The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing
Mayra Calvani and Anne K. Edwards
Twilight Times Books
978-1-933353-22-7

Having been mostly dusted out of its corner of the newspaper (replaced by what, exactly, I don’t know), the book review has become something of national hobby. But without the red pencil of a curmudgeonly editor, the Shelfari and GoodReads reviews often reek of amateurism, hardly a tribute to the poor author they’re trying to excoriate or acclaim. Thank your lucky stars then, that Calvani and Edwards are here to kindly save the day.

According to the authors, both writers and reviewers, there are five keys to being a good reviewer:

Command of Language
Clarity of Thought
Honesty
Objectivity
Tact

Sounds like the qualities of good friend, a good person, a good sibling, a good coworker, doesn’t it?

The authors then, very simply, explain how to read critically by breaking down the techniques of writing into different categories, like, in the case of fiction, plot, pacing, and point of view. (Definitions of these techniques are included.) They go on to distinguish different kinds of reviews, and they clarify the distinction between prepublication reviews, press releases, and critiques.

The meat and potatoes of the book come in a section called “Types of Reviews.” Here, the authors produce different kinds of reviews—long/short, positive/negative, nasty/nice, fiction/nonfiction, etc.—then critique the first effort and rewrite. There’s not a reviewer out there that wouldn’t benefit from this review of reviewing.

If the hobby becomes work – in the good sense—there are helpful suggestions about everything from what to do with those books piling up all over the floor, how much money to ask for, and how to start your own book review site online. The last section on the book contains a fat list of online and print publications, divided by genre.

I have to say that the cover of this book is substandard; truly unfortunate as the content is anything but. Nevertheless, this is a great reference book for libraries, and would be a nice (nicer with another cover) addition to book club displays.

The Slippery Art authors follow all the rules of good reviewing in their writing—command of language, clarity of thought, objectivity—and they are also clearly blessed with those two rules that stand behind all good teachers: honesty and tact.

Once upon a time, I used to do historical research, mainly concerning wars. My last job concerned the war in Afghanistan, and I found myself relying on the authors and editors of the Rand Corporation for their well-researched, boots on the ground approach. (A few of the Special Forces guys I met commented that Rand was the holy grail of post-service, big brain employment.)

Here’s a selection of the Rand books that have come through my office lately. Libraries and bookstores can’t go wrong with these mostly slender volumes. They are indispensable for historians, journalists, academics, and policy makers.



In Their Own Words: Voices of Jihad (Rand, 978-0-8330-4402-0) carries the heavy endorsements of Bob Woodward, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and John Esposito on the back cover. Compiled by Rand’s director of Middle East Public Policy, David Aaron, the book provides a wide variety of views, stories, and justifications by individuals who promote terrorism in the name of Islam. “We have not attempted to present a balanced collection of Muslim views in this book,” Aaron writes in the Note on Sources. “Because the book comprises original jihadi writings, the issue of balance is not germane, except as it pertains to conflicting jihadi views.” While terrorism may have always been a tactic of warfare, seldom have its authors been so well documented.



Iran’s Political, Demographic, and Economic Vulnerabilities (Rand, 978-0-8330-4304-7) by Keith Crane, Rollie Lal, and Jeffrey Martini is the typical under-200-pages size of most of Rand’s monographs. Here, the work was sponsored by the Air Force and carried out in 2005. It covers political, ethnic, and demographic issues, and predicts economic trajectories of growth. Clear and to-the-point, the book finishes with a set of policy recommendations that include discouraging ethnic groups from violently opposing the regime and encouraging the development of markets as the buying power of the electorate translates into less control by the regime. It also recommends that the US not oppose Iran’s accession to the WTO.



Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan (Rand, 978-0-8330-4133-3). Author Seth Jones writes in the summary, “This study’s assessment of 90 insurgencies indicates that it takes an average of 14 years to defeat insurgents once an insurgency develops.” What are the major factors that allow an insurgency to develop and stick? Native lawlessness and a foreign safe haven for resting and resupply. The mujahadeen hid from the Soviets in Pakistan, now Pakistan also protects the Taliban. Jones, who has made repeated trips to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India since 2004, stresses the importance of involving local populations in counterinsurgency operations. The history and strategies in this book are important for understanding the nature of unconventional warfare, no matter where in the world it is.