History

Write a book review for this class based on one or two substantial outside readings. The paper should address an historical topic covered by the course. The reading can be what historians call a primary source, that is, something written during period under study, or a secondary source, that is, something written by a present-day historian about the past.

Proceed by identifying a historical topic or question that interests you. Then find a book you would like to read on that topic. If a secondary source, the book should have been written within the last forty years, but exceptions are possible for classic works.

Then summarize the material, in the process answering the following questions:
If a primary source:
• What is the main point of the source/sources?
• What historical issue does this/these source/sources help illuminate?
• What do you learn about that historical issue by reading this work?
• Is this work a reliable source for facts?
• Or is it a biased source? If so, in what way?
• What is the source good for? Even a biased book that is a bad source for factual information might be useful for understanding someone’s way of thinking.
If a secondary source:
• What question does the author pose?
• How does the book answer that question? (That is, what is the author’s “thesis statement?”)
• How does the author support his or her conclusion?
? Summarize the book, briefly.
? What kind of evidence does the author use: statistical, legal records, autobiography, and literature?
? How might this evidence skew the results?
? How is the author’s thesis developed: through narrative, analysis or both?
• Do you agree with the author?
? Does the evidence support the conclusion?
? Are there other possible interpretations that would explain the same evidence?
? Would other sources of evidence have yielded a different conclusion?

 

 

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