Useful book reviews do at least two things. They offer readers a basic orientation to the book under discussion and an original way to think about that book and what it does. Even very short reviews can be interesting as well as concise. You can achieve these goals by keeping the following three guidelines in mind.
- Sketch briefly the historical territory covered by the book(s). Lots of people read book reviews instead of reading books, or to figure out whether or not they wish to read the book. Tell readers what the book is about.
- Identify for your reader the key question or questions the author asks (and by implication, what questions are not addressed). Does the author succeed or fail to cover the topic and answer the questions. (Don’t forget to offer concrete evidence to support your view, whatever it is.)
- Explain why the book matters (or doesn’t). In other words, make an original contribution to answering the question: So what? Remember that formulating bold questions about the book can be just as informative as making sweeping judgments and claims.
One of the best strategies for writing good reviews is reading a lot of good reviews. In preparing your review, consider how professional historians approach the same assignment. Check out:
- Recent issues of the Journal of American History or the American Historical Review. These are general academic history journals oriented toward audiences in many different fields. Each issue contains a large number of short books reviews, on the order of 500-1000 words, or approximately 2-4 double-spaced pages.
- Reviews in American History. This is a journal devoted entirely to longish book reviews and review essays, which consider more than one title. You can find it on the shelf in Knight Library and also on the Internet through Project MUSE: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/reviews_in_american_history/
- Reviews about books in a particular area of interest to you. One easy way to locate these is by using the database called “America: History and Life.” You can access it through the UO Library website. Look Under “Articles, Databases, and Indexes.”
- Reviews by historians and/or about historical titles in major review outlets, including the New York Times Book Review, the New York Review of Books, and the Times Literary Supplement. Like reviews in publications geared to professional historians, these reviews are written for an intelligent reading audience. They are, however, less likely than those reviews to address historiographical (i.e. interpretive) themes directly.
- Internet history reviews are not constrained by the space limitations of conventional publications, and therefore vary in length from quite short to interminable. Check out H-NET Reviews.
GRADING RUBRIC
- A-range book reviews: These reviews will address all three of the above guidelines successfully. They will describe the book’s scope and purpose accurately, represent the author’s questions and arguments clearly, and evaluate the book’s strengths and weaknesses. They will also be clearly organized and well written.
- B-range book reviews: These reviews will address two of the above guidelines successfully. They will describe the book’s scope and purpose accurately, and represent the author’s questions and arguments clearly, but may not offer a persuasive evaluation of the book’s strengths and weaknesses. Or they may offer a persuasive evaluation of the book’s strengths and weaknesses without either desribing the book’s scope and purpose accurately or representing the author’s questions and arguments clearly. They will be clearly organized and written, although not as clear as A-range reviews.
- C-range book reviews: These reviews will address at least one of of the above guidelines successfully. They may describe the book’s scope and purpose accurately without representing the author’s questions and arguments clearly or offering a persuasive evaluation of the book’s strengths and weaknesses. Or they may offer a persuasive evaluation of the book’s strengths and weaknesses without either desribing the book’s scope and purpose accurately or representing the author’s questions and arguments clearly. C-range reviews are often poorly organized and written.
- D-range book reviews and below: These reviews will not address any of the above guidelines successfully. They will not desribe the book’s scope and purpose accurately, represent the author’s questions and arguments clearly, or offer a persuasive evaluation of the book’s strengths and weaknesses. They will be poorly organized and the writing will be problematic