Such an amazing course! It requires a lot of focus and measured progress over 14 weeks, but is totally worth it. I have come out of it a better thinker and more well-informed than I have ever been.

The course offers a traditional mainstream view of global history biased towards the US. Western perspectives, empires and realism are emphasized. The Global South and cultural and social history are largely neglected. The course could be improved for example by guest lecturers coming from different cultural contexts offering diverse perspectives and local expertise.

This course is enlightening in so many ways. This course not only answers the "What" about history, but also "Why", "Why not" and the overall perception, feelings of people of each era being taught.

On the one hand, I really appreciated this course. Prof. Zelikow and his team created an extradionary course and did enormous work. Despite the fact that I studied history at university, I discovered many new facts. What I really liked that there was a lot of information about colonial possessions and government. On the other hand, I was disappointed that the history of America prevailed. This course is called "The Modern World" and I would like to know equally about different countries. I still have an impression that the USA is often presented as a "hero". I don`t agree with the presentation of the Soviet Union. Being a Russian historian I can say that there are many documents in archives (not only in Russia, but in England for exmple) that may disprove some arguments given in this course. I was a bit shocked and sad when I didn`t hear anything about the the Soviet liberation of Europe and the German Instrument of Surrender between the USSR and Germany. I also can`t agree with the fact that the Soviet Union won the war only thanks to American supplies (land-lease). There is one more fact that I didn`t like: the Soviet famine of 1932-1933 was only in Ukraine. It incuded a lot more territory - Volga region, Kazakhstan, Nothern Caucasus... And I don`t agree that the Soviet Union was responsible almost for everything and made suffer all the Socialist Bloc. I would like to comment the Cuban Missile Crisis also. I totally disagree that it was the Soviet Union`s fault. The crisis actually occured not only because of the Soviet Union but also because America placed its missiles in Turkey in 1961. I hope that one day the Soviet Union won`t be presented only in a negative light and historical studies studies will include more archival documents.

Overall, excellent, the explanations have been brilliant.

I have however missed some further details as to what was going on in places like Latin America (nothing said in the course) or India and Sub-saharian Africa (almost inexistent in the course).

I fully appreciate the above have been minor players during the last 2 centuries, but certainly there were some events and changes in these countries in that time.

Excellent course ! Very interesting theme and approach to the different subjects in analysis. Professor Zelikow has very good communication skills and has a way of presenting difficult subjects in a "easy" way.

The course has (in my opinion) a solid, well defined structure, presents different approaches to debatable subjects, invites us to develop critical reflection, provides the student with a wide range of data and gives us tools to understand so much of what happens in the world on this very moment.

This is history and teaching: serious work, hard work studying and analyzing the video texts (it took me almost twice the time of study indicated as a reference) and an enormous pleasure in doing it. Thank you Professor Zelikow.

The course is amazing and recommended for anyone who wishes to get more than the basics of WWI & WW2; he explains a lot about each country involved; politics, financial markup and their unique History.

He breaks down, what could be dense and boring material, into interesting short chapters and the questions waiting for you at the end helps you absorb all that you heard.

His calming voice and professional presentations make it a great course no to be missed if you are into History. You also have a discussion forum that allows you to engage with the Professor and other students and ask question or give your opinion. It's a pleasure as History should be!

This was a great experience. I consider myself fairly well informed on history and yet this course tied things together and gave perspective I never had. First time I've seen the interaction of European and American governments with Asia. Take Part One, then Part Two. You'll get context that will inform everything going on today. Hear Kennedy's thougtht processes as he deals with the Cuban Missile Crisis--in his own voice. Hear Lyndon Johnson agonize over whether he should commit troops to Vietnam. He almost sounds human! Dr. Zelikow is surprisingly engaging considering its a talking head video. I will search out more by this professor.

Fantastic course, linking broad themes and insights complemented with many secondary resources (maps, artwork, letters, voice recordings). Professor Zelikow is excellent. Highly recommended.

The content of this course is excellent, and the instructor is clearly highly qualified. The only reason I am giving the course a rating of 4 and not a 5 is because the lectures are far too lengthy. Coursera best practices recommends that video lectures should be no more than about 10 minutes long. Nearly all the lectures in this course are longer than that, and several are over a half-hour. It is very difficult to maintain focus in an online course with very limited interactivity for this length of time.

I am changing my review because to do otherwise would be untrue to the Professor who has done a damn good job. Because of him, this course is superb. Coursera is untrue to its representations about the course, which is unfortunate and I will rate them one star, but I can't allow that to diminish the quality of the Professor or the Course. Coursera has taken the position that Part Two is completely different from Part One and different rules apply. I always thought that if you offer something in parts, any disclaimer regarding the parts had to be disclosed prior to someone taking Part 1 and the disclaimer had to apply to all parts.

Just be warned that Coursera apparently has taken the position that it can create a totally separate entity and name it as Part 2 and that gives them the right to govern Part 2 differently from the way it governed Part 1. I know that Coursera has many fine Universities that participate in its online studies programs and that a number of those institutions have exceptional law schools. UVA's law school is one of the very best in the country and I would strongly recommend to Coursera that they contact the law professor who teaches consumer law and run this matter by them to find out the potential consequences of what they are doing. 5 Stars to the course, to Professor Zelikow, and to the University of Virginia. Negative Stars to Coursera and the folks who made the decision to change the rules for Part 2 of the 2 Part Course!!

Excellent course. The instructor is simply amazing, and the content is absolutely fantastic. Have never enjoyed history as much as I did attending these lectures. He gives a clear perspective, and inspite of being from the US, exudes information in a very unbiased and analytical manner. Nearly all the major events from 1910-2013 were beautifully covered. Moreover, the instructor's method of delivery was scintillating, with all the captions, illustrations, Time Magazine coverpages giving us a glimpse into the mindsets of the people living at the particular era that was being discussed.

Looking forward for such exciting courses pertaining to ancient history as well as history of the middle ages...Thanks a lot for all the information and analysis...Keep up the extraordinary work...

Even though I haven't seen much critics towards the US that seems to be the only country portrayed as the world's saviour throughout the past two centuries, this is a fascinating course that provides an in-depth analysis of the reasoning behind key political and economical decisions globally, as well as useful cultural references that give important art & literature movements a setting in which they were created and contex by which they were influenced. Top scores.

Prof. Zelikow is fantastic. Easily one of the best instructors I've experienced in my 4 years in college and 2 years of additional school work and countless work-related seminars. My awareness has increased e.g.; I was drawn to watch the PBS Frontline programs on the Suadi Arabia / Iran "squabble"; my choice in reading material has altered, as has my perception of current world news reports. He actually makes students THINK!

I learned SO MUCH in this course! My previous education was often focused on local details and not on global trends, and included almost no economics or modern history from the 1970's onward. Prof. Zelikow explained both local and global events to provide context and filled in the gaps in my knowledge admirably. I highly recommend this course.

excellent course for those who have not studied history as part of their academic curriculum. Course is slightly from American(USA) perspective of world events but nevertheless is highly informative.

The Professor was really passionate and took you throug the miniscule details of modern history that made the world the way they are. this is truly a global history course and i enjoyed it very much

Professor Zelikow's guidance through this two part course was enlightening, challenging and insightful. It has been a long delayed life goal to obtain my undergraduate degree. This class was

I found Part Two much easier to follow because I stopped taking notes. The professor's speaking style is so informally formal that it's easy to understand and remember. His passion for history is obvious when you combine looking and listening.

The course was excellently built for both beginners and scholars. The questions and quizzes were really stimulating. Thank you.