLASS! Grade recieved: A

Professor Carnes, while an interesting lecturer, adeptly erases all controversy from this strife-ridden period of American history. For example, with thinly veiled dismissiveness, he basically deemed the "social movements of the 1960's" (indistinguishable, of course) a failure "because of the backlash they caused." Umm, excuse me? Talk about a privileged, biased position. In fact, he supports nuclear armament, Reagon, you name it...He unfairly seeks opposing viewpoints from the class without first framing both sides of the argument (i.e.--we don't know the opposing pov--why don't you tell us? even a strawman argument would be better than none). After presenting Vietnam as an "inevitable tragedy," he then asked the class for opposing viewpoints, pausing only briefly. No one answered. Take this class if you want the basics of war history and the big names in politics (presented uncritically, of course). Don't if want anything other than the "great man" theory of history--and one that naively portrays the US as a "benign superpower" at that. That seems like Mickey Mouse, high school history to me. I was very disappointed by this class.

A must-take for freshmen obsessed with U.S. history! Although it was difficult and definitely contributed to my stressful freshman fall, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything! Professor Carnes is a wonderful, engaging, and charismatic storyteller who makes even the most soul-sucking Monday brain feel not so bad! Despite ending with a mediocre grade (due to my mid-exam scores), my eye-opening experience and the way it deepened my passion for history definitely trump the grade!

this was my favorite class of the semester. carnes is a funny, engaging prof and all the other reviews glazing him are correct. take his class if you can. he tries to tell a story with each of his lectures rather than read from the slides, and he also records and uploads the lectures. loved the class

Professor Carnes is one of the best professors I've had. At the beginning of the year, I was not looking forward to taking a large history lecture, but Carnes really knows how to engage the students. His class does require effort and it's best to create study groups to go over the material, but his teaching style is so captivating that if you pay attention, you'll just have to review for the midterm and final. However, his exams can be a bit tricky if you don't really understand the main concepts and spend time memorizing dates because he puts quotes on the exams, which you have to identify who said the quotes and the significance of them. He is a lenient grader and does his best to learn students' names even if it's a lecture of over 50 people. Highly recommend to take Professor Carnes!