Warfare in the Eighteenth Century
Review by Tony Nicholas
 
 

The Heavenly City Of Eighteenth-Century Philosophers
Review by Roger Bunn
 
 

History of Peasant Revolts
Review by Cody Walker
 
 

The Siege of Vienna
Review by Laurel Bradshaw
 
 

Writing a Book Review

What is the purpose a book review? You won't find a simple answer. There are many different types of book reviews with somewhat different purposes. They appear in newspapers (Beaumont Enterprise), popular magazines (Newsweek), scholarly journals (Journal of American History, The Historian), and in specialized review publications (New York Review of Books, Choice, or History: Reviews of New Books).

All book reviews exist to tell the reader something substantial about the book and so spare the reader from having to read it themselves. As a result of reading the review, the reader may want to buy the book and read it, check it out from the library and read it, buy it for a library so that the library patrons can read it, or ignore the book because its subject is of no interest or because its quality is poor.

The audience for book reviews will vary by publication. Newspapers and popular magazines publish book reviews to let their readers know about important or interesting new titles. They are aimed at a popular audience and review works of fiction and non-fiction that are often not at all scholarly in intent.

Some publications are a bit more highbrow than others. New Republic, New York Review of Books, TLS [Times Literary Supplement], and New York Times Book Review tend to publish more scholarly reviews with a decidedly intellectual flavor. Of course, it is important to keep in mind that reviews appearing in the New York Review of Books often spend more time talking about the book reviewer's ideas on the subject than the ideas in the book.

Other book reviews are written to tell librarians about new books. These reviews generally are very short, providing a brief (100-200 words) description of the contents of the book and an evaluation.

Finally there are scholarly reviews of books. These appear in scholarly journals. Such reviews are 500 to 1,500 words in length. They basically evaluate the books for other members of the profession. Book reviews written for this class will follow the pattern of a scholarly review.

A book review is not a summary of the contents of a book. Book reports summarize contents and they belong in high school. A good book review is a commentary on the book. That means that it analyses, evaluates, and judges the contents of the book.

Here's a list of 10 key points to look for when reading a book for the purpose of reviewing it.

1) Find the author's point of view. This is often clearly stated in the introduction or preface.

2) Identify the author's major hypothesis, point, or contention. There may be more than one or there may be a main one accompanied by several lesser but still important hypotheses. Again, most authors will state their point or hypothesis in the introduction and the conclusion of their book.

3) What types of evidence does the author use? Look at the footnotes, endnotes, and bibliography.

4) How is the book organized to present its argument? Is the organization effective?

5) How does the author use the evidence presented in the book? Is the evidence sufficient, is it convincing, is it appropriate, etc?

6) Is the author's point of view appropriate? Is there a discernible bias? Is the author objective? Is the author true to that point of view in the way the book has been written? Always remember to respect how the author wrote the book, as long as it is appropriate. Do not criticize an author for writing a book (or article) differently from how you would have written it. If you feel so strongly about it, write it yourself.

7) How does the book fit in to the existing literature? Are there other books on this topic? Is the book revising them, enhancing them, or contradicting them, etc? Or is this book unique?

8) Based on the organization, argumentation, and evidence presented, do you find that the book contains a convincing argument?

9) If possible, compare the book with other books on similar topics.

10) Do you recommend this book to others? Why or why not? Comment on readability, whether the book grabbed your interest, was it useful, etc.

I. Supply a brief summary or overview of the book's hypotheses and contents.

II. Assess the nature and the quality of the evidence presented.

III. Compare the work with similar titles.

IV. Comment on the author's presentation: organization, writing style, illustrations, tables, bibliography, index.

V. Conclusion with final assessment and recommendation to readers.

When reviewing a book, there are several other key words that can guide your efforts. Ask yourself, what is the author's purpose for writing this book? That question encompasses both point of view and hypothesis. Ask yourself, what is the scope of the book? That question deals with what the book is about. What is its subject (person, time period, place, etc.)?

It is also important to know something about the author. The keyword for this is authority. What is the author's authority? Does the author have expertise or a reputation in the subject? Beginning students will know little or nothing about the authors they are reading. That is why it is a good idea to look them up and learn about them. All the people on your reading list are well known and significant historians who are the subjects of entries in biographical reference works.

Beginning students do not know where a book fits into to the historical literature. One way to quickly find out where it fits in is to locate book reviews written by other scholars. How do they evaluate the book and why? Where do they say it fits? Their word is not necessarily gospel. Be sure you find good scholarly reviews, not simple library selection reviews, which are too short and lack detail for this purpose.

Remember, when writing your review, you audience is your classmates and your professors.

Your book review should be 3-4 pages long. Provide complete bibliographic information at the front, i.e., author's name, title, place of publication, publisher, year of publication, pages. Put your name at the end of the review. Look at various reviews published in scholarly journals and see how they do it.

Your Book Review is due on the date stipulated in the syllabus.

Books Eligible for Review

Alexander, John T. Catherine the Great
Anderson, M. S. War and Society in Europe of the Old Regime
Asch, Ronald G. The Thirty Years War: The Holy Roman Empire and Europe, 1618-1648 (1997)
Asprey, Robert B. Frederick the Great: The Magnificent Enigma (1986)
Avrich, Paul Russian Rebels 1600-1800 (1972)
Becker, Carl L. The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers (1932)
Berce, Yves-Marie The Birth of Absolutism: A History of France, 1598-1661 (1992)
Berce, Yves Marie History of Peasant Revolts
Black, Jeremy Warfare in the Eighteenth Century (1999)
Boxer, C. R. The Dutch Seaborn Empire: 1600-1800 (1970)
Braudel, Fernand Capitalism and Material Life, 1400-1800 (1973)
Burckhardt, Carl J. Richelieu: His Rise to Power (1964)
Childs, John Warfare in the Seventeenth Century (2001)
Cipolla, Carlo Clocks and Culture 1300-1700 (1967)
Edward Crankshaw Maria Theresa
Cranston, Maurice Philosphers and Pamphleteers: Political Theorists of the Enlightenment (1986)
Darnton, Robert The Business of the Enlightenment
Darnton, Robert The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History (1984)
Dash, Mike Tulipo Mania: The Story of the World’s Most Coveted Flower and the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused (1999)
Delumeau, Jean Catholicism Between Luther and Voltaire: A New View of the Counter-Reformation (1977)
Delumeau, Jean Sin and Fear: The Emergence of a Western Guilt Culture 13th-18th Centuries (1990)
Elliott, J. H. Imperial Spain, 1469-1716 (1963)
Elliott, J. H. Richelieu and Olivares (1984)
Elliot, J. H. The Revolt of the Catalans
Evans, R. J. W. The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy
Fletcher, C. R. L. Gustavus Adolphus and the Thirty Years War (1963)
Fraser, Antonia Love and Louis XIX: The Women in the Life of the Sun-King (2006)
Furber, Holden Rival Empires of Trade in the Orient, 1600-1800 (1976)
Gay, Peter The Enlightenment
Gerbi, Antonello The Dispute of the New World: The History of a Polemic, 1750-1900 (1973)
Gilder, Joshua and Anne-Lee Gilder Heavenly Intrigue: Johannes Kepler, Tycho Brahe, and the Murder Behind One of History’s Greatest Scientific Discoveries (2004)
Gleeson, Janet Millionaire: The Philander, Gambler, and Duelist Who Invented Modern France (1999)
Goubert, Pierre The French Peasantry in the Seventeenth Century (1986)
Goubert, Pierre Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen (1970)
Hazard, Paul The European Mind, 1680-1715 (1963)
Huxley, Aldous Grey Eminence [Father Joseph] (1941)
Isherwood, Robert Farce and Fantasy: Popular Entertainment in Eighteenth Century Paris
Kamen, Henry Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492-1763 (2003)
Kiernan, V. G. The Duel in European History (1986)
Kleinman, Ruth Anne of Austria: Queen of France (1985)
Knecht, R. J. Richelieu (1991)
Ladurie, Emmanuel LeRoy The Ancient Regime
Lever, Evelyne Madame de Pompadour: A Life (2002)
Lewis, W. H. The Splendid Century: Life in the France of Louis IX (many editions)
Madariaga, Isabel de Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great
Massie, Robert Peter the Great
McKay, Derek The Great Elector (2001)
McKay, Derek Prince Eugene of Savoy
Miller, John Bourbon and Stuart: Kings and Kingship in France and England in the Seventeenth Century (1987)
Mousnier, Roland The Assassination of Henry IV: The Tyrannicide Problem and the Consolidation of the French Absolute Monarchy in the Early Seventeenth Century (1964)
Mousnier, Roland Peasant Uprisings in Seventeenth-Century France, Russia, and China (1970)
Parker, Geoffrey Europe in Crisis, 1598-1648 (1979)
Parker, Geoffrey The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West, 1500-1800
Parker, Geoffrey The Thirty Years War (1987)
Parker, Geoffrey and Lesley M. Smith, eds. The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century (1978)
Polisensky, J. V. The Thirty Years War (1971)
Porter, Roy The Enlightenment 2nd ed. (2001)
Rabb, Theodore K. The Struggle for Stability in Early Modern Europe (1975)
Ranun, Orest Artisans of Glory: Writers and Historical Thought in Seventeenth Century France
Ranun, Orest The Fronde: A French Revolution (1993)
Ranun,Orest Paris in the Age of Absolutism
Roberts, Michael Gustavus Adolphus 2nd ed. (1992)
Scholem, Gershom Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626-1676 (1973)
Shardy, Nicholas The Last Day: Wrath, Ruin, and Reason in the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 (2008)
Sobal, Dava Gallileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love (1999)
Somerset, Anne The Affair of the Poisons: Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV (2004)
Spileman, John P. Leopold I of Austria
Steengaard, Niels The Asian Trade Revolution of the Seventeenth Century: The East India Companies and the Decline of the Caravan Trade (1974)
Stoye, John The Siege of Vienna (1965)
Sturdy, David J. Louis XIV (1998)
Tapie, Victor L. France in the Age of Louis XIII and Richelieu (1984)
Wedgwood, C. V. Richelieu and the French Monarchy
Wedgwood, C. V. The Thirty Years War (1938)
Wolf, John B. Louis XIV (1968)
Yates, Frances A. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (1972)