Prepare a Book Review on Andrew Frank’s “Before the Pioneers”
Book Reviews
In general, reviews should avoid: repetitive language, colloquialisms,
clichés, passive voice, jargon, and hedging words and locutions—“seem(s),” “perhaps,” “probably,” “in my opinion,” and the like.
See further George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language,” William Zinsser, On Writing Welland, for more technical matters, the current edition of The Chicago Manual of Style
.
Suggested length: less than 1000 words.
Reviews should typically include:
• A concise statement of the book’s subject area, preferably in paragraph one;
• An indication of the author’s qualifications (academic position and/or relevant professional experience, previous publications, and the like);
• A summary of the book’s content, stated purpose, structure, and envisioned audience;
• A quotation or two,
to give a sense of the content and style of
the book;
• An evaluation of the argument and the evidence used
to support it; (What’s the author’s thesis?)
• A discussion of what the reviewer finds especially valuable, innovative, useful or not, with appropriate reference to other works on the same or similar topics (only if you know some other works of reference)
• An indication of any significant errors of fact (minor errors, typos, quibbles, etc., may be registered in a footnote);
• A concluding, pointed assessment of the success or failure of the book in achieving its aims; (strengths and weaknesses)
• page citations (in parentheses) for all quotations.
Reviews should not include:
• Political or ad hominem attacks on the author;
• Drawn-out counterarguments or hobby-horses of the reviewer;
• Overly long quotations.
