Please write a Book Review over a book of your choosing on warfare from antiquity until the early modern period (c.3000 BC to c.1700 AD). Your book review will be approximately 950 and 1,000 words in length (do a word count on your word processor). It is important that you meet this word count range. Longer or shorter reviews will be penalized. The essential feature of a good book review is the reviewer’s ability to write concisely so that a comprehensive evaluation of the book can be obtained from a brief reading. Please do not write more, write more concisely. In other words, find creative ways to communicate your critical evaluation of the book in a short essay.
The point of a scholarly book review is not to summarize the content of the book, but to situate the historical merit of the book and to evaluate critically the author’s purpose, thesis, contentions, and methods of analysis. Hence, the bulk of the body of one’s review essay will be an evaluation of how convincing was the author’s presentation of his/her thesis and a commentary on the book’s contribution to one’s understanding of important issues in the history of warfare from antiquity until 1700.
Please include a coversheet followed by bibliographical information about the book in the first sentence of the review (author, title, city of publication, publisher, year of publication, how many pages). Example: Warry, John. Warfare in the Classical World. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995, 224 pages. Make sure the title is italicized each time it is used in the review.
Discuss the author’s main thesis and contentions. Please stay in Academic Third Person when writing (stay away from using First Person “I” in your analysis).
Explore the type or types of sources the historian utilized (primary and secondary), and the methods the author employs in choosing and organizing those sources.
Assess strengths or shortcomings of the book.
Discuss whether the book changed the way you think about the subject (or about debated issues in the history of warfare).
Please cite any facts or direct quotes in your Book Review using Chicago/Turabian footnote or endnote citation. Citations here do not count against your 950-1000 word count. Please include a bibliography.
Around seventy-five (75) percent of the material should be you describing the book, and twenty-five (25) percent should be the critique. I suggest using the author’s own words a hand full of times (with appropriate foot or endnotes citation) to buttress your analysis.
The last paragraph should include why you either recommend the book or do not recommend the book. Here, make sure that you stay in academic third person.
CAUTION: Please do not rely on other Book Reviews for your assignment. Make sure your thoughts are your own.
Finally, you will need to reference specific portions of the book to illustrate your evaluation. The challenge will be to do as much of this as possible and yet not let it interfere with the restricted length of the essay. In other words, find creative ways to give examples from the book in a limited space. Obviously, quotations should be kept to a minimum, and should rarely exceed one sentence. Chicago-Turabian footnote or endnote citation is required.
Please submit your Book Review during Week Seven (100 points).
GRADING RUBRIC:
Format/Submission (5 points): Paper neatly typed and formatted according to assignment guidelines. Title page with student name, course section, assignment, and date clearly indicated. Question to be answered restated before essay verbatim. Paper saved according to standard guideline –lastname.firstname.course.assignment as .doc, .docx. or .rft file.
Example: SmithWilliamMILH221BookReview
Introduction and Thesis Statement (20 points): Topic is appropriate for paper length; thesis is focused and argument is fully supported by carefully chosen and weighed facts in each paragraph; evidence of comprehension of historical context and causality.
Organization and Body of Essay (25 points): The organization of the paper logically supports the purpose or argument in the introduction, body, and conclusion; ideas are logically sequenced from one paragraph to another and clearly linked to each other; the reader can easily follow the line of reasoning.
Historical Analysis and Use of Sources (25 points): Two or more sources used demonstrating in-depth research related to thesis; no tertiary sources used (especially encyclopedias); research clearly incorporated into the argument in paper; use of information clearly supports the argument and shows, in-depth analysis of a significant topic; author gained new knowledge about the topic and significance of events.
Writing Style and Grammar (10 points): Spelling, grammar and sentence structure all used effectively.
Use of Citation and Bibliography (15 points): Footnotes/endnotes are correctly cited and bibliography follows the correct rules for citing sources.
