First, a book review is not a book report. A book report simply summarizes the contents of a book, while a book review is a qualitative assessment of the book, its thesis and its success in making its point(s). In your review you will not only briefly report on the contents, but you will also assess the book's strengths and weaknesses. It is true that the author of a book is (usually) a professional historian, and you may think you are unqualified write a book review. But a book review is your assessment of the book, its contents and its purpose, written from your own point of view. Did the book speak to you? Did it fulfill its promise? Is it useful to an upper division history student?

In writing your review, it is not enough to indicate whether or not you liked the book. You must also explain why you liked or disliked it. If you think it is interesting, you must relate why you feel that way. If you dislike the book, you need to explain the reasons for your judgement. Was the book unconvincing because the author failed to support sufficient evidence to support the thesis? Or, perhaps, did you disagree with the book's underlying assumptions?

In order to form these types of judgements, you need to read critically and analytically. As a critical reader, you are not passive. Reading should be a constant interaction between the reader and the writer. You should always ask questions of the book and then try to find the answers within the work itself.

Place your name in the upper right-hand corner of the first page.

The very first lines of the book review should list the title, author, place published, publisher and date of publication. Something like this:

Lastname, Firstname Middleinitial. Title. City: Publisher, date.

I. You should begin with a brief summary of the book that also relates the author's main point or thesis. This is a one-paragraph introduction to your review.

II. You should then provide one or two paragraphs of information about the author. What is the author's viewpoint? What can you discover about the author's background that might shed light on the author's thesis or upon the author's bias and point of view? What is the author's purpose in writing the book? If you don't understand the author's purpose in writing the book, you surely will have trouble understanding the book itself.

III. You may now provide a brief (one to two paragraph) abstract of the book's content. This is NOT the heart of your review. Rather, it is background material for the next section, your analysis of the book's thesis.

IV. The heart of your review is a three to four paragraph analysis of the book's thesis or argument. What evidence does the author present to support his thesis? Is the evidence presented clearly and logically? Do the author's main points follow in a logical sequence, and does the author provide adequate evidence to support the points? Is the author convincing and persuasive in presenting and arguing for the thesis? You might want to compare the content and arguments of this book with other materials you have read.

V. Finally, in one to two paragraphs of conclusions and recommendations, provide a summary evaluation of the book. Was the thesis clear? Was the evidence strong? Were the conclusions drawn from that evidence sound and persuasive? Do you agree or disagree with the author's assumptions and conclusions? Was the book helpful or useful to your understanding of Roman history? Would you recommend the book to a classmate? Would you keep the book on the reading list?

Format: 1. Three to five pages, double-spaced, with no more than one-inch margins and a font no greater than 12 points. 2. Indicate page numbers in parentheses when you refer to a specific idea. 3. Direct quotations of more than three lines do not require quotation marks; instead, they should be indented and single spaced. However, use quotations sparingly to support a point; do not try to make up your entire paper with quotations. 4. Do not hand in a rough draft. Take pride in your writing, and proofread your paper for spelling and grammar. When naming a book either as a choice or in the review itself, the bibliographic format stipulated above must be used. Your grade will be lowered if you do not follow this format.

Deadlines: Book review choices must be e-mailed to dhood@csulb.edu by 8:00 a.m. on the dates indicated on the syllabus. Book Reviews must be physically handed-in (not e-mailed) at the beginning of class on the dates indicated on the syllabus. The only acceptable excuse for lateness is a physician's written medical excuse informing me that you were too ill to come to class on the date the paper was due.

A. Archaeology

1.  Susan Allen, Finding the Walls of Troy (University of California Press, 1999.

2. *William Biers, The Archaeology of Greece: An Introduction (Cornell University Press, 1987)

3. Rodney Castledon, The Attack on Troy (Pen and Sword, 2006)

4. J. Lesley Fitton, The Discovery of the Greek Bronze Age (Harvard University Press, 1996)

5. *Ian Morris, Classical Greece: Ancient Histories and Modern Archaeologies (Cambridge University Press, 1994)

6. Dilys Powell, Villa Ariadne (Akadine Press, 2001)

7. *Michael Shanks, Classical Archaeology of Greece (Routledge, 1996)

8. *Anthony Snodgrass, An Archaeology of Greece (University of California Press, 1987)

B. Preclassical:

1. *M.I. Finley, Early Greece (Norton, 1970)

2. Drews, Robert, The Coming of the Greeks (Princeton University Press, 1988)

3. Drews, Robert, The End of the Bronze Age (Princeton University Press, 1993)

4. Carol Thomas, From Citadel to City State (Indiana University Press, 1999)

C. Archaic Greece:

1. *A. Andrewes, The Greek Tyrants (Harper, 1963)

2. *Walter Burkert, The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence in the Early Archaic Age (Harvard University Press, 1992)

3. Michael Grant, The Rise of the Greeks (Scribners, 1988)

4. *Jonathan Hall, A History of the Archaic Greek World (Blackwell, 2007)

5. R. J. Hopper, The Early Greeks (Harper and Row, 1977)

6. L. H. Jeffery, Archaic Greece (St. Martin's Press, 1976)

7. *McGlew, James, Tyranny and Political Culture in Ancient Greece (Cornell University Press, 1993)

8. *Oswyn Murray, Early Greece (Harvard University Press, 1993)

9. *Robin Osborne, Greece in the Making (Routledge, 1996)

10. *Anthony Snodgrass, Archaic Greece (University of California Press, 1980)

D. Athens:

1. *W. Robert Connor, The New Politicians of Fifth Century Athens (Hackett, 1992)

2. *Edward Cohen, Athenian Economy and Society (Princeton University Press, 1992)

3. *James Davidson, Courtesans and Fishcakes (Harper, 1997)

4.  Vincent Gabrielsen, Financing the Athenian Fleet (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994)

5. *A.H.M. Jones, Athenian Democracy (Oxford, 1957)

6. *Donald Kagan, Pericles of Athens (Simon & Schuster, 1991)

7. *Philip Manville, Origins of Citizenship in Ancient Athens (Princeton Univ. Press, 1990)

8. Malcolm McGregor, The Athenians and Their Empire (University of British Columbia Press, 1987)

9. Christian Meier, Athens (Henry Holt, 1998)

10. *Russell Meiggs, The Athenian Empire (Oxford University Press, 1972)

11. Mark Munn, The School of History (University of California Press, 2000)

12 *Josiah Ober, The Athenian Revolution (Princeton University Press, 1996)

13. *J. W. Roberts, City of Sokrates (Routledge, 1998)

14. Raphael Sealey, The Athenian Republic (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1987)

15. *R. K. Sinclair, Democracy and Participation in Athens (Cambridge, 1988)

16. David Stockton, The Classical Athenian Democracy Oxford, 1990)

17. *John Thorley, Athenian Democracy (Routledge, 1996)

E. Sparta:

1. Paul Cartledge, Spartan Reflections (University of California Press, 2001)

2. Paul Cartledge, The Spartans (Overlook Press, 2003)

3. *W.G. Forrest, A History of Sparta (Norton, 1968)

4. *H. Mitchell, Sparta (Cambridge, 1964)

5. A. H. M. Jones, Sparta (Barnes and Noble, 1967)

F. The Persian Wars:

1. H. Bengston, The Greeks and the Persians (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1970)

2. *Ernle Bradford, Thermopylae (Da Capo Press, 1993)

3. R. Burn, Persia and the Greeks (Stanford University Press, 1984)

4. Paul Cartledge, Thermopylae: The Battle that Changed the World (Overlook Press, 2006)

5. George Cawkwell, The Greek Wars (Oxford University Press, 2006)

6. Peter Green, The Greco-Persian Wars (University of California Press, 1996)

7. Tom Holland, Persian Fire ((Doubleday, 2005)

8. A. J. Podlecki, The Life of Themistocles (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1975)

9. Barry Strauss, The Battle of Salamis (Simon and Schuster, 2004)

G. The Peloponnesian War:

1. Victor Hanson, A War Like No Other (Random House, 2005)

2. *Anton Powell, Athens and Sparta (Routledge, 1988)

3. *Barry Strauss, Fathers and Sons in Athens (Princeton University Press, 1993)

H. Alexander and Macedon:

1. *Winthrop Adams, Alexander the Great (Pearson, 2005)

2. *Eugene Borza, In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon (Princeton, 1990)

3. *A. B. Bosworth, Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great (Cambridge, 1988)

4. *A. B. Bosworth, Alexander and the East (Oxford, 1996)

5. Paul Cartledge, Alexander the Great (New York: Overlook, 2004)

6. *J. R. Ellis, Philip II and Macedonian Imperialism (Princeton, 1986)

7. R. Malcolm Errington, History of Macedonia (University of California, 1990)

8. Peter Green, Alexander of Macedon (University of California, 1991)

9. *N.G.L. Hammond, The Genius of Alexander the Great (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1997)

10. *N.G.L. Hammond, The Macedonian State (Oxford University Press, 1989)

11. *N.G.L. Hammond, Miracle that was Macedonia (St. Martin's Press, 1991)

12. Waldemar Heckel, The Conquests of Alexander the Great (Cambridge University Press, 2008)

13. John O'Brien, Alexander the Great: The Invisible Enemy (Routledge, 1992)

14. Ian Worthington, Philip II of Macedonia (Yale, 2008)

I. The Hellenistic World:

1. *W.W. Tarn and G.T. Griffith, Hellenistic Civilization (Meridian, 1965)

2. M. Cary, A History of the Greek World: 323-146 B.C. (Methuen, 1963)

3. *M. Grant, From Alexander to Cleopatra (Scribner's, 1982)

4. Peter Green, Alexander to Actium (University of California, 1990)

5. *A. Momigliano, Alien Wisdom (Cambridge, 1975)

J. Warfare:

1. Pierre Ducrey, Warfare in Ancient Greece (Schocken, 1986)

2. Victor Hanson, Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience (Routledge, 1991)

3. *Victor Hanson, Warfare & Agriculture in Classical Greece (University of California Press, 1998)

4. *Victor Davis Hanson, Wars of the Ancient Greeks (Smithsonian Books, 2004)

5. *Victor Hanson, The Western Way of War (Oxford, 1990)

6. *John Rich et al., War and Society in the Greek World (Routledge, 1993)

7. *A. M. Snodgress, Arms and Armor of the Greeks (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999)

8.  *Lawrence Tritle, From Melos to Mylae: War and Survival (Routledge, 2000)

9. Leslie Worley, Hippeis: The Cavalry of Classical Greece (Westview Press, 1994)

K. Social, Scientific and Economic History of Greece:

1. *M.M. Austin, Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece (University of California, 1977)

2. *Sue Blundell, Women in Ancient Greece (Harvard University Press, 1995)

3. Alison Burford, Land and Labor in the Greek World (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993)

4. M. I. Finley, Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece (Viking, 1981)

5. *Robert Garland, Greek Way of Life (Cornell, 1990)

6. *Robert Garland, Greek Way of Death (Cornell University Press, 1985)

7. *Robert Garland, Slavery in Ancient Greece (Cornell University Press, 1988)

8.  *Jonathan Hall, Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity (Cambridge University Press, 1997)

9. Victor Hanson, The Other Greeks (Free Press, 1995)

10. W. K. Lacey, The Family in Classical Greece (Cornell, 1968)

11.  *Sian Lewis, News and Society in the Greek Polis (University of North Carolina Press, 1996)

12. Jo Marchant, Decoding the Heavens (Da Capo Press, 2009)

13. Nicholas Nicastro, Circumference: Eratosthenes and the Ancient Quest to Measure the Globe (St. Martins, 2008)

14. Cynthia Patterson, The Family in Greek History (Harvard University Press, 1998)

15. *Sarah Pomeroy, Families in Classical and Hellenistic Greece (Oxford, 1997)

16. *Sarah Pomeroy, Spartan Women (Oxford University Press, 2002)

17. Bruce Thornton, Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization (Encounter Books, 2000)