1. What should you be putting in your book Review?

briefly describes the content of a book and give the reader an understanding of the author’s arguments

offer an in-depth analysis and evaluation of its ideas and purpose – this should be your assessment of the book’s ideas

2. Take a quick look at the book

What might you expect to find in the book given its title and subtitle?

What can you learn from the table of contents, chapter titles and index to about how the author has organized the book.

Sometimes the preface or introduction give a sense of the author’s intended purpose in writing the book. You may also glean some information about the author – and whether they are a leading authority in the topic area of the book.

Take a look at the bibliography and notes to get a sense of which authors / ideas have contributed to the author’s arguments.

3. Some General Points to Consider

  • What is the intended audience for the book? Scholars in the field or general readers? Is this the right target?
  • What is the author’s purpose in writing the book? Is there a gap in our knowledge, or is this part of a major debate?
  • What are the author’s central arguments?
  • Is the book lacking information or argument that you think it needs? Is there too much background information, or do you think that the author assumes too much knowledge on the part of the reader?
  • Are the ideas logically presented and easy to follow?
  • What is the author’s style? Formal or informal? Easy to read or too complex?
  • Are facts in the book accurate? You may need to check outside sources to determine accuracy (or look at other reviews).
  • How do the ideas in the book relate to other ideas and arguments on the same topic?
  • Is the author’s point of view objective or do you think that they tell a one-sided story?

4. Consult Other Reviews

  • Do the reviewers agree on the strengths and weaknesses of the book? It will be more interesting for this exercise if they do not!
  • Do the reviews outline the book’s relationship to other books on the same topic – this might help you assess how important the book is.
  • Is there any controversy surrounding the book? Does it seem to have been well received? If not why not?

5. What to include?

  • a statement of your overall response to the book and the reviews
  • the author’s intention in writing the book - if this matters
  • comments on how the book relates to other titles on the same subject a clear sense of the argument that you are pursuing in your review work. Examples from the book or from other reviews might help
  • your overall assessment of the book and the other reviews of it. What can you learn from the debates and comments that you have read?

6. What is a Book Review and where can you find one?

A book review is an article that evaluates and describes a book. Reviews are published for different audiences from academics to more general readers. But for this exercise, scholarly reviews are longer and of more use.

7. Beginning Your Search for a Book Review

To begin, you need to know

  • Title and/or author of the book
  • Year of publication

See the title pages of the book, or look in the library catalogue. As a rough guide, a book review usually appears in a journal in the year or two after the book was published. Knowing the date of the book’s publication will make it easier to find reviews.

8. Book reviews in journals

You can simply use the onshelf periodicals in the library – such as Past and Present, History, Historical Journal, English Historical Review, Central European History, French History, Journal of Ecclesiastical History – pick the ones that relate to the subject matter of your chosen book.

9. Finding Book Reviews Online

JSTOR offers you the chance to look for reviews in the journals covered: you can limit the search by search term, or by date.

Web of Science
Includes Science Citation Index Expanded 1945--; Social Sciences Citation Index 1956--; Arts and Humanities Citation Index 1975-- .Choose 'General Search'. Scroll down to the section entitled 'Restrict search by languages and document types:' and select 'Book Review' as document type.

The Institute of Historical Research offers a website with recent reviews. If you are lucky, the author of the book will have sent in a response to the review.

Google If you get desperate, try typing the title of your book + review into Google: you may find some online reviews this way.