Book Review – Each student must complete a book review. Students should select a book that focuses on some topic of European/Asian/African/Islamic history from the time period 1500-2000 (no books will be approved that focus on some aspect of North American history). A potential book must have: 1) one author (no edited works) 2) at least 175 pages of text 3) either a bibliography or footnotes/endnotes 4) a publication date since 1960.

Format and Guidelines:

1) The book review must be a minimum of 4 pages in length. Points will be deducted for any paper that fails to meet this requirement.

2) Reviews are to be typed and double-spaced; one inch margins should be utilized.

3) Students should not use any font size larger than 12 point.

4) Direct quotes should be limited to one sentence and used no more than once or twice in the entire essay.

5) The use of block quotations is expressly forbidden in this essay—use of a block quote will result in the loss of a letter grade!

6) No title page should be used, but each student should use the following format for the first page of the review.

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7) The essay should contain the following four sections: 1) college-level introduction to the essay, 2) 2-3 pages of summary of the major themes of the book, 3) response to the following questions in separate paragraphs, 4) college-level conclusion.
Professor ……….. NAME
World History II February 23, 2014

Massie, Robert K. Peter the Great: His Life and World. (Avenel, New Jersey: Wing Books, 1980).

The book review should inform the professor that the student has read and understood the content of the book. It is beneficial to look at the preface, arrangements of chapters, and the introduction to gain some insight into these questions before the reading the book in its entirety. The student demonstrates a clear knowledge of the book by answering the following questions in a coherent, college-level essay.

1. What were the author’s purpose, scope and thesis? In other words, why did the author write the book? What time period was covered? What was the main argument, guiding principle (thesis) of the book?

2. What subject, themes and personalities did the author cover? How has the author viewed and shaped the topic?

3. How well did the author succeed in his/her objectives—how well does he/she cover the ground you have defined in your answers to #1 and #2?

4. What is the writer’s perspective, point of view, bias?

5. What kind of sources does the author utilize? Check this by reading footnotes and the bibliography. Are most of the sources primary—accounts (such as government documents, newspaper articles, letters, journals, and autobiographies) written by a person who actually participated in or witnessed an event in the past; or secondary—books or articles (such as biographies or general histories) written by scholars who have studied and interpreted the subject but did not themselves participate in it. How adequate were the sources used by the author?

6. Is the book written clearly? Were the author’s points always apparent?

7. What did the author fail to answer? What did you wonder about?

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