The book review is one of the most common ways that historians communicate with each other. Reviews appear in almost all major historical periodicals, and allow readers to get a quick understanding of the book before they buy it or read the entire volume. Your job as a reviewer is to apprehend the main point(s) of the book and distill them into a brief essay, complete with both compliments (when warranted) and criticisms (these are always warranted). These questions are given to organize your thinking, not your paper. Your essay should not answer the questions in order. In a 600-word, typed, double-spaced essay, please consider the following:
& An introduction to the author, including some indication of who the author is (e.g., a renowned authority on the Vietnam War; a bold, young historian fresh out of graduate school; a well-known critic of American social policy).
& A summary of the intended purpose of the book and how it contributes to historical knowledge.
& A description of the way the author approached his or her topic, the rigor of the research and scholarship, the logic of the argument, and the readability of the prose. Be sure to include some statement regarding the sources and materials which the author uses as evidence.
& Convey the contents of the book, not chapter by chapter but for the book as a whole.
& Add flavor to the review by including pungent or revealing quotations from the book or notable facts or findings (though avoid long quotations).
& An evaluation of the book’s merits, usefulness, and special contributions, along with shortcomings you think are necessary to point out. Keep in mind that your readers are educated and informed historians.
Basic Format:
Y Begin the review with a bibliographic heading. This should include, in this order: (a) name of author or editor; (b) book title; (c) publisher; (d) year of publication; (e) number of pages.
Y If your review includes references to other books, their respective bibliographic information should be included at the end of the review.
Y Quotations from the book being reviewed should be referenced through page- number citations placed in parentheses directly following the quotation.
Additional assistance:
Early in the review you should state clearly and succinctly the author’s main point. In the body of the review you should summarize this point and evaluate it. Accompany both summary and evaluation with discussion of the kinds of evidence the author uses to make this point. If you make references to a particular piece of evidence, be sure to provide your reader with enough bibliographic information to find this evidence through a standard library or electronic search.
Your evaluation should focus on the author’s main points rather than on the way the author makes these points. Your review should avoid words like boring, uninteresting, and snoozer. You may criticize in passing the author’s writing style but you should highlight the (in)effectiveness of the author’s argumentation rather than the author’s style of presentation. Do you think the author has proven the point of the book? Why or why not? Be specific and remember that you are making an argument, too.
If the book is illustrated, discuss the illustrations. What kinds of objects are illustrated? What kind of illustrations (color, black-and-white, photographs, figures)? How do these illustrations relate to the author’s point? Analyze illustrations only when they are important in the book’s argument (for example, you don’t need to point out that there is a political cartoon on page 234, unless it is central to the author’s agenda).
The finest reviews are extraordinarily understanding and moderately generous (but not uncritical), and they are enlightening little essays in their own right. There is no substitute for a careful reading of the book itself. Judgments about a book’s usefulness and scholarly value based on a close reading of the text make the heart of a good review.
For a good example of what a review should look and sound like, check out any issue of the Journal of American History, American Historical Review, Journal of Sport History, and the like.
AT THE END OF YOUR SUBMISSION, PLEASE PUT THE NUMBER OF WORDS YOUR ESSAY CONTAINS (For example, “This review contains 4123 words, more words than the book itself.”)
Also affirm that no portion of the essay—including analysis of the text, organization, or writing—was done with AI.
