You will write a 2,000-word book review on A Pope and a President by Paul Kengor. The paper should contain the following components:
1) INTRO: A paragraph the introduces the book, author and your thesis statement. Your thesis statement will state what you believe the author to be arguing in the book. Make this clear.
2) SUMMARY: Following the intro, write a succinct yet thorough summary of the book, in which you provide evidence for your thesis as you go through the book. Identify the book’s structure, scope of coverage, main themes, and evidence the author gives to support his main argument.
3) ANALYSIS: After the summary, give an analysis of the book. This gives a sense of your evaluation of the work. Was the author persuasive and/or successful in proving his thesis? What key insights did he have? What were some strengths and weaknesses of the book? What could have been added or omitted to strengthen the reader’s understanding of the subject matter?
4) CONCLUSION: A final paragraph that restates your thesis and assesses the overall importance of the work, how it enhances our understanding of 20th century history, and who would benefit from reading it.
Throughout your summary and analysis paragraphs, provide a minimum of 7 citations, with page numbers from the text where you got the information you just referenced. Example: (Kengor, 234).
Include 1-3 brief quotes from the book.
Only state the author’s full name the first time you mention him; after that, just use his full name or only his last name.
Give your paper a traditional MLA heading and header with your last name and page numbers. Also, give the paper a creative title.
Format: double-spaced, 12-point font, and 1″ margins.
