your essay should be about the book, not about the events in the past that the book discusses

Learning Goal: I’m working on a writing multi-part question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

link to the book is : https://b-ok.cc/book/991935/e5c01f

MIND: your essay should be about the book, not about the events in the past that the book discusses. It may be a good idea to have a look at the review section of an academic journal (say, The American Historical Review) and read two or three reviews, just to see how reviews usually look.

A full bibliographic description (author’s name, book title, place and date of the publication, publisher, number of pages) should precede your review.

As a rule, it is good to begin by briefly introducing the author (in most cases, you can find enough information in the Internet – or just in the book itself) and by giving a brief general description of the book, including its topic, chronological and geographical coverage, and organization (main parts/chapters). Your main task is to summarize, in a limited number of points, the author’s interpretation of the problems/events that he/she discusses. Critical remarks (e.g., how consistent and convincing the author’s argument is, how well it is supported by the evidence he/she gives, and so on) are most welcome, as well as your own thoughts inspired by the book, no matter whether you agree with the author and further develop his argument, or disagree with him/her and offer an alternative interpretation.