This analytical book review will critically examine an important scholarly book covering some aspect of United States History to 1877. The purpose of the review is twofold: first, to acquaint the student with a classic volume of historical scholarship and second, to allow the student to think critically about an important facet of American history and then to organize your thoughts in clear, cogent prose. This is an opportunity to expand your creativity in thinking and writing, two very important aspects of any individual’s necessary life skills. Therefore, be advised that I consider this a VERY important aspect of this course and your reviews will be read and graded VERY carefully.
Length: Each book review will be at least 1100 typewritten or word-processed words long. The main objective of this analytical book review should be to comprehensively cover the three sections of the following book review outline:
Part I: This is a brief outline of the contents of the book. In the space of one or two paragraphs you should be able to convey the parameters of the book’s contents. DO NOT simply reproduce the book’s table of contents.
Part II: Here is the place for a careful summary of the author’s thesis. The thesis is the primary idea the author is trying to prove and convince the reader to accept as valid. You must first identify the thesis and then show how the author either substantiates or fails to substantiate this thesis. You should quote portions of the book in order to answer this part of the review, and you will need to cite page numbers for these quotations. This will undoubtedly take you a page or two to do a good job.
Part III: This is your personal evaluation of the book and is the most important part of your analytical book review. Here is where you describe your reaction to the book and put its contents in a comparative perspective with your textbook. Some of the questions you must answer include: Do you agree or disagree with the book’s conclusions? Why or why not? Did the book support or contradict what you read in your textbook on the same subject? (You MUST quote some of the relevant passages from both books, citing page numbers.) Did you detect any biases on the part of the author? What was the author’s background and why did he or she write the book? How in your opinion could the book have been improved? You must be specific and keep in mind there are NO perfect books. Did you enjoy reading this book? Why or why not? Would you recommend it to others?
