Write a book review on Barry Strauss’ The Trojan War: a New History
Requirements(Barry Strauss, The Trojan War: a new history, 2007) : It must be at least (around 6 pages) NOT including footnotes
or quotations.
Your review should consist of 4 main parts:
1) Introduction
In your introduction (1 paragraph) you should give a short introduction to the book
itself. Remember, the introduction should preview the entire essay (you may want to
go back after you have finished it and revise the introduction).
2) Summary
Summarize the book in about 4 pages. What view does Strauss take on the Trojan
War? What is his approach to the problem of whether Homer knows anything about
the Bronze Age Mycenaeans? What are the main points of each chapter? Focus on
the most important issues as there is not room to summarize the entire book in any
depth.
3) Evaluation
In about 1-page -2 pages tell us what do you think of the book? What were the book’s
strengths? Its weaknesses? Is his prose clear? Does he bring anything new to the
debate on whether there is anything Bronze Age in Homer? Do you agree with
Strauss’s approach or disagree? Is this really a “new history”?
4) Conclusion
Sum up your ideas in a paragraph. Conclusions generally try to answer the question
“so what?” Why is it important to read Strauss’ book and how should we go about it?
Whenever you quote Strauss, please put the page number in parenthesis: (122).
If you use the internet or any other sources, please cite them when you refer to any ideas
or material that is not of your own creation, even when not directly quoting from the
source. (You do not need a bibliographical sheet.)
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|