Write an academic book review for the following book: Mayeri, Serena. Reasoning from Race: Feminism, Law, and the Civil Rights Revolution. Harvard, 2011.
The general purpose of book reviews is to give your readers a good idea of what the book is about, what the main arguments and contributions are, and how the author goes about supporting her or his argument.
Reviews should be a minimum of 600 words in length, and follow these guidelines:
The “title” of your review should be the book’s publication info, including the author, title, place of publisher, name of publisher, date of publication, and edition you read (revised, ebook, etc.)
Your first paragraph is the most important. In it, you should concisely explain the book’s scope/time period, the author’s main purpose and arguments thesis. (This paragraph should be about 200 words and 14-16 lines)
The body of your review should offer some limited summary and should focus on the highlights of the book—chapters or sections where the author excels at originality or in supporting their argument, or ones that you found the most insightful or enjoyable to read. (Accomplish this in two or three paragraphs, at least 300 words)
Your final paragraph is not a throw-away “this is a good and interesting book” sort of thing. It should be helpful and substantive. If you feel comfortable doing so you should make some comparisons to other books you have read on a similar topic. You can reiterate particularly well done parts, and also acknowledge shortcomings. You can also discuss the sources the author used, particularly if they are especially relevant to the book’s argument or are from archives in other countries, etc. Assessment of the book. (About 100 words)
Limited quoting is acceptable. If you are quoting from the book, list include a parenthetical citation with the page number (5). Your name and institution affiliation (Tarleton State University) should appear at the bottom of your review.
Please note, book reviews are not book summaries. You are addressing the author’s argument, sources, and methodology, and you do not need to provide a chapter-by-chapter summary.
