Hum 400 Book Review and Synthesis
Choose a work of history or historical biography that fits into the time period from 1800-1989. You may choose one from the list provided or you may choose your own. If you choose your own, it is suggested you consult with me before you finalise the choice.
Write a piece of approximately 2,500 words that connects the book to our course. The piece should be similar in format to a book review, but that discusses course material and uses the book to talk about themes from the course. The piece should follow these guidelines:
Include a detailed but concise summary of the book. This should be a high level/big picture explanation of what the book is about, what its main thesis or themes are, and what about it is useful in understanding the history of the time period.
Contextualise the book by giving some relevant facts about the time period it discusses and the events that our course has focussed on.
Address the style of the book and its explanatory tendencies. Is it mostly a narrative of events, or does it focus on social structures or the details of the culture? Does it have theoretical biases? Does it reflect a particular political or social view? What sort of explanations, if any, does it offer for historical events – economic, cultural, ideological, technological, individual, or military? Does it address alternative explanations? How scholarly is it? Are there questions or topics it avoids? What questions is it most interested in? You do not need to answer all or most of these questions, but you should consider which of them might be informative about your book.
Discuss how the book relates to key themes of our course. You should make clear reference to course lectures, tutorials, or textbook sections, and explain what in the book illustrates, illuminates, contextualizes or contradicts ideas developed in them. These include:
The industrial revolution and its effects on society
The development and competition between ideologies, including Conservatism, Liberalism, Fascism and Communism
Colonialism, Imperialism, and Decolonization
The impact of social upheavals on ordinary people
Your imagined audience should be another student in Hum 400: you can imagine the essay as an attempt to explain to them what you learned from the book that might help them understand the course or do well on a final exam (note, we do not actually have a final exam).
You should make use of quotations from the book at appropriate points, including page numbers, and attach the bibliographical information for the book at the end of your paper. You are expected to make use of the book, your textbook, the course lectures, and optionally Encyclopedia Britannica online, together with any other sources given on the course website. No other sources need be used.
