The purpose of this exercise is to practice writing an analytical review of an academic book. A good book review contains a summary of the authors argument, the data the author uses to support it, and a critical appraisal of the positive and negative aspects of the author’s argument and its presentation.
Assignment:
For this exercise, write a 700-750 word review of the Maximilian
Viatori and Bombiella book.
Your goal is to provide a succinct summary of Maximilian Viatori’s and Bombiella’s argument in the book and a critique of it.
Guidelines: In order to receive full credit for this assignment, you should consider structuring your review in the following manner:
Paragraph 1 (think of this as the abstract):
The first sentence(s) of your review should describe accurately and concisely the main theme of the book. What is this book about? What is its main topic? Where was the research for the book done? When and how?
The following sentence(s) should concisely state the authors thesis (remember this must be stated as an argument, not a broad description or statement of fact)?
Paragraph 2:
This paragraph should expand on how the author presents the argument.
Questions you may want to consider in this section are: How does the author make the argument? How is the book structured? Is this an effective structure for presenting the authors argument? What kinds of data does the author draw on to make the argument?
Paragraph 3 (and maybe 4 as well):
This is the point at which you should insert your analysis of the book after giving a concise summary of it and the authors argument. Because these reviews are short, you might elect to pick one positive and one negative aspect of the book and discuss each briefly.
Questions: What about the authors argument was well supported and executed? What aspects of the book were weaker than others? Are there places where the data did not match up with or fully support the argument? Remember, you do not have to be an expert on the topic that the author is writing about to be able to give a good critique. What you should do is look for general inconsistencies or contradictions in the authors argument and the data that are used to support it.
Things to avoid: Non-academic opinions such as: “this book was too long”, or “too boring”, or “too hard to understand”your goal here is to describe an authors argument and then comment on the strengths and weaknesses of it.
Paragraph 4 (or 5):
Conclude your review by summarizing what you think the impact of this book is. How did this book give you a fresh perspective on one or more of these topics? Or did it?
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