Objectives of Book ReviewCritical reading skills aside, the basic objective of a book review assignment is twofold: 1.) it gets you to read and write about a complex, fully-developed argument and, 2.) in so doing, heightens your awareness of how a good (or bad) argument can be constructed and supported, thus offering possible strategies and approaches you may want to pursue (or avoid) in your own writing.

When reviewing a book, you may want to answer some of the following questions:

What is the book's main argument?Who seems to be the intended audience for the book?How is the book structured?Does the structure of the book (its various parts and chapters) reinforce its larger argument? How?What kinds of sources, or examples, does the book offer in support of its argument, and which are most (and least) effective? Why?Does the book engage other writers' works on the same subject and, even if not, how would you position the book in relation to other texts you are aware of on the same subject (texts you have read for class, for example)?Does the author seem biased or prejudiced in any way and, if so, is that prejudice or bias the product of the author's own background, as far as you can tell?How persuasive is the book (if certain aspects are more persuasive than others, explain why)