Assignment #5

Review of Anthony Giddens’s The Consequences of Modernity

Your review should be written in a form similar to what you would find in the New York Times Book Review, the New York Review of Books, or in magazines like Harper’s or Atlantic Monthly. They should be designed to provide a service to readers who are not familiar with the work by giving a brief introduction to the general focus of the book, followed by a more in-depth analysis of particular themes or arguments that you consider central to the book. In selecting and highlighting these themes, you should state their importance and relevance, and give reasons and evidence for why you agree or disagree with the author.

Your analysis should be “critical” in the sense that it critically engages with the message of the author. As a good critic, you should recognize that the author is intelligent and that you have less knowledge of the subject that they do, but that you are certainly entitled to well-reasoned and respectful disagreement. The work of a good critic is neither simply random fault-finding, nor is it unqualified praise. All good criticism is a product and evidence of careful thought about the work at hand. Your job is not to give a “thumbs-up” or “thumbs-down” assessment. Unlike when Roger Ebert tells us whether or not he thinks we should go and see a movie, the assumption here is that the book should be read. Your job is to engage with what the author has written and say why you think what he has written is worthy or not worthy of agreement, either wholly or in part.

Recommended length: 4 pages, double-spaced

Due: April 26