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 author, title, place published, publisher and date of publication. Something like this:

AuthorLastname, Firstname. 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 thes 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. Book Reviews must be physically handed-in (not e-mailed) at the beginning of class on the dates indicated above. 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.

I. The Republic

A. The Early Republic-70 B.C.:

1. The Period before the Lex Hortensia:

a) Graeme Barker and Tom Rasmussen, The Etruscans (Blackwell, 1998)

b) T.J. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome (Routledge, 1995)

c) Jean-Michel David, Roman Conquest of Italy (Blackwell, 1994)

d) *Stephen Dyson, The Creation of the Roman Frontier (Princeton, 1985)

e) E. Gjerstad, Legends and Facts of Early Roman History (Lund: Gleerup, 1961)

f) Alexandre Grandazzi, The Foundation of Rome (Cornell University Press, 1997)

2. From the Lex Hortensia to 70 B.C.:

a) Alan Astin, Cato the Censor (Oxford, 1978)

b) E. Badian, Foreign Clientelae (Oxford, 1958)

c) *E. Badian, Publicans and Sinners (Cornell, 1972)

d) Gregory Daly, Cannae ((Routledge, 2002)

e ) Arthur Eckstein, Senate and General (University of California Press, 1987)

f) M. Gelzer, The Roman Nobility (Blackwell, 1969)

g) Adrian Goldsworthy, Cannae (Cassell, 2001)

h) *Adrian Goldsworthy, The Punic Wars (Cassell, 2000)

h) Erich Gruen, Culture and National Identity in Republican Rome (Cambridge, 1968)

i) *Erich Gruen, Studies in Greek Culture & Roman Policy (University of Calif., 1996)

k)*William Harris, War & Imperialism in Republican Rome (Oxford, 1985)

l) Erik Hildinger, Swords Against the Senate (Da Capo, 2002)

m) Dexter Hoyos, Hannibal's Dynasty (New York, 2003)

n) *Lazenby, J. F. The First Punic War. (UCL Press, 1996)

o) *Lazenby, J. F. Hannibal's War. (University of Oklahoma Press, 1998)

p) John Peddie, Hannibal's War (Sutton, 1997)

q) A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Foreign Policy in the East (Univ. of Oklahoma, 1984)

r) Barry Strauss, The Spartacus War (Simon and Schuster, 2009)

B. The Late Republic: 70 B.C. - A.D. 14:

1. *E. Badian, Roman Imperialism in the Late Republic (Cornell University Press, 1968)

2. Mary Beard, Rome in the Late Republic (Cornell University Press, 1985)

3. Thomas Carney, Biography of C. Marius (Proc. African Classical Association, 1981)

4. M.L. Clarke, The Noblest Roman-Marcus Brutus (Thames & Hudson, 1981)

5. Werner Eck, Augustus (Blackwell, 2007)

6. Anthony Everitt, Cicero (Random House, 2002)

7. *Manfred Fuhrman, Cicero and the Roman Republic (Blackwell, 1990)

8. Matthias Gelzer, Caesar (Harvard, 1968)

9. Christian Habicht, Cicero the Politician (Johns Hopkins, 1990)

10. Richard Holland, Augustus: Godfather of Europe (Sutton Publishing, 2004)

11. Tom Holland, Rubicon (Doubleday, 2003)

12. Ramon Jimenez, Caesar Against Rome (Praeger, 2000)

13. *Arthur Keaveney, The Army in the Roman Revolution (Routledge, 2007)

14. Arthur Keaveney, Rome and the Unification of Italy (Croom Helm, 1987)

15. *Arthur Keaveney, Sulla (Croom Helm. 1986)

16. A.J. Langguth, A Noise of War (Simon and Schuster, 1994)

17. *John Leach, Pompey the Great (Croom Helm, 1986)

18. Christian Meier, Caesar (Basic Books, 1982)

19. Fergus Millar, The Crowd in Rome in the Late Republic (University of Michigan, 1998)

20. Robin Seager, Pompey (California, 1979)

21. Pat Southern, Cleopatra (Tempus, 1999)

22. Pat Southern, Julius Caesar (Tempus, 2001)

23. Pat Southern, Pompey the Great (Tempus, 2002)

24. Pat Southern, Mark Antony (Tempus, 1998)

25. Philip Spann, Quintus Sertorius (U. Arkansas, 1987)

26. *R. Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford, 1960)

27. W. Jeffrey Tatum, The Patrician Tribune: Publius Clodius Pulcher (Univ. of N. Carolina, 1999)

28. *L.R. Taylor, Party Politics in the Age of Caesar (Berkeley, 1964)

29. Allen Ward, Marcus Crassus and the Late Roman Republic (Missouri, 1977)

30. *Neal Wood, Cicero's Social and Political Thought (California, 1988)

II. The Empire

A. General

1. *Richard Alston, Aspects of Roman History (Routledge, 1998)

2. Burns, Thomas. Rome and the Barbarians (Johns Hopkins, 2003)

2. *Goodman, Martin. The Roman World (Routledge, 1997)

3. Susan Mattern, Rome and the Enemy (University of California Press, 1999)

4. John Wacher, The Roman Empire (Barnes and Noble, 1987)

5. *Peter Wells, The Barbarians Speak (Princeton University Press, 1999)

B. The Julio-Claudian Age:

1. Anthony Barrett, Agrippina (Yale University Press, 1996)

2. Anthony Barrett, Caligula (Yale, 1989)

3. Anthony Barrett, Livia (Yale University Press, 2002)

4. Elaine Fantham, Julia Augusti (Routledge, 2006)

5. Arthur Ferrill, Caligula (Thames & Hudson, 1991)

6. *Peter Garnsey & Richard Saller, The Roman Empire (University of California, 1987)

7. Miriam Griffin, Nero (Yale, 1985)

8. Richard Holland, Nero (Sutton, 2000)

9. Barbara Levick, Claudius (Yale, 1990)

10. *Barbara Levick, Tiberius the Politician (Croom Helm, 1976)

11. Ramsay MacMullen, Romanization in the Time of Augustus (Yale University Press, 2000)

12. *F. Millar & E. Segal, eds., Caesar Augustus: Seven Aspects (Oxford, 1985)

13. Pat Southern, Augustus (Routledge, 1998)

14. *R. Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford, 1960)

15. Wellesley, Kenneth. The Year of the Four Emperors (Routledge, 2000)

C. The Later Empire:

1. Julian Bennett, Trajan (Indiana University, 1997)

2. Anthony Birley, Hadrian (Routledge, 1997)

3. Anthony Birley, Marcus Aurelius (Yale, 1987)

4. Anthony Birley, Septimius Severus (Doubleday, 1972)

5. Anthony Everitt, Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome (Randon House, 2009)

6. *E. Gibbon,The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Viking Portable)

7. John Grainger, Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis of AD 96-99 (Routledge, 2004)

8. Michael Grant, The Antonines (Routledge, 1994)

9. Michael Grant, The Severans (Routledge, 1996)

10. Barbara Levick, Vespasian (Routledge, 1999)

11. Elizabeth Speller, Following Hadrian (Oxford, 2003)

12. Pat Southern, Domitian (Routledge, 1997)

13. John White, Restorer of the World: The Roman Emperor Aurelian (Spellmount, 2005)

III. Roman Military, Provinces and Frontiers

A. Military History and Organization

1. Adrian Goldsworthy, Roman Warfare  (Cassell, 2000)

2. Adrian Goldsworthy, The Roman Army at War (Oxford University Press, 1998)

3. Yann Le Bohec, The Imperial Roman Army (Hippocrene Books, 1994)

4. John Peddie, The Roman War Machine (Alan Sutton, 1995)

5. Antonio Santosuosso, Storming the Heavens (Westview, 2001)

6. Graham Webster, The Roman Imperial Army (University of Oklahoma Press, 1998)

B. Provinces

1. Leonard Curchin, Roman Spain (Barnes and Noble, 1991)

2. S. Keay, Roman Spain (Unversity of California 1988)

3. Susan Raven, Rome in Africa (Routledge, 1984)

C. Frontiers

1. *Steven Drummond and Lunn Nelson, Western Frontiers of Immperial Rome (Sharpe, 1994)

2. Hugh Elron, Frontiers of the Roman Empire (Indiana University, 1996)

3. *Benjamin Isaac, The Limits of Empire (Oxford, 1990)

4. Fergus Millar, Roman Empire and its Neighbors (Holmes and Meier, 1981)

5. C. R. Whittaker, Frontiers of the Roman Empire (Johns Hopkins, 1994)

6. Derek Williams, The Reach of Rome (St. Martin's, 1996)

IV. Roman Social and Intellectual Life:

A. The Rise of Christianity:

1. Stephen Benko, Pagan Rome and the Early Christians (Indiana, 1984)

2. G. W. Bowersock, Martyrdom and Rome (Cambridge University Press, 1995)

3. *Pierre Chuvin, A Chronicle of the Last Pagans (Harvard University Press, 1990)

4. Jonathan Kirsch, God Against the Gods (Penguin Group, 2004)

4. R. MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire (Yale, 1984)

5. Marta Sordi, The Christians and the Roman Empire (Oklahoma, 1987)

6. Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity (Princeton University Press, 1996)

7. R. Wilken, The Christians as the Romans Saw Them (Yale, 1984)

B. The Family, Daily Life, and Social Relations:

1. *Gregory Aldrete, Daily Life in the Roman City (University of Oklahoma Press, 2008)

2. *Geza Alfoldi, Social History of Rome (Johns Hopkins, 1988)

3. Auguet, Roland. Cruelty and Civilization (Routledge, 1994)

4. Baker, Alan. The Gladiator (St. Martins, 2000)

5. J.P.V.D. Balsdon, Roman Women (Barnes and Noble, 1983)

6. *Carlin Barton, Sorrows of the Ancient Romans (Princeton University Press, 1993)

7. Richard Bauman, Women and Politics in Ancient Rome (Routledge, 1992)

8. Richard Beacham, Spectacle Entertainments of Early Imperial Rome (Yale University Press, 1999)

9. Stanley Bonner, Education in Ancient Rome (California, 1977)

10. *Keith Bradley, Discovering the Roman Family (Oxford, 1991)

11. Keith Bradley, Slavery and Rebellion in the Roman World (Indiana Univ.Press, 1989)

12. *K. R. Bradley, Slaves and Masters in the Roman Empire (Oxford, 1987)

13. *K. R. Bradley, Slavery and Society at Rome (Cambridge University Press, 1994)

14. Lionel Casson, Everyday Life in Ancient Rome (Johns Hopkins, 1998)

15. John Clarke, Roman Sex (Henry N. Abrams, 2003)

16. Andrew Dalby, Empire of Pleasures (Routledge, 2000)

17. Suzanne Dixon, The Roman Family (Johns Hopkins, 1992)

18. Florence DuPont, Daily Life in Ancient Rome (Blackwell, 1989)

19. Garrett Fagan, Bathing in Public in the Roman World (University of Michigan Press, 1999)

20. *Alison Futrell, Blood in the Arena (University of Texas Press, 1997)

21. Donald Kyle, Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome (Routledge, 1998)

22. Fik Meijer, Gladiators (St. Martin's, 2004)

23. *Wilfried Nippel, Public Order in Ancient Rome (Cambridge University Press, 1995)

24. Paul Plass, The Game of Death in Ancient Rome (Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1995)

25. Sarah Pomeroy, The Murder of Regilla: A Case of Domestic Violence in Antiquity (Harvard, 2007)

26. *D. S. Potter, Life, Death and Entertainment in the Roman Empire (Univ. of Michigan, 1999)

27. Beryl Rawson, The Family in Ancient Rome (Cornell, 1986)

28. O. F. Robinson, Ancient Rome: City Planning & Administration (Routledge, 1994)

29. *Aline Rousselle, Porneia (Blackwell, 1988)

30. Richard Saller, Patriarchy, Property and death in the Roman Family (Cambridge, 1994)

31. Thomas Weideman, Emperors and Gladiators (Routledge, 1992)

V. Late Antiquity:

A. Timothy Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius (Harvard, 1981)

B. G. W. Bowersock, Julian the Apostate (Harvard, 1978)

C. Peter Brown, The Making of Late Antiquty (Harvard, 1978)

D. Thomas Burns, Barbarians within the Gates of Rome (Indiana University Press, 1994)

E. Averil Cameron, The Later Roman Empire (Harvard University Press, 1993)

F. *Averil Cameron, Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity (Routledge, 1993)

G. Maria Dzielska, Hypatia of Alexandria (Harvard, 1995)

H. Michael Grant, Constantine the Great (Scribner's Sons, 1993)

I. Michael Grant, From Rome to Byzantium (Routledge, 1998)

J. Jeremy Knight, The End of Antiquity (Tempus, 1999)

K. D. G. Kousoulas, The Life and Times of Constantine the Great (Rutledge Books, 1997)

Michael Kulikowski, Rome's Gothic Wars (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

L. Jennifer Laing, Warriors of the Dark Ages (Sutton, 2000)

Adrian Murdoch, The Last Pagan: Julian the Apostate and the Death of the Ancient World (Sutton, 2003)

Adrian Murdoch, The Last Roman: Romulus Augustulus and the Decline of the West (Sutton, 2006)

Aldo Schiavone, The End of the Past: Ancient Rome and the Modern World ((Harvard University Press, 2000)

M. Derek Williams, Romans and Barbarians (St. Martin's Press, 1999)

N. Stephen Williams, Diocletian (Methuen, 1985)

O. Stephen Williams and Gerard Friell, The Rome the Did Not Fall (Routledge, 1999)

P. Stephen Williams and Gerard Friell, Theodosius (Yale University Press, 1994)

VI. The Fall of the Roman Empire:

A. Arthur Ferrill, Fall of the Roman Empire (Thames & Hudson, 1986)

B. Ramsay MacMullen, Corruption and the Decline of Rome (Yale, 1988)

C. Aldo Schiavone, The End of the Past (Harvard University Press, 2000)

D. Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization (Oxford, 2005)