Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
There are a couple of longer readings, but as long as you go to lecture and take notes, it is not a hard course. It is one of the most interesting history courses here.Rate My Professors ↗
Historical instructor
Karl Shoemaker
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Probably my favorite lecturer at Madison. Shoemaker seems intense but he is very forgiving, understanding, and fun. He sets a clear expectation of what he wants and if you do the work you will succeed in his class.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 2/5Difficulty 1/5
Arguably one of the most pointless classes I've taken here. It is so difficult to follow along and actually retain any information when there are no visuals, just monotonous talking for 75 minutes. Take this class if you want an easy A, not if you want to actually learn about the history of punishment.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 3/5
I agree that this professor is only lecturing and teaching what he wants to talk about due to his own interests. There is 0 structure to lecture- no slides, visuals. However, if looking for an easy grader with easy assignments and not many reading, this is a good course. The end of the material was way more interesting than the beginning.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
History 426 with Shoemaker is amazing. I would highly recommend doing the readings and going to lecture since he doesn't have lecture slides and just speaks. This makes all of the homework assignments and exams super easy. Highly recommend to anyone!Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
While clearly dedicated to history, Shoemaker's teaching is not up to par. He refused to use anything to accompany his lectures, making them incredibly difficult to follow and to hold attention on. Shoemaker teaches so he can speak about his subject of interest, not to teach students. He's there for him not you. Worst professor I've had at Madison.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Karl Shoemaker
No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.
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Recorded teaching history
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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