HIST 291 History of the Holocaust Fall 2018

Instructions for Writing Assignment:

Scholarly Book Review and Revision
The main writing assignment in this class is a scholarly book review. Find a
Holocaust memoir that interests you and that is substantial enough for a serious paper.
Analyze the book—remembering to move well beyond merely a summary or your
reaction to the book—according to the criteria below. Your paper will be graded and
returned to you. Then you must revise the paper and turn it back in for a second grade.
Overall, this writing project counts for 20% of your course grade; each phase of the paper
accounts for half of the project grade.

GOALS:
To write a scholarly book review (as opposed to a summary); to represent and
then analyze written autobiographical reflections in an effective and responsible manner;
to improve written expression, style, and grammar

PROCEDURE:
Pick an autobiography, journal, diary, or memoir about the Holocaust and clear it
with the professor, to make sure that every student in the class has a different work and
that the volume is suitable for academic discussion.
Read the work carefully.
You should then write an analysis of the work. Begin with at least one page of
summary of the book, in which you give a sense of the depth and breadth of the book and
the range of its themes and chronology. Then construct your analysis along any number
of issues such as those below. You need not address all of these analytical angles.

A) The subjects' religious, linguistic, ethnic, or social origins

B) Their political views, or the demands of politics upon their lives
C) Their views on Germans and the Nazi ideology
D) How typical were their experiences?
E) What do we learn about European history during the Shoah from this
work that we might not learn elsewhere (at least, in our readings for the course?)
F) How does this work reinforce or contradict things we've studied?
G) What questions or reactions does this work prompt in you?
H) What role do perpetrators (including collaborators), bystanders, and
other victims play in the book?
I) Give us a sense of the author’s style and include brief quotes that
illustrate the points of your argument and give us a sense of the texture of the book
J) Briefly note whether you recommend this book for undergraduate
students, and why
SPECIFICATIONS:
Your paper should be at least 1250 words (5 standard, double-spaced pages) in
length.
Follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Include a clear introduction and conclusion.
Use a title page. Number all pages after the title page. Include sources consulted as well
as sources quoted in the bibliography.
Do not base your review on other published reviews, either online or in print. You
must carry out an original reading and analysis of the book you choose.
Guard vigilantly against plagiarism. Avoid comma splices and "hanging" or
"unframed" quotes. All papers are due in the professor's office by 5 pm on the due date.

FIRST DUE DATE: Nov. 9, in hard copy, by 5 pm. Your papers will be returned to you
by Nov. 14. This is not a “first draft.” This should be a polished paper. But it will be
imperfect, as all papers (including professors’ books and articles!) invariably are! 

SECOND DUE DATE (for revisions): Nov. 30. If you fail to turn in revisions, the grade
for the second half of the assignment will be a “0.” If you do not undertake substantive
revisions of your paper based on the comments I make, you will receive an “F” for the
second revision.