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HIST B17A: History of the United States (to 1877): Newsom's Book Critique

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Your Assignment

Book Critique Prompt

Assignment: This book critique writing assignment will be on the required reading of your choice. The required reading was must around 200 pages long (or more) and cover the time period between early colonization to 1877.

I want you to critique one of the author’s book as a historical secondary source.

What does the author write about in the book that is thorough, explained well, and contributes the field the history? What makes this a good secondary source.

In other words, what were the strengths of the book.

You will find two (2) strengths of the author in the book of your choice.

Where does the author come up short? Even good books have shortcomings in them. What does the author write about that isn’t detailed, confusing, and leaves the reader asking why did the author do this? What makes this a weak secondary source.

In other words, what were the weaknesses of the book.

You will find two (2) weaknesses of the author in the book of your choice.

Book critique checklist: (I would follow this format!)

  1. Title page is required – information should include your name, my name, course, date due, title of your paper, and DO NOT NUMBER THE TITLE PAGE but it is page 1. The first page of your actual critique will be page 2 (page numbers are located in the upper right-hand corner of paper – do not include your last name with the page number).
  2. The first paragraph on your second page (the title page is page 1 – do not number the title page) of your book critique will be a biographical sketch of the author. Tell me when and where she was born, where she received her education, publications (no more than 2-3), awards, and motivations for writing the book. This information will be located online. Do not use .coms as sources (do not use Wikipedia). You may use a .edu as a source. This paragraph should be 125-150 words long. You must cite this information as a footnote at the bottom of the page.
  3. The next paragraph will be a 125-150 word summary of the narrative of the book. There will be no quotes in this section. This is just a 30,000-foot summary of the what the book, major themes in the book, and why it was published. If you don’t know what this is, read the BACK of any book in the library and you’ll usually get a summary of a book. Weave this information together.
  4. The next paragraph will be 125-150 words and will start like this: “The first weakness of the book is…”. You will only list one (1) weakness of the author/book in this paragraph. You must provide at least 1 quote to support your answer. Do not provide more than 2 quotes to support your answer. Quotes may not exceed 2 lines in length. Each quote must be cited with an appropriate footnote at the bottom of the page.
  5. The next paragraph will be 125-150 words and will start like this: “The second weakness of the book is…” Again, you will only list one (1) weakness of the author/book in this paragraph. You must provide at least 1 quote to support your answer. Do not provide more than 2 quotes to support your answer. Quotes may not exceed 2 lines in length. Each quote must be cited with an appropriate footnote at the bottom of the page.
  6. The next paragraph will be 125-150 words and will start like this: “The first strength of the book is…” You will only list one (1) strength of the author/book in this paragraph. You must provide at least 1 quote to support your answer. Do not provide more than 2 quotes to support your answer. Quotes may not exceed 2 lines in length. Each quote must be cited with an appropriate footnote at the bottom of the page.
  7. The next paragraph will be 125-150 words and will start like this: “The second strength of the book is…” Again, you will only list one (1) strength of the author/book in this paragraph. You must provide at least 1 quote to support your answer. Do not provide more than 2 quotes to support your answer. Quotes may not exceed 2 lines in length. Each quote must be cited with an appropriate footnote at the bottom of the page.
  8. The final paragraph will be 125-150 words and will answer the following questions: What did you learn from this book? Did it add to your knowledge of a historical event? Why is it important to study this subject from your point of view? Would you recommend this book to another history class? Why or why not? Be specific.
  9. Bibliography. This is the final page all by itself. There should only be two (2) entries here – the online source you used for the biography of your author and the book you chose for this assignment. Only those two!! These two entries are typed in differently than the footnotes.

Remember

  1. Write in the 3rd person.
  2. Title page is required – information should include your name, my name, course, date due, title of your paper, and DO NOT NUMBER THE TITLE PAGE. The first page of your actual review will be page #2 (page numbers are located in the upper right-hand corner of paper – do not include your last name with the page number).
  3. Proper Chicago style formatting is required. See the handout “Miller & Lux” for an example. Use Footnotes (as illustrated in the Miller & Lux example).
  4. You must provide a bibliography (see Miller & Lux example).
  5. This is worth 300 points.
  6. No block quotes (block quotes are quotes that take up more than 4 lines in your paper). I will lower your grade for block quotes.
  7. Too many quotes will lower your overall grade.
  8. You do not need to quote an entire sentence or section. You CAN quote several words within the sentence or section. This allows you more space for your OWN WORDS.
  9.  Footnote and Bibliography citations are slightly different. Be sure to make the differentiation.
  10. Good luck. You got this!

List of possible weaknesses and/or strengths of the authors: (this is a small list. You may come up with your own answer).

           

  1. Book formatting
  2. Pictures, maps, illustrations
  3. Character development
  4. Imagery
  5. Politics
  6. Religion
  7. Focusing on one subject and not enough on another
  8. Primary sources/Secondary Sources
  9. If you come across a story in one of the books that you like or dislike. Stop right there. Why did you dislike it? Is it because it was poorly written or explained? That’s a weakness. Do you dislike it, but the author did a good job of explaining it – that’s a strength. Example: you might think it is a weakness for the author to use slang from the 1850s in their book. You dislike it because you don’t understand it, or you feel it detracts from the story. I would disagree. I would say it’s a strength because it adds an element of authenticity. The author captures that moment in time, and we get a chance to hear how people talked back then.