Historians distinguish between monographs (specialized works based on research in primary sources) and syntheses, more sweeping accounts that must rely on others’ scholarship.

suggest reading your own footnotes and seeing which journal’s articles have influenced you the most.

As a group, historians emphasize books, and some prolific writers rarely publish in journals.

Consider, for instance, the historian’s choices about agency, sources, periodization, scope, and causality, as well as explicit engagement with previous scholarship.

keep an eye out for factual mistakes, however minor. Beyond that, the editor will appreciate your assessing a work’s significance.

Reviewers therefore tend to be relatively gentle in their criticism, perhaps highlighting a few spots that could have used more attention.

book reviews usually come out too late for the author to fix any problems,

book reviews tend to devote considerable space to summarizing a book’s story,

My comments concern the work, not the person behind it. (There