Sam Haselby

A good, light, enjoyable introduction to the American Revolution. Prof. Haselby is nice, approachable and knowledgable. The class isn't tightly organized, but that's mostly intentional- Prof. Haselby always tried to keep students involved in discussions about the Revolution and its impact today. This often means 30 minute long Q&A sessions, so this isn't a class bursting at the seams with information, but that's just as well. The title is a bit misleading- the class spends a lot of time on the pre-colonial and early colonial period and ends with the Constitution ratification of 1787-1788. I also wouldn't be surprised if Prof. Haselby meant to cover more than he did. The history is well taught, with a lot of quotes and anecdotes sprinkled in. The strongest point of the class is a kind of "myth busting"- Prof. Haselby loves to deconstruct some common misconceptions of the Revolution and to talk about its contemporary perception as a mythological event. This may be a little hard to follow for anyone who doesn't really know American political discourse, e.g. how the Founding Fathers are perceived and how the Constitution is treated. I should note that this class talks mostly about the "bottom-up" part of the Revolution, so this is not a great class to learn about the great figures of the period, with the possible exception of Washington and some Jefferson (through anecdotes and Je…

Sam is awesome! Reading the negative reviews of him reminded me why CULPA can be so problematic. It is inconceivable to me that anyone could take Sam's class, work remotely hard, and come away with a negative impression of him. He is the best facilitator of seminar discussion I encountered at Columbia. He is genuinely interested in his students and willing to offer advice related to Columbia. Perhaps most importantly, he has an awesome sense of humor, and his class is just fun. Also, and this is especially important for summer classes, he wasn't afraid to let the class go if we'd discussed everything necessary before the end of the class period (which in a 3 hour class is huge). I cannot write enough positive comments about Sam, and if you're even considering taking a summer history seminar and do not at least check out Sam's class, you are doing yourself a huge disservice.

Pretty good. Sam has a certain set of interests that he brought to a lot of the books. But I didn't feel like he had an agenda, and it gave a way to relate stuff that on the reading list that wasn't so relatable at first. He also arranged for a couple class meals and had funny ways of admitting when he was wrong. I don't think he's teaching anymore though.

Reading: No more than ~70 pages a week and often substantially less. Nearly all secondary sources, with the two primary exceptions of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" and Jefferson's "Notes on the State of Virginia". Pretty interesting material overall. No discussion section. Grading: 20% Reading quizzes- I can't imagine this actually counts for 20%, because we only did around 3 quizzes. But they were a good way of incentivizing reading when they did take place, and not difficult if you did the readings, which were short. 30% Midterm- standard to easy. Most of the IDs given in advance, essay question, both with choice, fairly graded. 30% Final- Actually more like a second midterm- it was 75 minutes long, same structure as the midterm, not cumulative, not difficult. 20% Essay- The only writing in the course is a 5-7 paper. Yup. Critical reading of one of three books we read in class based on other readings and lectures, no outside research necessary.

This was a lot better than I expected. It's work though. The one short paper a week isn't so bad, but the sheer volume of reading is heavy. That said, most of the reading is good, and some of it is great. A couple long essays that were assigned seemed deadly, but then in class Haselby made it clear why they were important and did a good job of making them understandable. At first, sometimes you'll not be sure what one reading has to do with the previous one, or the next one. But you'll see they are related. That said, I'm still not sure why we had to read all of Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia. If you want to talk about current politics and the American Revolution, this isn't the place. Haselby's pretty left, but he's not dogmatic and seems more just interested in the subject. We talked a lot about empire, the leading revolutionaries as a distinctive group, how they attracted support, and religion.

Sam, or to use the nickname we gave him, Michael Stipe, took what could have been a fun class in which great works of literature were analyzed and discussed intelligently and morphed it into what can only be described as a dreadful, demoralizing, boring and frustrating experience. His condescending manner and superiority complex make most students not speak up in class. Those who do are simply asking for... the hand wave. What is the hand wave? It is a reaction designed to let a student know in the rudest possible way that what he or she has said is "stupid." He looks at you, nods skeptically, waves his hand in the air as if to brush away the stench of the comment, and then proceeds to call on someone else. As if that other person is going to fare any better. At the least, this is demoralizing. It would almost be justifiable if he were saying intelligent things. But half the time his comments are just plain dumb. He was convinced that somehow Montaigne, in feeling sympathy pains, was actually being injured. Like Montaigne would see someone with a broken leg and somehow, as if by magic, HIS LEG WOULD BREAK TOO! Two hours of bitter arguing later, Sam was still convinced that we were either too dim to see the obvious, or just hadnt done the reading. Finally, I gave up and tuned out all together. This gave me a lot of time to do something worthwhile, like watching the clock tick t…

worst class i ever took at columbia. sam sits and lectures about trivial aspects of the texts and then gets mad if you don't participate, whichihe makes nearly impossible to do with the topics he brings up. he is anal when it comes to your papers. he is a tough grader. i recommend that if you find yourself in his class, transfer IMMEDIATELY.

A lot at first but then it tapers off. Over the length of the semester it's pretty normal I think.

The usual reading, 3 5-6 page papers, midterm, department final. Less than many classes, but excruciatingly painful in its own way.