Book Review Guidelines
An analytical book review is not simply a summary of the book’s contents. It should give the reader a critical, informative and interesting discussion of the work. It comments on and evaluates the book on certain criteria, including the following:
- the main ideas and major objectives of the book and how effectively these are accomplished;
- what, if anything, does it contribute to the literature and how well does it do this;
- the readership for which it is written;
- constructive comments on the book’s strengths and weaknesses;
- the soundness of the theoretical assumptions, the methodology, if any, and the sources used;
- your own reactions and opinions on the book.
Length: 1000-3000 words.
Your review should include:
- Author(s)/Editor(s) first and last name(s) – please indicate if it is an edited book
- title
- year of publication
- publisher
- your first and last name
- institution affiliation
- a brief biographical note
To review a book listed below, please send an email with the citation to njmackie@ucalgary.ca
Bickford, Andrew. Fallen Elites: The Military Other in Post-Unification Germany. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2011.
Slantchev, Branislav L. Military Threats: The Costs of Coercion and the Price of Peace. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Gillespie, Robert M. Black Ops Vietnam: The Operational History of MACVSOG. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2011.
Jampoler, Andrew, C. A. Horrible Shipwreck. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2010.
Klein, Janet. The Margins of Empire: Kurdish Militias in the Ottoman Tribal Zone. Stanford, California; Stanford University Press, 2011.
Ledwidge, Frank. Losing Small Wars: British Military Failure in iraq and Afghanistan. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2011.
Pekkanen, Saadia M. and Kallender-Umezu, Paul. In Defense of Japan: From the Market to the Military in Space Policy. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2010.
Morriss, Roger. The Foundations of British maritime Ascendancy: Resources, Logisitics and the State, 1755-1815. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Crosswell, D. K. R. Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2010.
Moltz, James Clay. The Politics of Space Security. 2nd ed. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2011.
Hoe, Alan. The Quiet Professional: Major Richard J. Meadows of the U.S. Army Special Forces. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2011.
Older Books to Review
Micah Zenko, Between Threats and War: US Discrete Military Operations in the Post-Cold War World
David M. Hird, The Grey Wolves of Eriboll
Dima Adamsky, The Culture of Military Innovation: The Impact of Cultural Factors on the Revolution in Military Affairs in Russia, the US and Israel
Narcis Serra, The Military Transition: Democratic Reform of the Armed Forces
Keith Shimko, The Iraq Wars and America’s Military Revolution
Edith Foster, Thucydides, Pericles, and Periclean Imperialism
Spencer Tucker, ed., US Leadership in Wartime: Clashes, Controversy and Compromise (2 volumes)
Spencer Tucker, ed. A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East (6 volumes)
Scott Fitzsimmons, Fighting the Simba Rebellion: Cultural, Technological, and Strategic Determinants of Military Performance in Asymmetrical Conflicts
David Kilcullen, Counterinsurgency
John Mackinlay, The Insurgent Archipelago
John R. Ballard, From Storm to Freedom: America’s Long War with Iraq
Peter Dennis and Jeffrey Gray, eds. Raise, Train and Sustain: Delivering Land Combat Power
Howard Hensel, ed. The Prism of Just War: Asian and Western Perspectives on the Legitimate Use of Military Force
Youssef Aboul-Enein, Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat
Columba Peoples, Justifying Ballistic Missile Defence: Technology, Security and Culture
Amrita Narlikar, ed., Deadlocks in Multilateral Negotiations: Causes and Solutions
Terriff, Osinga, Farrell, eds., A Transformation Gap? American Innovation and European Military Change
Kornguth, Steinberg, Matthews, eds., Neurocognitive and Physiological Factors During High-Tempo Operations
Ben-Ze’ev, Ginio and Winter, eds. Shadows of War: A Social History of Silence in the Twentieth Century
ISSN: 1488-559x