BOOK REVIEW: While the main objective of this class is for you to learn about American history post-1877, it would still behoove to you engage with the scholarly material. To that end, you will review a scholarly book on a specific subject of the period. This review will account for 10% of your final grade.
Formally, the review will be around 1200 words, about four pages double-spaced, 12-point font. The review will require you to answer three basic questions:
What is this book about? This should be the easiest question to answer. Describe the book’s subject. The life of Andrew Carnegie. The rise of McCarthyism. The relationship between music and the Civil Rights Movement. Et cetera. You should also describe the author. What is their specialization? What other kinds of work have they done? This first part of your review should only be one or two paragraphs.
What does the author say about their topic? Essentially, you are describing the book’s thesis. There is always an argument that the author is making. Find it and talk about it. Think about the structure of the book (is it thematic, chronological, or something else?). Write about how the author proves their point, not just what that point is. This section should be roughly a page.
What is your response to the book? This is the hardest question because there is no right or wrong answer. Evaluate how successful the author is at proving their argument. Look at their biases and their point-of-view. Think about what the author did not talk about. If you do not agree with the author, tell me why. Tell me if you enjoyed reading the book and if you would recommend it to others. This section accounts for about half of your total book review (~ 2 pages). This section will be graded on how well you explain your opinions in a historical context, not on what those opinions are. Be specific!
If you are having trouble deciding on a book, my simplest advice is to browse the history section of the library and pick the book about the topic that seems most interesting to you. Alternatively, just Google books on your topic.
The book review is graded with a score of 0-20.
The deadline for this is April 4. This day is a deadline, not a due date. If you want to hand in your review in the first month of class, you are free to do so. Because this is a deadline, not a due date, I will not accept any late work for any reason. There is also no way to improve your score.
