How to Review Scholarly Books

Reading, Writing, Relishing

Steven E. Gump

$180

Hardback

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English

Princeton University Press
17 June 2025

Writing & editing guides; Reference works; Higher & further education, tertiary education

Series: Skills for Scholars

A guide to the art of reviewing scholarly books, with strategies and suggestions

Scholarly book reviews should be enjoyable-both to write and to read. All too often, though, they offer little more than chapter-by-chapter summaries. In this comprehensive handbook, Steven Gump offers an encouraging guide to crafting valuable reviews of scholarly books in the humanities and social sciences. Readers learn how to write engaging, respectful reviews that make intellectual contributions of their own. With extensive experience in both writing and editing scholarly book reviews, Gump walks prospective reviewers through the process of selecting a book to review, identifying a venue to publish the review, reading and annotating the book, and writing a review that is tailored to the audience of the target venue, with the possibility of dissemination to popular outlets beyond the core field.

Alongside this practical advice, Gump offers a generous philosophy of scholarly book reviewing that considers the roles of book reviews and the responsibilities of book reviewers within the broader scholarly ecosystem. Readers learn how to uplift the voices and contributions of authors, how to prepare the next generation of reviewers (including undergraduates or graduate students), and how to elevate an unjustly underestimated genre. Ultimately, this essential guide brings into renewed focus the joys of reading scholarly works, engaging with intellectual ideas, and writing incisively.

By: Steven E. Gump
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 127mm,
ISBN: 9780691270487
ISBN 10: 0691270481
Series: Skills for Scholars
Pages: 268
Publication Date: 17 June 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Further / Higher Education , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Steven E. Gump is associate director of the Office of Citizen Scholar Development at the University of Virginia. As book review editor for the Journal of Scholarly Publishing since 2024, he solicits, develops, and publishes engaging reviews.

Reviews for How to Review Scholarly Books: Reading, Writing, Relishing

""Gump’s pleasantly and accessibly written guide, primarily aimed at young scholars aspiring to this honourable and rewarding but underappreciated variety of academic output, is a passionate plea for the genre. . . . His book is also a goldmine of suggestions about practical matters.""---Charles Forceville, Leonardo