The unit content itself is quite interesting. I did enjoy the way the content was delivered, less focused on major events (e.g., WW1/WW2 or the Great Depression) and more on the socioeconomic and cultural changes of the time (e.g., the rise of Communism and Fascism rather than the war itself). The UC (Giuseppe Finaldi) is incredibly knowledgeable and would often provide us with alternative views on major events, challenging our own perceptions of history. I will say the tutorial readings before the class can be pretty long, but honestly, skim reading and getting the main ideas from each of them was enough to do well. The assessments provided often lacked major guidance, which I found unfair for a first-year unit, especially in the first semester with a decent amount of students coming straight out of high school and not acclimated to academic writing. The first assignment was a book report, which I really enjoyed. But that also comes with the fact that you also have to read an entire book cover to cover and extract information from it before writing a report on it, which can obviously be very time-consuming. The in-class assessment was also interesting, I felt I had more than adequately prepared for it and was well versed on the content, but was disappointed to see a lower grade than expected. I assume this is potentially because I didnt offer my own perspective enough, but we never received the feedback from it so I guess that question will remain unanswered. The essay was straightforward, again there could be some more clarity for new students who are yet to write an academic essay. I had the benefit of being a second-year student, so I was able to do quite well. Overall a good unit, if you have the interest to sit down and read lots on history. Could use some further guidance on the assessments, but definitely manageable for a first year unit.

Overall this unit was enjoyable as you can pick a topic of choice for the two assessments, however the tutorial readings were unnecessarily extensive and the discussions were somewhat irrelevant. I was able to follow along as I had completed ATAR History, however it kind of felt like a pre-requisite as the topics were just skimmed over due to the longer time period. You literally don’t need to know most of the content though as you choose to focus on one or two specific areas for the assignments. The lecturer was nice and the research assignments were enjoyable, plus it was pretty good not having an exam.

While this unit is interesting, and the tutor is lovely, the content of the lectures and the content for the tutorials did not line up. I found that most of the discussion in the tutorials was not relevant, and the explanations for the assessments were ridiculously vague and non-informative. This unit probably had the most work for it too out of the four units I took this sem, which is saying something considering I was also doing Level Two units. I was able to abandon the tute prep and lectures, and still follow easily due to taking Modern History Atar in Highschool but for those who have not, you may struggle to follow this unit. As a History Major, it sucks that those who take this as an elective or as a taste for the history major will end up disappointed. It is not an accurate reflection of how the history major is run. I would recommend taking Hist1901: Environmental History for those who are looking for a relevant, interesting and moderate workload.

A really interesting unit, however was quite challenging for level 1. Lots of extra reading for the tutorials. The two essays in the unit were quite straightforward but very time consuming. Would recommend to anyone interested in European history!