Book reviews are a historian’s best friend.

As historians, we do not have the time to read every published book. Especially when we are studying for comprehensive exams.

Instead, we rely on reviews written by other historians; reviews like the ones you will find in our Collection of History Book Reviews.

Book reviews are an essential tool of the historian. Reviews facilitate accessibility to new literature and are an easily digestible method for understanding the current trends in historiography.

To put it simply, quality book reviews make our job as historians easier.

The Life of a Historian’s Vision for our Collection of History Book Reviews

In short, The Life of a Historian is planning to write book reviews, not only for comprehensive exam preparation but also to aid you in your own research.

Moving forward, our Collection of History Book Reviews will hopefully be a vast and expansive library of history book reviews at your disposal.

Unfortunately, the Collection of History Book Reviews is currently not a high priority at The Life of Historian. As a new site–still, very much in its infancy stage–The Life of Historian is focused on creating content that can be produced efficiently without sacrificing quality.

But, when time allows, The Life of Historian will write and publish new book reviews. For now, however, you will find our available reviews below.

“But what if I need a review for a book not in The Life of the Historian’s collection?”

No worries. We have a solid recommendation.

Until our vision for our Collection of History Book Reviews becomes a reality, please visit H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences for an abundance of high-quality book reviews.

H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences is an online scholarly review resource that has published book reviews since 1993. According, to their website they publish approximately 1,500 book reviews online yearly.

H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences is a part of the larger H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online.

H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online is an international, interdisciplinary organization of scholars with its main office housed at the history department of Michigan State University. H-Net’s website provides scholars with a wide range of phenomenal resources and literature.

The Life of a Historian cannot recommend H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online enough. It is truly a gift to the scholars of the humanities and social sciences.

Our Collection of History Book Reviews

Dudziak, Mary. Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.

Garrett-Scott, Shennette. Banking on Freedom: Black Women in U.S. Finance Before the New Deal. 

Katagiri, Yasuhiro. Black Freedom, White Resistance, and Red Menace: Civil Rights and Anticommunism in the Jim Crow South. 

Lewis, George. The White South and the Red Menace: Segregationists, Anticommunism, and Massive Resistance, 1945-1965.

Purcell, Aaron D. White Collar Radicals: TVA’s Knoxville Fifteen, the New Deal, and the McCarthy Era.

Maier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence.

Noll, Mark A. The Civil War as a Theological Crisis. 

Oshatz, Molly. Slavery and Sin: The Fight against Slavery and the Rise of Liberal Protestantism. 

Winford, Brandon. John Hervey Wheeler, Black Banking, and the Economic Struggle for Civil Rights.

Woods, Jeff. Black Struggle, Red Scare: Segregation and Anti-Communism in the South, 1948-1968.