Papers should be 5-7 pages (about 1,500 words) long, with additional cover sheet, endnotes, and bibliography. They should be typed and double-spaced. Use the Chicago citation style in crafting your review. Use reasonable margins and type-size. Bibliographical information for the book should be provided, as follows:
Author. Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year Published.
Number the pages of your review in the lower right-hand corner of each page.
Proofread your paper to check for spelling and grammatical errors. Make sure that nouns agree with pronouns, possessives and verb forms. Keep verb tenses consistent. Watch out for homonyms (such as to, two, and too). Content and writing ability will both be evaluated. Do not use “you” or “I.” Do not use others’ reviews.
Some issues to analyze are the author’s thesis, use of sources, clarity, bias, credentials, and organization. How does this book complement other information you have learned from the textbook, in class, or from outside sources? Is your book well-written? Interesting? Would you recommend this book to others?
You should make sure that your review is above all an evaluation of your author’s performance, using the criteria I’ve assigned, with many examples. A typical book review is organized like this:
I. Introduction: author’s name, title, sense of whether you like the book, foreshadow the outline of your paper to come.
II. Body
A. Author’s Credentials (use your own words to describe his education, books he’s written, and other important experience. Provide lots of examples. Use your own words , and provide a citation about where you found out about him. This section should be only one paragraph (perhaps 1/4 page) long.
B. Author’s Thesis and is it Believable (one short paragraph)
C. Author’s Use of Sources (one-two paragraphs) Tell me which types of sources he uses, and provide multiple examples of each. Be specific.
D. Author’s Organizational Style (one paragraph) Provide multiple examples.
E. Author’s Bias/Neutrality (one-two paragraphs) Provide examples.
F. How does this book complement any other material (assigned films, assigned readings, or common sense) on this topic. Provide specific examples.
G. Is it well-written? Provide examples
H. Is it interesting? Provide examples
I. Does your author provide the reader with assistance? Provide examples of maps, charts, glossaries…)
J. Other evaluative areas, as appropriate.
Subjects and Titles Authors
THE GILDED AGE
The Johnstown Flood David McCullough
Devil in the White City Erik Larson
Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, Les Standiford
and the Bitter Partnership that Changed America
Mornings on Horseback David McCullough
EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY
The Naturalist: Theodore Roosevelt , A Lifetime of Exploration Darrin Lunde
and the Triumph of American Natural History
THE 1920s AND 30’s
Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition Daniel Okrent
The Worst Hard Time Timothy Egan
Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Joshua Zeitz
Women Who Made America Modern
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth David Grann
of the FBI
1940s AND WORLD WAR II
Countdown: 1945 Chris Wallace
Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides
The Apocalypse Factory: Plutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age Steve Olson
The Greatest Generation Tom Brokaw
From Coveralls to Jumpsuits: The Lives of Mexican American Women Elizabeth Escobedo
on the World War II Home Front
Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese American Internment Richard Reeves
in World War II
1950’s AND ’60s
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot
Devil in the Grove Gilbert King
King: A Life Jonathon Eig
Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis Serhii Plokhy
One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Kruschev, and Castro Michael Dobbs
on the Brink of Nuclear War
Vietnam: A History Stanley Karnow
Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Nathalia Holt
Us from Missiles to the Moon to Mars
1970s FORWARD
The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography Miriam Pawel
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Michelle Alexander
