Research Guides: HIST 121: United States History to 1877 (Becker, Spring 2024): Analyzing, Summarizing, and Critiquing a Book

Assessing a Book

Look at this book I found in the library catalog, the best place to find books and ebooks for history.

Questions to consider:

What is the Topic?
What is the Argument?
What are the sources?
How does it challenge existing publications on the topic?
Who is the author?
Where & when was this published?

NOTE: It's harder to limit your search to "peer reviewed only" for books. Pay particular attention to the publisher & author when deciding whether to use a specific book.

Wartime : understanding and behavior in the Second World War by Paul Fussell
Call Number: Online : Swem Library Stacks ; D810 .P7 U365 1989
ISBN: 0195065778
Publication Date: 1990-10-25
Winner of both the National Book Award for Arts and Letters and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism, Paul Fussell's classic The Great War and Modern Memory remains one of the most original and gripping volumes ever written about the First World War. In its panoramicscope and poetic intensity, it illuminated a war that changed a generation and revolutionized the way we see the world.Now, in Wartime, Paul Fussell turns to the Second World War, the conflict in which he himself fought, to weave a more intensely personal and wide-ranging narrative. Whereas his former book focused primarily on literary figures, here Fussell examines the immediate impact of the war on soldiersand civilians. He compellingly depicts the psychological and emotional atmosphere of World War II by analyzing the wishful thinking and the euphemisms people needed to deal with unacceptable reality; by describing the abnormally intense frustration of desire and some of the means by which desirewas satisfied; and, most importantly, by emphasizing the damage the war did to intellect, discrimination, honesty, individuality, complexity, ambiguity, and wit.Of course, no book of Fussell's would be complete without serious attention to the literature of the time. He offers astute commentary on Edmund Wilson's argument with Archibald MacLeish, Cyril Connolly's Horizon magazine, the war poetry of Randall Jarrell and Louis Simpson, and many otheraspects of the wartime literary world. In this stunning volume, Fussell conveys the essence of that war as no other writer before him has.

Summarize

Again, books can be summarized in a similar fashion as an article, though it may take more detail due to the size and scope of a book.

In the Title (year), Author studies Topic, arguing Thesis. Using Sources/methodology, Author challenges existing literature by unique aspect of work.

In Wartime: understanding and behavior in the Second World War (1989), Paul Fussell studies the day-to-day experiences of British and American solders during WW2, with particular attention given to topics traditionally regarded as negative: soldiers' excessive use of smoking and alcohol, sex and prostitution, the spread of propaganda, cursing, and the unreadiness and general terror of wartime experience. Fussell argues that exploring these previously taboo aspects of soldier life provides a nuanced understanding of the soldiers' experience, and offers more insight into the cultural impact and lasting memories of the war. The approach of the work reflects Fussell's expertise as a literary historian, and the work is heavily influenced by his seminal previous works that study the cultural history and memory of the First World War.

In the case of this book, Fussell's background is extremely important in understanding the approach & aim of the work. His The Great War and Modern Memory is so famous it even has it's own wikipedia article