History Civilization the West and The Rest Book Report

Book Critique – LIST OF BOOKS HERE >>>>>>> This assignment is a critique of a book chosen from the list provided to students. It requires you to read the book, and then to find two or more reviews of the book by scholars. Follow this format EXACTLY:Work:Cite the book here.Example:Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (New York: Penguin, 2006), 99–100.Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, eds., The Founders’ Constitution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987),accessed February 28, 2010, Reviews:Cite the scholarly reviews you found here.Example:Gueorgi Kossinets and Duncan J. Watts, “Origins of Homophily in an Evolving Social Network,” American Journal of Sociology 115 (2009): 411, accessed February 28, 2010, doi:10.1086/599247.Problems:Explain the main ideas of the book here. At least a paragraph. Example:“The main idea of the book was about how societies fail, and do so for five main reasons.Those five main reasons are: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors,friendly trade partners, and lastly the society’s responses to its environmental problems.The very last of the reasons was further discussed in detail on three different subjects thatinclude: the two different approaches to managing environmental problems (top-down/bottom-up), whether the responses to the environmental problem are successful ora failure because of three factors (economics, industry attitudes, and society’s attitudes),and why a society or group of people makes disastrous decisions (failure to anticipate aproblem, failure to perceive it once it has arisen, failure to attempt to solve it after it hasbeen perceived, and failure to succeed in attempts to solve it).”Sources:Discuss the sources the book uses here. At least a paragraph. Example:“The sources that were used by the author were books written by other authors, scientificjournals, personal experience, and personal accounts from individuals through interviews.Jared Diamond referenced to numerous other authors and their books like Montana: AnUncommon Land by K. Ross Toole in chapter one when discussing the plight of Montanaor Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chipas and Yucatan by John Stephens inchapter five that discusses the Maya civilization. He used scientific journals like theChemosphere used in the prologue or the Journal of New World Archaeology in chaptertwo. He uses his personal experiences early on the book in chapter one when talkingabout Montana, which he visits quite often and interviews people who live there that areamong his friends that attribute to the personal stories found in that chapter.”Method:Explain the approach the book takes in discussing and defining the Problems. For example, does the author use other fields of knowledge (like archaeology) or techniques of historiography (like oral interviews)? At least a paragraph. Example:“The book takes a logical and straight forward approach in discussing and defining theproblems examined within the book by using specialized fields of study. On numerousoccasions throughout the book, he uses archaeology, palynology, and dendroclimatologyas direct evidence of all of the five reasons why societies fail. From archaeological sitesfrom the numerous societies discussed in the book there has been evidence that showed ifthat particular society was active in trade commerce, had hostile neighbors, and the sizeof a particular civilization. Dendroclimatology and palynology were used mainly for thefirst two reasons for collapse, environmental damage and climate change. Palynologywas used by taking samples from a specific place in where the pollen of particular specieswas calculated and recorded and showed if trees were the vast majority of fauna or ifgrasses and small plants were. This has been scientific evidence that supported whether aregion was deforested by its population or not because of wood used in buildingstructures or creating coal for heating or cooking purposes. When usingdendroclimatology, it was determined approximately when there was a dry or wet seasonby the width and number of tree rings. This offered archaeologists information aboutpersisting droughts or seasons of more than adequate rainfall that promoted growth ofplants. “Major Theses:Select at least four quotes from the book. These should be quotes you think express the main ideas presented by the author. You will need to explain how and why in your own words. After each quote be sure to put the page numbers in parentheses. DO NOT FOOTNOTE THE QUOTES! After each quote you will explain, in your own words, how the quote relates to the main ideas you identified in the Problems, Sources, and Methods section and why the quote is a Major Thesis of the book. At least four paragraphs.