Book Review on "Empire How Spain Became a World Power"

Quoted Instructions for "Empire How Spain Became a World Power" Assignment:

Instructions

Book reviews should be:

1000-1200 words long;

Begin with a bibliographical entry in Chicago style;

Use a 12 point font;

Double-space;

Use 1*****" margins.

STRUCTURE

Each review should consist of the following four parts: PLEASE USE SECTION HEADINGS TO INDICATE EACH PART

Introduction and summary of the book

The review should begin with an introduction that states the student’s main conclusion about the book in the form of a thesis statement. The remainder of the introductory section, which can be one or perhaps two paragraphs, should describe the structure that the review will take.

Next students should provide a summary of the book under review. A strong summary describes and discusses the author*****'s purpose, major themes, ideas, sources and conclusions. It can be one paragraph long, though a good summary will often require one-third of the maximum length of the review. The summary should offer the reader an accurate account of the contents of the book. Students should address the following questions:

What is the author’s stated aims?

What historical period is under study?

How does the author accomplish his or her aims?

what questions are asked?

what structure does the book follow (i.e. chapters or sections)?

what evidence and sources are used?

What are the author’s conclusions?

Reception

Students in undergraduate classes are not expected to have an extensive background in academic history. Therefore, it is useful for undergraduates to read several reviews of a given book prior to reviewing it themselves. Students may find that professional reviews illuminate controversies and other issues that are not apparent to casual readers.

The reception section should describe and discuss the reactions of scholars to the book in question. Students are expected to find and read two or three published reviews of the book they have selected, and in the reception section of their own reviews, they are expected to briefly discuss these published reviews. In particular, students should note those features of the book upon which the reviewers agreed, as well as a discussion of points of disagreement. Students might ask the following questions:

Did the reviewers agree on the purpose of the book?

Did they agree on the importance of the book?

What common themes run through the professional reviews?

Reviews read in the preparation of a book review must be cited in footnotes or endnotes. It is critical to refer to the author of any ideas used in the review. Failure to do so constitutes a form of plagiarism.

Critique

A critique is a thoughtful reaction to a book under review. Students may discuss source problems, structure, and argumentation or simply their reaction to an interesting part of the book.

In preparing to write the critique, students should ask themselves:

Did the author accomplish the stated purposes of the work?

Is the argument is convincing?

Did the book break new ground (compared to the text and lectures)?

Do the citations adequately reflect the variety of sources?

If the answer to any of these questions is *****"no,*****" then the critique should contain an explanation or discussion.

Conclusion

A strong conclusion restates the major themes of the review and discusses the importance of the book to the reviewer. The conclusion might address the value of the book in this course. Students might ask the following questions:

Did the book cover historical material that was covered in the texts and/or lectures?

How did the book relate to the themes covered in the course?

Do you feel that this book makes a valuable contribution to the debates that we have discussed in class?

Does it raise any issues that were not covered in class?

The book is Henry Kamen, Empire: how Spain became a world power, 1492-1763, New York: Perennial, 2004