For the moment, the recommendation section you hand in next Monday doesn’t have to be that elaborate: just a basic description of the reading level, the intended audience, the topics a reader should be interested in (aside from the obvious), as well as what sort of readers should, depending on their interests and abilities, avoid this book despite some obvious reason to consider it.

For an example of a good review of an academic history work for a non-academic audience, check out Sean Wilentz’s review of the new book on President James Polk. (You can find a lot more links to similar reviews at Cliopatria, where Ralph Luker is constantly updating) Note how Wilentz doesn’t do a straight summary, but starts by putting the book in academic and historical (and political) context, then weaving discussion of the thesis and argument with chunks of summary. In the end, you know whether Wilentz likes the book, but more importantly, you know (though he doesn’t really come right out and say it) who would benefit from the book.  (For an interesting counterpoint, check out Elizabeth Samet’s negative review of a WWI military history, in which she very clearly lays out the weaknesses of the book, but does so in a balanced way that includes the strengths so that someone interested in the topic might still be convinced to read it anyway.)

Also, read the first chapter (Chapter 15, “Maritime Expansion in the Atlantic World, 1400-1600″) before class on Wednesday.

The high score in the class was 44 out of a possible 48, but I used the second-highest score, 42.5, to preserve a reasonable distribution. The median score was a B again, and there were no D-level grades. Here’s how the grade scale worked out:

About 1/6 of the class got both extra credit questions correct; about half got one.

The Montana Repertory Theater presents Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockinbird at 7:00 pm on Monday, March 2nd at Memorial Auditorium.

Tickets are on-sale now in the Overman Student Center Ticket Office or by calling 620-235-4796.

$12.00 – General Public

$8.00 – PSU Faculty/Staff, Senior Citizens (65 & over), Children (17 & under)

FREE – PSU Students with Current ID

For more information, please contact the PSU Performing Arts & Lecture Series at 620-235-4795.

Date: Tuesday, February 17
Time: 3:30 to 4:30 pm
Place: 109 Grubbs Hall

Speaker: Stephen Harmon, Department of History

Title: “What is Political Islam?”

Abstract: My talk will give a definition of political Islam (also called Islamism) and attempt to describe its major tenets. I shall argue that political Islam, far from being the menacing monolith often invoked in superficial analyses, is broken into various strains and numerous individual groups and movements. I shall describe three major strains of political Islam, including Shi’a political Islam and two strains of Sunni political Islam, reformist and radical. I shall focus on the major Sunni groups and movements, both reformist and radical and attempt to assess the threat level posed by them to the US and to US interests.

Though a lot of people did choose the Holocaust and genocide, I was not terribly happy with the overall results: there was almost nobody who connected either term to the history of nationalism or racial thinking which we talked about fairly extensively; and the textbook seems to have confused some people on the distinction between genocide — the attempt to eliminate a particular people, of which the Holocaust is one example (and often the only one people cited) — and other atrocities.