Us History Iibook Review Complete 2 Page History
HIS206: US History II
Book Review Assignment Details
Fall 2018
BASIC INSTRUCTIONS:
– Each student will select and read one book from the list below. After the book has been read, the student will prepare a brief scholarly book review of the work and post it on Canvas. Students must select a book from the attached list. These books can be borrowed from libraries throughout the area, they can be purchased cheaply online, and some are available as free downloads via the Page Library Website.
– Each review will be approximately 3-4 pages long, use standard 1-inch margins on all sides, feature a 12-point font, and be double-spaced. At the top of the first page list your name and the title of the book being reviewed on a single line. Failure to follow these formatting requirements in your review will result in a 50% penalty against your assignment score.
– At the end of each review students will include a bibliography page that will include a full bibliographic entry for the book under review as well as information about any outside sources consulted. If you provide any quotes in your review or borrow ideas from another author, please provide an appropriate in-text citation. The bibliography page will not count toward the length recommendation for your review. Failure to include a bibliography page will result in a 50% penalty against your assignment score.
– Each book review must be posted on Canvas by the time and date listed on the syllabus. Absolutely no late reviews will be accepted under any circumstances.
– All book reviews must be posted on Canvas. Paper copies of reviews will not be accepted. Reviews emailed to the Instructor will not be accepted.
Friendly Guidance for Preparing Your Book Review:
There are three crucial elements that should ideallybe present in any book review:
1. A summary of the author’s central argument or “thesis.” Carefully look for the main point that the author is trying to prove and explain this main idea using your own words. This should take about 1 page to complete.
2. A critical examination of the arguments and ideas within the book. The author of any history book will undoubtedly present a variety of evidence to support her thesis statement and arguments. Carefully examine the author’s arguments and analyze whether or not the evidence presented within the essay truly “proves” that her thesis and arguments are true. This section should make up the bulk of your paper, about 2-3 pages.
3. Give your personal opinion of the book. Was it easy to read? Did you learn anything interesting? Was the book convincing in its arguments? How good was the book in general? This should be a short section at the end of your paper, and it should only be about ½-1 page in length.
4. For additional professional advice on how to write a bookreview, please consulthttp://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/book-reviews… or http://historyprofessor.org/reading/how-to-write-a….
5. If you are completely stumped on how to complete this assignment, please see the professor during his office hours or set up an appointment with a writing tutor at Page Library (Lower Level, 681-5988.)
HIS 206 Book Review Options
(Choose one book from this list for your book review)
The Rise of Big Business, 1860-1920 by Glenn Porter
Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 by George Chauncey
Progressivism by Arthur Link & Richard McCormick
Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment by James Jones
The Best War Ever: America and World War II by Michael CC Adams
Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America by Laura Shapiro
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage by Todd Gitlin
Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools by Jonathan Kozol
The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore
Generation Kill by Evan Wright
Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Policy by Rachel Maddow
Some of My Best Friends are Black by Tanner Colby
The Common Goodby Robert B. Reich
The Soul of America by Jon Meacham
The Gateway Arch: A Biography by Tracy Campbell***
Transforming America: Politics and Culture during the Reagan Years by Robert M. Collins***
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander***
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois***
*** = Available as a Free downloadable E-book from Page Library
History 206: US History Since 1865
How to Write a Book Review: A Detailed Guide
Many students have no idea what a professor is looking for in a “scholarly book review,” so here is a set of suggestions that might be helpful as you undertake the process and complete your assignment.
1. DO A LITTLE HOMEWORK BEFOREHAND
One of first things good students do before writing a book review is to find out what other scholars have said about the book. Good students will not look at Amazon.com or Wikipediato see what people think of the book, but instead check the reviews in “scholarly” sources such as H-Net and scholarly journals such as The Journal of American History, American Historical Review, and Reviews in American History. Reading these reviews is NOT a substitute for reading the book! It is simply a way to get some context for the book you are about to read. This can be really helpful for providing a historicalcontext for the book you are about to read so you have a hint about what to expect to find when you analyze the author’s arguments and ideas.
2. READ THE BOOK CRITICALLY
There is no perfect way to write a book review, but some critical thinking about the book is necessary before you actually begin writing. Thus, writing a review is really a two-step process: A). developing an argument about the work under consideration, and B). making that argument as you write an organized and well-supported essay.
While you are reading the book, you want to ask critical questions to help you understand the text and start to think about your analysis. Here are a few suggestions to think about as your read:
• What is the thesis—or main argument—of the book? If the author wanted you to get one idea from the book, what would it be? How does it compare or contrast to the world you know? What has the book accomplished?
• What exactly is the subject or topic of the book? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Does the author cover all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion? What is the approach to the subject (topical, analytical, chronological, descriptive)?
• How does the author support her argument? What evidence does she use to prove her point? Do you find that evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does any of the author’s information (or conclusions) conflict with other books you’ve read, courses you’ve taken or just previous assumptions you had of the subject?
• How does the author structure her argument? What are the parts that make up the whole? Does the argument make sense? Does it persuade you? Why or why not?
• How has this book helped you understand the subject? What specific insights does it offer?
Beyond the internal workings of the book, you will also want to think about the author and the circumstances of the book’s production. Here are a few questions to think about as you read:
• Who is the author? Nationality, political persuasion, training, intellectual interests, personal history, and historical context may provide crucial details about how a work takes shape. Does it matter, for example, that the biographer was the subject’s best friend? What difference would it make if the author participated in the events she writes about? Does the author have an axe to grind, or is she truly being “objective” in her approach?
• What is the book’s genre? Out of what field does it emerge? Does it conform to or depart from the conventions of previous historians? Is it a new book on the subject, or is it the standard work that every historian turns to?
3. OUTLINE YOUR REVIEW
Hopefully you will have taken a few notes as you read your book, and now it is time to actually start the writing process. Once you have made your initial observations and assessments of the book under review, carefully survey your notes and attempt to unify your impressions into a single statement that will describe the purpose or thesis of your review. Then, outline the arguments that support your thesis. Your arguments should develop the thesis in a logical manner.
4. DO NOT JUDGE THE BOOK, BUT CRITIQUE THE BOOK!!!
Remember, your goal is to analyze the quality of the book’s arguments and interpretations, not to simply give your judgment about the work. Someone, probably a professor, wants to know what you think about a particular work. You may not be (or feel like) an expert, but you need to pretend to be one for this assignment. Nobody expects you to be the intellectual equal of the book’s author, but your careful observations can provide you with the raw material to make reasoned judgments. Tactfully voicing agreement and disagreement, praise and criticism, is a valuable, challenging skill, and like all good history writing, reviews require you to provide concrete evidence for your assertions.
Take a look at this mini-book review written for a history course on medieval Europe by a student who is fascinated with beer:
Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600, investigates how women used to brew and sell the majority of ale drunk in England. Historically, ale and beer (not milk, wine, or water) were important elements of the English diet. Ale brewing was low-skill and low status labor that was complimentary to women’s domestic responsibilities. In the early fifteenth century, brewers began to make ale with hops, and they called this new drink “beer.” This technique allowed brewers to produce their beverages at a lower cost and to sell it more easily, although women generally stopped brewing once the business became more profitable.
The student describes the subject of the book and provides an accurate summary of its contents. But the reader does not learn some key information expected from a review: the author’s argument, the student’s appraisal of the book and its argument, and whether or not the student would recommend the book. As a critical assessment, a book review should focus on opinions, not facts and details. Summary should be kept to a minimum, and specific details should serve to illustrate arguments.
Now consider a review of the same book written by a slightly more opinionated student:
Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 was a colossal disappointment. I wanted to know about the rituals surrounding drinking in medieval England: the songs, the games, the parties. Bennett provided none of that information. I liked how the book showed ale and beer brewing as an economic activity, but the reader gets lost in the details of prices and wages. I was more interested in the private lives of the women brewsters. The book was divided into eight boring chapters, and I can’t imagine why anyone would ever want to read it.
There’s no shortage of judgment in this review! But the student does not display any working knowledge of the book’s argument. The reader has a sense of what the student expected of the book, but no sense of what the author herself set out to prove. Although the student gives several reasons for the negative review, those examples do not clearly relate to each other as part of an overall evaluation—in other words, in support of a specific thesis. This review is indeed an assessment, but not a critical one nor an effective one.
Here is one final review of the same book:
One of feminism’s paradoxes—one that challenges many of its optimistic histories—is how patriarchy remains persistent over time. While Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 recognizes medieval women as historical actors through their ale brewing, it also shows that female agency had its limits with the advent of beer. I had assumed that those limits were religious and political, but Bennett shows how a “patriarchal equilibrium” shut women out of economic life as well. Her analysis of women’s wages in ale and beer production proves that a change in women’s work does not equate to a change in working women’s status. Contemporary feminists and historians alike should read Bennett’s book and think twice when they crack open their next brewsky.
This student’s review avoids the problems of the previous two examples. It combines balanced opinion and concrete example, a critical assessment based on an explicitly stated rationale, and a recommendation to a potential audience. The reader gets a sense of what the book’s author intended to demonstrate. Moreover, the student refers to an argument about feminist history in general that places the book in a specific genre and that reaches out to a general audience. The example of analyzing wages illustrates an argument, the analysis engages significant intellectual debates, and the reasons for the overall positive review are plainly visible. The review offers criteria, opinions, and support with which the reader can agree or disagree.
5. WRITE THE REVIEW
There is no perfect step-by-step process for writing a book review essay, but here is a basic process you may use if you choose. This information may be especially helpful for students who have never had to prepare a book review essay in the past.
Introduction
Since most reviews are brief, many writers begin with a catchy quip or anecdote that succinctly delivers their argument. But you can introduce your review differently depending on the argument and audience. In general, you should include:
• The name of the author and the book title and the main theme.
• Relevant details about who the author is and where he/she stands in the genre or field of inquiry. You could also link the title to the subject to show how the title explains the subject matter.
• The context of the book and/or your review. Placing your review in a framework that makes sense to your audience alerts readers to your “take” on the book. Perhaps you want to situate a book about the Cuban revolution in the context of Cold War rivalries between the United States and the Soviet Union. Another reviewer might want to consider the book in the framework of Latin American social movements. Your choice of context informs your argument.
• The thesis of the book.
• Your thesis about the book.
• This should be brief, as analysis takes priority. In the course of making your assessment, you’ll hopefully be backing up your assertions with concrete evidence from the book, so some summary will be dispersed throughout other parts of the review.
• The necessary amount of summary also depends on your audience. If you are writing a book review for your fellow students, you may want to devote more attention to summarizing the book’s contents. If, on the other hand, your audience has already read the book, you may more liberty to emphasize your own argument. In this class, a brief summary of the content will suffice since I am familiar with the books on the reading list.
Analysis and evaluation of the book
• Your analysis and evaluation should be organized into paragraphs that deal with single aspects of your argument. This arrangement can be challenging when your purpose is to consider the book as a whole, but it can help you differentiate elements of your criticism and pair assertions with evidence more clearly.
• You do not necessarily need to work chronologically through the book as you discuss it. Given the argument you want to make, you can organize your paragraphs more usefully by themes, methods, or other elements of the book.
• If you find it useful to include comparisons to other books, keep them brief so that the book under review remains in the spotlight.
• Avoid excessive quotation and give a specific page reference in a footnote when you do quote. Remember that you can state many of the author’s points in your own words.
• Sum up or restate your thesis or make the final judgment regarding the book. You should not introduce new evidence for your argument in the conclusion. You can, however, introduce new ideas that go beyond the book if they extend the logic of your own thesis.
• This paragraph needs to balance the book’s strengths and weaknesses in order to unify your evaluation. Did the body of your review have three negative paragraphs and one favorable one? What do they all add up to? Basically the conclusion needs to wrap up your review and bring unity to your review as a whole.
Finally, a few general considerations:
• Review the book in front of you, not the book you wish the author had written. You can and should point out shortcomings or failures, but don’t criticize the book for not being something it was never intended to be.
• With any luck, the author of the book worked hard to find the right words to express her ideas. You should attempt to do the same. Precise language allows you to control the tone of your review.
• Never hesitate to challenge an assumption, approach, or argument. Be sure, however, to cite specific examples to back up your assertions carefully.
• Try to present a balanced argument about the value of the book for its audience. You’re entitled—and sometimes obligated—to voice strong agreement or disagreement. But keep in mind that a bad book takes as long to write as a good one, and every author deserves fair treatment. Harsh judgments are difficult to prove and can give readers the sense that you were unfair in your assessment.
6. PROOFREAD AND EDIT YOUR REVIEW
Since you have a variety of books to choose from, hopefully you will be able to find one that suits your personal interests. I know that many of you have never written a book review of this type before, so I will take that into consideration. However, I expect your grammar and writing style to be of the highest quality throughout, so please proofread your reviews carefully before posting them to Canvas.
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The following general grading rubric describes basic levels of competence I am looking for whenever I give a writing assignment in one of my history courses. I will consult this rubric whenever I grade a writing assignment in one of my history courses.
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