Holly Allen

I love Prof. Allen so much. She is so passionate about the material and facilitates such great discussion. This is a smaller course, so you are expected to be prepared, present, and engaged in the conversation. You have to serve as a discussion leader and prepare a presentation a couple of times throughout the semester. You also have an ongoing blog that you add to periodically, and it's posted for the class to see. There are a lot of opportunities to research the things that specifically interest you.

I love Prof. Allen so much. She is so passionate about the material and facilitates such great discussion. This is a smaller course, so you are expected to be prepared, present, and engaged in the conversation. You have to serve as a discussion leader and prepare a presentation a couple of times throughout the semester. You also have …Read more

Holly Allen’s American Consumer Culture is one of the most engaging and rewarding courses I have taken at Middlebury. The class takes an interdisciplinary approach, weaving together history, cultural studies, sociology, and media analysis to explore how consumption has shaped American life from the late nineteenth century to the present. Through readings that range from classic theorists like Thorstein Veblen to modern scholars such as Lizabeth Cohen and Juliet Schor, students gain a rich understanding of how advertising, leisure, and mass media reflect and construct social values.

Holly Allen’s American Consumer Culture is one of the most engaging and rewarding courses I have taken at Middlebury. The class takes an interdisciplinary approach, weaving together history, cultural studies, sociology, and media analysis to explore how consumption has shaped American life from the late nineteenth century to the pres …Read more

Prof Allen is laid back and the papers for the class are no more than 1000-1500 words. Although there is some group discussion built into class, her teaching style can get boring at times but there are some interesting projects throughout the semester.