Finding Book Reviews
A book review is an article that describes and often evaluates a book. Many popular books are reviewed shortly after publication. More scholarly reviews of books can appear months or years after the books' publication. There are many older works that continue to be discussed in the scholarly community. For example, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, fascinated readers when it was published in 1952 and it continues to intrigue readers. There are book reviews of Invisible Man, from both popular and scholarly sources from the 1950s to the present. Often book reviews can offer more than just a glimpse into the critical reception of an individual work. They can also provide you a better sense of an author's career as a whole.
When looking for book reviews it is important to have the complete title, author and date of publication. Remember that there may be different editions of the same book. While Invisible Man was first published in 1952, the UW Libraries also has editions of the book from 1992 and 1995.
Not all of these resources will provide you with the full-text of a book review. Often, especially with an older review, you will receive the citation. A citation is information that precisely identifies a book or an article. It typically includes author, title, volume, publication information, page numbers, and sometimes an abstract.
If you have any questions, please contact a Campus Library staff member.
General Electronic Resources (Online Databases)
Print Resources
Book Review Digest [Bothell/CCC Indexes Z.1219.B65] 1975-present.
Book Review Digest provides citations and an excerpts of English language children's and adult fiction and nonfiction. There is an author index, subject index and title index. Each entry has a summary and quote from the review. Use this source to find the original review of the book. Book Review Digest does not cover government documents, textbooks, and technical science and law books (although science books intended for the average reader are included).
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature [AI3 .R47]1890-1899 with supplementary indexing 1900-1922. [AI3 .R48] 1900-February 1985.
Citations to reviews are available from 1976 to February 1985. A special book review section is at the back of each volume that provides the citation information. The Readers' Guide has an author/editor index with title access only if the book does not have an author or editor.
There is also an electronic version, Readers' Guide Retrospective.
For more information on these two resources, see the Campus Library's web guide, Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature/ Readers' Guide Retrospective.
Periodicals
There are specialized periodicals devoted to book reviews. Most of these only review recently published books. Some of the important periodicals that focus on publishing book reviews are The New York Times Book Review; Kirkus Reviews; Booklist; Library Journal; and Publishers Weekly. These are available full-text through the UW Libraries Catalog and some of the electronic databases.
General Electronic Resources
Expanded Academic Index provides indexing and abstracting for approximately 1,500 scholarly and general interest periodicals, covering all major fields of study in the humanities, social sciences, and science and technology. Remember that Expanded Academic Index does not always give the full-text of the book review itself. If the full-text is not available, use UW Libraries Catalog to do a title search for the periodical in which the review is located. UW restricted.
ProQuest databases, including ABI/Inform Global, National Newspapers, Research Library Complete, Proquest Medical Library and Washington State Newsstand Remember that Proquest will not always give you the full-text of the book review itself; you'll have to go to the UW Libraries Catalog to do a title search for the periodical in which the review is located. UW restricted.
Books in Print is used by libraries, publishers and bookstores to find books. Because of its audience, you can search for information usually not found in other databases. According to Books in Print, it has "3.5 million titles, more than 600,000 full-text reviews, 7,000 author bios, over 300 awards, [and] stock availability from over 20 major suppliers." It uses reviews from the following sources: Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus, CHOICE, Reference and Research, Book News, Sci-Tech Book News, University Press Book News, The Horn Book, The Boston Book Review, Quill & Quire, as well as 10 newspapers. They have editions dating back to 1910. UW restricted.
Project Muse covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and other areas. The database contains more than 5,000 full-text articles.
When looking for a book review, use the Advanced Search function. Change By Type to Review. Use quotations marks around phrases. For example, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" would find reviews for Zora Neale Hurston's novel. UW restricted.
If you have any questions about searching these databases, please contact a Campus Library staff member.
Many subject special databases provide book reviews. For example, PsycINFO provides reviews on books in psychology and PAIS International has book reviews in the area of public policy. When examining a database for reviews, check to see if the search can be limited to book reviews. If it is unclear whether there is a book review function, try a keyword search using the title of the book or the author's name. It is important to remember that many books do not get reviewed. Please contact a librarian if you are having trouble finding a book review.
For information on subject special databases, please see the Resources by Subject page.
Internet Sites
amazon.com has its own editorial reviews, as well as reviews from reviewing periodicals such as The New York Times Book Review, Booklist and Kirkus Reviews.
H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences is a free resource on the Internet, published by a self-described "international consortium of scholars and teachers." H-net describes itself as sponsoring 100 free electronic, interactive newsletters ("lists") edited by scholars in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and the Pacific. Each network has its own "personality," is edited by a team of scholars, and has a board of editors. Many are cosponsored by a professional society. The editors control the flow of messages, commission reviews, and reject flames and items unsuitable for a scholarly discussion group. Each list includes both reviews and discussions via e-mail lists by writers, reviewers and readers. Examples of lists includes Appalachian History and Studies, Sports Literature, and Art History. Search by keyword using the title of the book or the name of the author. There is also a link to reviews.