1. Book reviews must be typed, double-spaced, and paginated. Make sure your ribbon or ink cartridges have sufficient ink to print easily readable text.
2. The reviews must have one-inch margins and a font no smaller than 11 point. Simple, non-ornamental fonts are preferred (Times New Roman, Courier, and Arial are all good choices).
3. The reviews need no title page. At the top of the first page, simply
place the bibliographic information about the book in this format:
Friedlander, Henry. The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1995.
You may then begin your review two lines below the title. You may use underlining instead of italics if your typewriter or printer won't do italics.
4. The reviews may be no longer than 1,500 words. While there is no minimum, it is hard to imagine you can do a good job in less than 750 words. Place a word count at the end of your review. Failing to include a word count will cause your grade to be marked down.
5. The reviews should not spend more than a sentence or two summarizing the content of the book. Most of the review should be dedicated to a critical analysis of the author's intentions and his/her success in carrying them out; the author's sources and their benefits and limitations; and the way in which the book complements, supplements, or revises existing historiographical categories (you may make comparisons and contrasts with other works we have read, if it will help your analysis).
6. For the review due on October 6, you may choose any of these three books: The Racial State; The Origins of Nazi Genocide; or Inside Nazi Germany. For the review due on November 17, you may choose from among Twisted Cross; Art, Ideology, and Economics in Nazi Germany; and The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany.
7. If footnotes are necessary, they should take this format:
Books: 1Detlev J.K. Peukert, Inside Nazi Germany:
Conformity, Opposition, and Racism in Everyday Life (New Haven, Connecticut:
Yale University Press, 1987), 76.
Articles: 2John Connelly, "The Uses of Volksgemeinschaft:
Letters to the NSDAP Kreisleitung Eisenach, 1939-1940," Journal of Modern
History 68 (1996): 902.
Other sources: As spelled out in the latest edition of Kate
Turabian, et. al., A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and
Dissertations. 6th rev. ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1996).
Footnotes that point only to sources and add no comment by you may be subtracted from the word total, if you desire.
8. The reviews will be graded on the strength of their analysis and the use of evidence to support that analysis. Broad, unsupported generalizations of praise or criticism (e.g., "This is an excellent book" or "This book is very difficult to read") are less risky and effective than more specific and better supported points of analysis, and won't be rewarded as highly.
9. It is recommended that you read a few dozen reviews in recent editions of scholarly journals to familiarize yourself with the genre of the scholarly book review (for example, in the American Historical Review, the Journal of Modern History, and Central European History: current and past issues of each are available in the University Library). But a word of caution: you will notice more summary in most of these reviews than you should place in your review, simply because these reviewers can't assume (as you can) that your readers have already read the book in question.
10. Numerous typographical errors, misspellings, or grammatical or stylistic infelicities will result in a lower grade. Your analysis won't be as convincing if your reader has to clear away a mine field of writing or typing problems just to get to your analysis.
11. Papers not turned in by the beginning of class on the due date will be marked down one letter grade for every two days late, or fraction thereof. Papers handed in late may also be returned later than those handed in on time.
12. Don't forget to write your name on your review. Please place it at the bottom of the review near the word count.