Your critical book review is an essay evaluating a book on some aspect of economics of conflict with the traditional tools of critical analysis. One might first ask: what is an essay? An essay as defined by Webster’s dictionary is, “a short literary composition of an analytical or interpretive kind, dealing with a subject from a personal point of view.” Let us unpack that definition. An essay is:
a literary composition–creatively-written, well-structured, and in proper style;
an analytical composition–separating a subject into its constituent parts (chunking it as the younger generation says);
an interpretive composition–unveiling what the subject means, what is its significance;
a personal point of view–it is your own informed, well-argued conclusion that makes your exposition a true essay.
One might then ask, in what sense is this essay evaluating a book a Critical Book Review?
*Elements of Critical Evaluation
A critic (kritikos/krinein-to discern) is a person who “forms and expresses judgments of people or things according to certain standards.” (Webster’s New World Dictionary) Ancient Greeks, who spent a lot of time arguing with each other, developed standards in evaluative or epideitic rhetoric that we use still today in critical analysis of spoken or written statements.
These ancients admitted the importance of personal taste and gave place to emotion in their mapping of the soul. But, from Socrates onward, the great philosophers argued that truth is not a matter of liking or feeling but rather understanding the world in its structured essence and explaining it in a reasoned and orderly dialogue. They also held that true happiness comes from the wisdom arrived at in this systematic search for truth.
The search for truth requires observations outside ourselves, looking for the order of nature and the reality in “facts.” Discernment engages the principle of correspondence to empirical evidence. Dreams, fantasies or syllogisms may abound, but to be convincing they must have reference to observed reality. If an author’s argument, though carefully reasoned, has no obvious relevance to the real world, the author may be judged as not having brought us to the truth.
This pursuit of truth is furthered by internal logic of the text. Here the principle of coherence or of non-contradiction becomes ascendant. Discerning (critical) observations try to determine whether an author’s statements uphold a central theme or contradict it. Does the author logically and consistently demonstrate by syllogism and example (enthymeme)? An author who says one thing and then asserts the opposite may be judged as not having arrived at the truth.
Critical analysis looks at the use of language in metaphors, symbols and motifs. How does the author explicate facts and communicate ideas in a meaningful way. Aristotle suggests that metaphors should be natural (not pompous, tragic or ridiculous) but bring “something removed from the common place.” Only at hazard to these criteria are metaphors mixed.
The narrative style of speech or writing Anderton, may be judged by clearness, dignity and propriety, proportionate to the subject at hand. Good writing flows subject to predicate, from opening sentence to end of paragraph and from section to section. The critical analyst asks: does author convincingly carrying a central theme forward toward truth.
This critical review (re videre- to look again) is, thus, a short re-examination of a book from the list below that lays out the author’s manner of developing her theme and assesses the consistency and relevance of the author’s approach. Your critical review of four to six pages (space and a half) should identify the author and her works, summarize the book’s arguments, evaluate the author’s central thesis, and assess her writing techniques. Your essay should include a title page, bibliographic information, including other references you may have consulted and note any special features like appendices or illustrations.
*Selected Bibliography
Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. 2007. The Black Swan.
