Book Review Assignment
Instructions
For this class, you are required to write a book review of a non-fiction book dealing with early American History history. You are to pick a topic that interests you. Slavery, the Atlantic World, Syncretism, the Columbian Exchange, the role of Women or many other sub-themes: commerce and trade, race and racial categories, and gender relations.
Format need
Your book review has different format rules than your Talking Points. The main difference is that the book review will be 1-3 typed pages in length. However it will be single-spaced with 11pt. font. When you use a direct quote or a summation of pages you will type a lower case p in parenthesis. This may be done within the sentence (p.157) or at the end of a sentence (p.157). Follow the format sample below as regards the title.
Content
A book review does not only tell you what a book is about, but also whether it achieves what it is trying to do. Therefore, a book review is more than a summary of the content (even though this is an important component), but a critical analysis of the book and your reactions to it.
There are many ways in which you can accomplish the above. Consider the following:
While you are reading the book, take notes regarding the following
– What is the author’s main goal in writing this book? (Convince you of his position on a controversy? Explain the background of an event? Raise awareness of a particular issue?)
– What are the author’s main points?
– What kind of evidence does the author provide to make his or her points? How convincing is this evidence?
– Is the book well written? (Easily understandable? Good style?)
– What group of readers would find this book most useful (Lay people? Students? Experts in the area?)
Having completed the above, make sure your book review includes the following components:
1) Introduction (one paragraph)
– Bibliographic information (author, title, date of publication, publisher, number of pages, type of book)
– Brief overview of the theme, purpose and your evaluation
2) Summary of the content (about two to three paragraphs)
– Brief summary of the key points of each chapter or group of specific chapters
– Paraphrase the information, but use a short quote when appropriate
3) Evaluation and conclusion (one to two paragraphs)
– Give your opinion about the book. Is the book easy to read or confusing? Is the book interesting, entertaining, instructive? Does the author support his arguments well? What are the book’s greatest strengths and weaknesses? Who would you recommend the book to?
Obviously, this exercise is more than just stating whether or not you liked or disliked the book. Try to look for ways you can incorporate one or more themes from the course. Or you may chose to focus on one aspects. Try to select an aspect or angle of the book that you found especially interesting. I wish you well on this assignment.
Slave Narratives of the Underground Railroad by Christine Rudisel
In her book, Slave narratives of the Underground Railroad, Christine Rudisel shows how slavery and racism were practiced in America. The goal of the author is to show how people experienced brutality in bondage and they finally endured it. She points out that post slaves should be given respect for what they went through in slavery. The narrations show how people ran to secure their freedom.
People escaped slavery between the 1850s and 1860s in Southern America by using an Underground Railroad, a network that had safe houses and secret routes (Rudisel and Blaisdell, n.d.). The narrative shows insights that led to the Africa-America history and the era of the Civil War. People ran to look for their safety from the fugitive slavery in America. The author uses the words that slaves spoke for themselves as they ran away through Underground Railroad to seek for freedom. She narrates the violent struggles of the slaves, their hardships together with their narrow escapes.
In making the points, the author refers to the narratives of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and other less known refugees who escaped slavery. Christine applies to about thirty sections on the narration of Eliza Harris who was among the slave women. Eliza crossed River Ohio, a river with drifting ice with her kid on her arms after undergoing a heartbreaking experience in slavery. Christine uses the evidence from Theophilus Collins who escaped from America after a bloody struggle with a knife, fire shovel, and gun used by his infuriated master according to the narrations from Harriet Jacob about the incidents in slave girl’s life (Rudisel and Blaisdell, n.d.). Also, the narrative of Ellen Craft and William who wore male clothes and flew as a planter together with her husband as body servant and traveled by train to look for freedom.
From the above review, it is evident that slaves struggled to look for freedom hence the book is strongly-referenced and well-written in narrating the history of slaves in America. It shows how people struggled to escape slavery. The book is useful to the students and teachers in learning about the experience that slaves underwent during the colonial period. Therefore, a lot of efforts are necessary for one to acquire freedom.