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Book reviews can be elusive, particularly since there's often a substantial
time lag between the publication of a book and the appearance of a serious review,
and another lag between the appearance of the review and the indexing of that
review in a reference work. Here are some places to start:
Keeping up with the literature: scholarly reviews of recent work in history
Both American Historical Review and Isis publish hundreds of book reviews every year. If you
are looking for a review of a recent book from an academic press, you may find it quickest to search
them directly. There are also several online review services, including H-NET, Bryn Mawr Classical Review,
and The Medieval Review. It's worth signing up for whichever of these covers your area of interest.
And, in a category by itself: The History
Journals Guide Online Review Index provides links to online reviews from a wide variety of sources.
The reviews are listed alphabetically by the author of the work reviewed and by
type, e.g. CD-ROM, exhibition catalogs, diaries (this is more useful than you would think), and the review
list can also be searched.
Good starting places: comprehensive book review sources
- Academic Search Premier (Ebsco) (1965- )
- Search for your book title in the
"title" field and put "book reviews" in the "subject"
field.
- Book Review Index Plus (Infotrac) (1965- )
- Comprehensive index of book reviews, easily searchable by titles of works or by authors reviewed. Includes reviews from H-Net, academic and general periodicals.
-
Omnifile
(Wilson)(1982- )
- Besides providing searchable full text for many periodicals from 1994 onwards, Omnifile has two
subsets of particular use in locating book reviews: Book Review Digest and Reader's Guide Retrospective.
They require different search strategies:
Book Review Digest Plus (1905+) gives you both citations
to book reviews and excerpts from key reviews in American and English periodicals. (Many of
the history titles indexed in Book Review Digest are available full-text from JSTOR, the
History Cooperative, or Project Muse.) Enter your book title in the "books reviewed" field and then select "book
review" as your "article type."
Note that Book Review Digest is a companion to the much longer-standing print version,
Book Review Index (1965-), which offers citations only, not excerpts, but sometimes
catches reviews not covered in Book Review Digest. In print only at General
& Humanities Reference Room call number Z1035.A1 B6 (opposite the main reference
desk).
Reader's Guide Retrospective (1890-1982) is an online version of the printed Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, which
indexes U.S. general-interest magazines. Use "review" as a keyword, together with keywords from the title or
subject of interest.
- Proquest Direct
Periodical Research Library (1986- )
- Use the advanced search and type your book title in quotation marks and then select
article type: review. For example: "possessing nature" limited to article type review
would yield reviews of Paula Findlen's book, Possessing Nature. If you're not
getting any results, try a different date range.
More specialized book review indexes
- America: History & Life (1964- ; reviews included 1974- )
- For reviews of American
history books only. Use the advanced search and click on the icon next to the
"document type" field, which allows you to add "book review"
to your search.; Note: Historical Abstracts, the companion database to America:
History & Life covering the rest of the world, does not include individual
book reviews, only lengthier review essays (which you can isolate by including
the word "review" in the "subject" field).
- The print version of this online database is in the History Graduate Study
Room (SH) in Firestone: Z1236.A482
- Francis (1984- )
- This electronic version of the Bulletin signaletique offers
especially good coverage of European periodicals in the humanities and social
sciences. For best results, add the phrase "and c. r." (for compte
rendu, or "review") to your keyword author or title search. For example:
nehamas and c. r.
- History
of Science, Technology, and Medicine (1975- )
- Do a keyword search
for your title or author. Then, from the list display, click on "limit" and select "form/genre."
Select "book review" and click on "apply limit." This database replaces the printed ISIS Cumulative Bibliography, which
may be found in the History of Science Graduate Study Room (SSS) in Firestone: Z7405.H6 I22
- IBR: Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen (1971- )
- International index to book reviews in the humanities and social sciences. Continuation, after a
long hiatus, of the Bibliographie der Rezensionen. Structure varies
slightly, but current volumes appear in 5 sections: A) authors reviewed, B)
reviewers, C) titles, D) subjects, and E) periodicals covered. Instructions
in English at the front of each volume. In print at Firestone call number Z5051
- Iter: Gateway to the Middle
Ages and Renaissance (1943- , bulk 1960s- )
- Use
the advanced search and pull the "type" menu down to "review."
Note: the most comprehensive index in the field of medieval studies, the International
Medieval Bibliography (IMB), does not include book reviews.
- Web of Science (ISI) (1945- )
- This database represents a compilation of the
old Arts and Humanities, Social Science, and Science Citation Indexes. It's not
easy to use (it's really designed to help you track citations -- i.e., to see
who is citing whom), but if you venture in, you may find reviews not listed
elsewhere. Click on "full search," then on "general
search." Enter your title in the "topic" field and click on "book
review" under "set search limits."
Reviews of older books (pre-1965)
20th century
- Reader's Guide Retrospective (1890-1982) and Book Review Digest Plus (1905+)
- See Omnifile above.
- Social Science and Humanities Index Retrospective (1907-1984)
- Replaces several print indices listed in previous versions of this guide, e.g.
International index to periodicals. As with other Wilson databases, use document type = book review plus keywords to search.
- Bibliographie der Rezensionen (1900-1943)
- Indexes reviews in German (1900-1943)
and foreign (1911-1943) periodicals. Continued, after 1971, by the IBR (above).
In print only at Firestone call number 04048.178 (C-floor).
- Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals (CRIS) (1886-1974)
- Provides very brief citations to scholarly book reviews in history, political
science, and sociology. Includes two indexes, one for names of reviewed authors,
one for book titles. In print only in the Firestone General & Humanities
Reference Room at call number Z1035 A1 C65 (opposite the main reference desk). It has a companion, Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals, which is also
useful for some topics.
- Gray Cowan Boyce. Literature of Medieval History (1930-1975)
- A useful bibliography which also
includes many book reviews under the name of the author reviewed. In print only
in the Firestone General & Humanities Reference Room AND the history grad study room at call number Z6203xP19
(mezzanine level).
- John W. Brewster, Index to book reviews in historical periodicals (1972-1977)
- Alphabetical by author; title index. Cites about 100 journals. Firestone Library (F)
Z6205 .B73
19th century
- American Periodicals Series Online (1740-1900)
- Searchable full text of periodicals printed in America. Try using the word "review" as part of
your search
- Periodical Index Online (1770- , bulk 1800s- )
- Good coverage of American, British, and some continental European periodicals for the 19th and 20th centuries. Search for the title of the work in "Article Title Keyword" and check the "book reviews only" option under "Scope". Formerly known as PCI, Periodical Contents Index
- strategy.
- Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1906)
- Includes American and English
periodicals only. Contains reviews but the word "review" is not always
in the citation, so it's best to do a simple keyword search for your author
and/or title. Also called "19th Century Masterfile."
Miscellaneous
- Times Literary Supplement
Centenary Archive (1902-1990)
- Use "article search". Note that from 1983 onwards, TLS is available full-text in Omnifile.
Current issues are shelved in PR.
- New York Times
- Current issues are in PR. For earlier issues, use New York Times (Proquest Historical Newspapers)
(1851-2001). First choose the
"advanced search" tabs at the top. Then enter your author or title in the "article text" box and
pull the "article type" menu down to "review." Note that
you can limit your search by date if you're getting too many hits.
- JSTOR
- Since JSTOR includes only
a sampling of history journals, it's not a particularly good way to conduct
a comprehensive literature search on a historical topic. However, it can be
an excellent source of serious book reviews by important scholars. Notice that
you can limit your search to reviews by checking the box toward the bottom of
the main search page
- Project Muse
- Like JSTOR, Project Muse includes only a handful
of history journals. Nevertheless, like JSTOR, Project MUSE provides full-text
and allows you to limit your search to book reviews (from the search screen,
use the pull-down menu to enter "author reviewed" or "title reviewed").
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