ASAT is a regional chapter of the American Studies Association

Dr. Hector Weir-
Book Review Editor

If you are a member of ASAT and would like to have JASAT review a book you published within the past year, please request that your publisher send a copy to our book review editor. To inquire about publishing a book review in JASAT, please email the book review editor at:  WeirH@wcjc.edu.

We will notify you about any available books for review, or interest in publishing a review of a book of your choice. All book reviewers published in JASAT must be members of the American Studies Association of Texas.

General guidelines

Length: Approximately 300-500 words

Format:  Electronic, either as an attachment or pasted into the body of an email is preferred; send it to the book review editor at: WeirH@wcjc.edu

Due date: April 1st—Early submissions appreciated!

1. Format for bibliographic heading:

DeKoven, Marianne. Utopia Limited: The Sixties and the Emergence of the Postmodern. Durham: Duke UP, 2004. 363 pages. $23.95 paper. ISBN 9-8233-3269-8.

2. Please keep to the word limit or expect revision to your review.

3. Complete the review by the assigned deadline.

4. Include a brief summary of the scope, purpose, and content of the book. Also include an evaluation of the author’s success in achieving the purpose, his/her use of available resources, and the organization and presentation of the material. Use inclusive language. Reviews should generally be one part introduction to the book, the author, the topic, and the method; one part analysis and evaluation; and one part discussion of the book’s contribution to American Studies. See the example, below.

5. Evaluation may, of course, be favorable or unfavorable; but the review should in all cases avoid personalities and should express criticism with civility.

6. Please stick to discussion of the book and avoid irrelevant digressions.

7. Don’t list typographical or other minor errors unless they significantly impair the value of the book.

8. Include page numbers in parentheses for quotations, formatted like this: (p. 232).

9. At the end of the review, type your name flush left in all caps. Directly beneath your name, type your institutional affiliation flush left. (If you have no institutional affiliation, type “Independent scholar” and location.)

BOOK REVIEW EXAMPLE