book review

Writing Historical Book Reviews

Prepared by Vanessa Weller, History WAC Fellow 2011-2012

A book review is not a book report.  You were probably asked to write a “book report” at some point in your elementary education.  While a book report generally summarizes a book—and perhaps offers recommendations to specific audiences—a book review offers a more sophisticated analysis of a book.

A good book review should include the following information:

1. A summary of the THESIS of the book

    An author usually states their thesis explicitly early on in their writing.  If the book has a preface or an introduction, it will usually provide succinct thesis statement, as well as some indication of the methodology the author will pursue.  Look for this before you read through the entire book so that you can evaluate as you go whether or not the author is successfully proving their thesis.

2. Overview of the METHODOLOGY (how the author proves their thesis)

     Examining an author’s method is different than summarizing their argument.  You should evaluate how the author proves their thesis, what are the major themes, actors or turning points of their argument?  Histories seek to demonstrate change over time, so you should identify what major changes the author focuses on or reveals.  What moves their narrative from beginning to end?

3. A reflection on the book’s CONTRIBUTION

    Authors often remark on where their work fits into a larger field of historical research in order to demonstrate that they are offering a unique and perhaps, much needed interpretation of history.  Even if you are not extensively familiar with the literature upon which the book is building, you can probably discern what is unique about the author’s argument from their introduction—and perhaps conclusion, as well.  You may want to identify a larger field to which the book contributes—e.g., labor history, social history, women’s history—or you may identify a more specific field—e.g., the history of charitable institutions, the Civil Rights Movement, or the Salem Witch Trials.  *You may also want to think about who the author is and what previous research they have done.

4. Some indication of the HISTORICAL CONTEXT

What historical events, actors, and issues does the author examine?  And what other historical themes or issues does this book relate to?  Identify the time and place in which this history occurred.  Give some indication of the historical period which they are examining--e.g., “the 1890s,” “the early-20th century,” or “the Great Depression.”  Also give some indication of the setting--e.g., “northeastern cities,” “the Midwest,” “Los Angeles.”

Note-taking

It may be helpful to create a method for organizing your notes before you begin reading--e.g., making a table, or separate sheets of paper for 1) thesis, 2) method, 3) evidence, 4) context, 5) additional info (such as, quotes, data, pictures, anecdotes, problems, etc.).

As you read, make notes—or annotations—that will help you easily recognize how each source relates to your project. Do not simply underline the text--especially if you do not own the book--but try to make marking that will guide you to important passages when you look back over the text. Check marks, “X”s, “?”s, and other such symbols can be useful, as can dashes and lines.

You may also want to use specific words--e.g., “thesis,” “turning point”--to indicate important points in the text.

You should keep track of the page numbers for the information that you take notes on to make it easier on yourself when it comes time to document your citations in the text of your paper.

Interrogating a Book

When you have finished reading and taking your initial notes, reflect on the book. It may be useful to ask yourself the following questions to assess the overall value of the book:

What is unique about this book?

Who is the author? What is their expertise? What is their perspective?

What are they arguing?

How do they seek to prove their argument?

Did I find their argument compelling?

Who did they want to read this?

What does this book reveal about the historical period to which it pertains?

What did I learn from reading this book?

Did this book raise any new questions for me?

Does it compliment or contradict any other books I have read?

BE CLEAR

Clarity is extremely important in writing because it enables the most accurate communication of your ideas to your reader. If your writing lacks clarity, you run the risk of your reader misunderstanding the ideas you are trying to convey. In addition, a confusing sentence may reveal that you are unsure of what point you want to make or how to convey your thoughts. A good way of detecting unclear writing is to read your paper out loud. Additionally, if you can ask another person to read your paper and give you feedback they will often catch confusing language that you might have missed.

Composing a Book Review

An essay should be well organized, using complete sentences and paragraphs as the basic units of organization. Its overall form should consist of an INTRODUCTORY paragraph, BODY paragraphs, and a CONCLUDING paragraph.

Remember: you are not just summarizing the book, but are offering a critical evaluation of its argument, evidence, and overall worth. In order to clearly articulate your evaluation of the book, you need to give some thought to how you can best organize your review. Think about this both on a large scale—i.e., the whole paper—and a smaller scale—i.e., each paragraph and sentence.

It can be immensely helpful to make an outline of your paper before you begin. A general format for an outline includes:

I. Introduction

A. Some context for the book you will be reviewing—be it, historical background, the field of work to which it contributes, or even a lack of previous research on this subject.

B. The most important information in your introduction is your THESIS STATEMENT—it will tell your reader the focus of your essay and help them to evaluate the value of the evidence you present.

i. The thesis of a book review is different from that of the book you are reviewing. It should reflect your CRITICAL EVALUATION of the book.

II. Body paragraphs

A. Each paragraph in the body of your essay should address a specific topic. Therefore they should each be framed with a TOPIC SENTENCE that summarizes the central idea of the paragraph.

B. You may consider organizing your paragraphs according to the themes you evaluated, or you may choose to begin with a paragraph summarizing the book, followed by several paragraphs offering a critical analysis of their method and sources.

C. Remember that you must use SPECIFIC EXAMPLES FROM THE TEXT to make your case.

D. Use TRANSITIONAL SENTENCES to connect ideas between paragraphs.

III. Conclusion

A. Restate your thesis and sum-up your overall evaluation of the book

B. Consider offering a reflection on the usefulness of the book, for what audiences it is appropriate, etc.