Writing a Critical Book Review
Prof. Stephen Adair
A book review is a critical assessment of a book. It is different than a book report. A book report simply summarizes the main ideas of a book, whereas your job is to evaluate critically the quality of a work. Just as a movie review is not intended as a substitute for seeing a movie, a book review should not be a substitute for reading a book. Instead, you are to advise prospective readers whether on not they should spend their time reading a book. You are expected to offer your own opinion of the work, but your opinion needs to be grounded and defended through a critical discussion and assessment of the author’s work.
If you would like to see some examples of book reviews, see the New York Times Book Review magazine that is published every Sunday in the Times. Also, the journal, Contemporary Sociology, which you can find in the library, is exclusively devoted to reviews of books of sociological interest. If your good at using the library, you can probably find several published reviews of Shulman's book -- I've read a few.
To write a book review, you will first need to ask yourself, why the author wrote the book, what was his or her intent, what did they wish to accomplish; and then consider the extent to which they were able to realize their goal. Did they accomplish what they set out to accomplish? Did they convince you that their topic was interesting and have they presented sufficient evidence to demonstrate their point?
After you’ve read a few reviews you will see that there can be no simple "cook book" listing of the main ingredients for a good review. Thus, I offer the following method of organization only as an orienting device that you may use if you think it will help, but certainly do not mindlessly tie yourself to the following scheme:
1. Provide an introduction that identifies the title and author of the book and clearly states the particular intention of the author. Also, if you intend to be critical or if you intend to provide a favorable review, then some indication of where you will be going should be near the beginning.
2. Provide a brief summary of the book -- perhaps only a paragraph that outlines the themes in the organization of the chapters. Feel free to quote the author’s own words, or use some other illustrative quotes to present the main focus of the work.
3. Assess how well the author realizes his or her intent. Consider such questions as: Does the author make promises that they do not keep? Do the data reveal what the author intends? Are there many questions left unanswered?
4. Provide a recommendation. Is the book worth reading? Who would most profit from reading it.