Laurie Essig

It is clear that the professor genuinely loves this class. The lectures really help clarify some of the information in the readings if it was hard to understand that week. Papers are graded incredibly lightly, with most students getting 100s. The only real issue I find is that you have to turn in notes every day of class, which is tedious

Laurie is a wonderful professor who is extremely knowledgeable. She can be blunt at times, but is clear and concise with what she wants from you and how to go about it. This class was incredible, and I quite literally wish everyone would take it. The title instills fear and stigma... but the content you are learning isn't all about what the title might allude to, because the tools and history you learn are so fascinating and explain why American culture is the way it is. This class is pretty heavy reading-based. It was all readings and reading notes and then a big project. So... if you do all the readings and participate in class you'll be good. Overall, if you see this class and are questioning. TAKE IT. IT IS SO WORTH IT.

Laurie is a wonderful professor who is extremely knowledgeable. She can be blunt at times, but is clear and concise with what she wants from you and how to go about it. This class was incredible, and I quite literally wish everyone would take it. The title instills fear and stigma... but the content you are learning isn't all about w …Read more

Very good course to take. Concepts are very thought-provoking and discussions are interesting and well-formatted. Prof. Essig clearly is very passionate and cares a lot about everyone scoring well and understanding everything she teaches. She's also very critical of Middlebury culture and doesn't shy away from political or ideological discussions which can get riveting. Papers are graded very easily and she's more than happy to let you do revisions if you want a perfect score (which isn't that hard to get). There are weekly readings which can be a bit dense and grueling, plus notes for those readings do have to be turned in, but she's very helpful for understanding the readings. Otherwise, a very very good class in terms of workload versus importance of content learned. Highly recommend.

Very good course to take. Concepts are very thought-provoking and discussions are interesting and well-formatted. Prof. Essig clearly is very passionate and cares a lot about everyone scoring well and understanding everything she teaches. She's also very critical of Middlebury culture and doesn't shy away from political or ideologica …Read more