I found the professor very dynamic, although it took me 2-3 lectures to get comfortable with him, his way of lecturing, his jokes and asides. However, the course often seemed disjointed between lectures; I think that there are several lectures referenced in the course but missing from the lineup.

The constant digressions of thought are just too exhausting to keep up with. Love the info presented but I need the speaker to be less easily distracted by everything.

I pushed through because it's a topic I like. I learned some interesting facts but almost went crazy because he says, "y'know" so much. His voice in general is like that of the professor's on the Simpsons. The points he makes about the difference between the colonial religions were interesting.

I gave up on Episode 14. I found the professor difficult to follow and when he talked about Queen Elizabeth being hot, I decided it was time to go.

Great class and a really interesting overview of Revolutionary history.

Jack Rakove is a natural educator in the sense that he brings out the best in his material and his (usually inaudible) students. He's erudite, witty, incredibly well-read, a polymath who isn't afraid to bring Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper into a discussion on what it is historians do, or Alfred Crosby (the man Jared Diamond stole all his ideas from) on the science of early history. Grab this and listen to it over and over (I'm on my third listening now).

Prof. Rakove is a poor lecturer he often divurged into non-sense that is unrelated to the course. He admits, frequently, that he doesn't remember or didn't look up a fact. He tries to convey some ideas and few facts. It is easy to try to convey ideas if you don't have facts to support your premises. Lastly, his own personal biases intrude on almost every lecture. These wre taped in the fall of 2008 and he comments on things happening at that time, occasionally relating them back to his course, and displays his personal beliefs. I would much rather listen to someone who knows his facts and keeps hi opinions to himself.

I enjoyed this course, and I hope that more are posted. I just wish all of the classes where included.

It felt like I was in class with Jack Rakove. He was extremely nerdy, thorough, balanced in his analysis, and funny to boot. It was a privilege.

So interesting that I listened to it twice! Prof. Rakove is a very interesting lecturer.

His economic analysis is completely............positivistic. I enjoy his history, but he gaffs whenever he errs into econ. How is slavery capitalistic? Is it supposed to be capitalistic because someone profits from work? If so, how is this "capitalistic" production different from any other mode of production? There is no such thing BUT capitalism, but slavery is slightly different, and is in its allocation of resources socialistic by denotation--that is, the profit motive of individuals (in this case, Africans) is sacrificed to the "social need" of some other group (in this case "white slave-owners") who are backed by nothing but superior force (government monopoly on force). Slavery is NOT capitalistic in any meaningful sense, because the oppression of workers and the denial of their freedom entails a lack of a market for a whole population (namely, an unimpeded African market). We could call slavery protection (favoring slave-owners over Africans) or intervention (government protection of slave status in a legal framework), but we couldn't call it a market phenomenon. Unfortunately, if you don't understand econ, the entire story of Colonial America (settlers smuggling guns and goods to indians against the laws established by colonial authorities--forming a black market--or colonial merchants trading with other nations/colonies outside of the Navigation Acts and other interventionist and protectionist measures implement by English authorities) looks like a giant concerted push towards the centralization of economic and political power.

I picked this up as a companion piece to Professor Rakove's 4 part series with other prominent history professors/authors. He is an excellent lecturer with a wonderful sense of humor. After listening to this course and his 4 part series I've developed a renewed interest in this whole period of America history. Highly recommend it.

This is an excellent course. The best part is prof Rakove's stories. Priceless. Makes me feel like I am in the class.