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Writing good book reviews in a craft that, like any other, requires practice. I recommend that you read some book reviews in academic journals to see how they are done. You might also look at the book reviews in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and the New York Review of Books, to see what a review done for a broader audience looks like. Indeed, if you don’t already read reviews in one or more of these you should probably start just for general self-improvement reasons. A book review has two basic purposes. First it states in a concise way the author’s thesis and the outlines of how he makes his case. Second, it accesses the authors success or failure in making his case. Finally, a good book review also sets its subject in the context of the rest of literature on the same topic. Your book reviews should follow the format used in academic journals, i.e. it should begin with a full citation of the book, followed by your narrative review, followed by your name at the end of the review. For this class strive mightily not to exceed 2 double-spaced pages. If you quote a passage if the book, be sure to give the page number from which the passage is taken. |