Overview
You may complete either one or two book reviews if you decide to pursue this assignment. Book reviews can be based on any one of the texts listed on the book review list, on pg. 1-2 of the syllabus. No substitutions are accepted. Each review is worth a maximum of 13 points. Each review should be a minimum of 800 words (no maximum). Please see the assignment guidelines for formatting instructions.
This assignment is not like a book report you may have completed in high school; you should avoid summarizing or re-stating the themes of the book. Instead, use your book review to address the following three questions.
- What does the text add to your learning about urban spaces, politics, or communities?
- Based on the authors’ or editors’ approach to the issues or any explicitly stated philosophy, what is the text’s underlying political and social agenda? The answer to this question should not be: “the book’s subject is…”, but rather, an identification of what the authors’ or editors’ want. What changes in policy, practice, or social structures do they want to bring about? What are they trying to persuade their readers of?
- How does the text relate to the course reserve readings, lectures or other materials? Be very explicit--- citing other readings, concepts from lectures, films, or speakers specifically. What does the text add to your understanding of the issues we are addressing in this course? Just mentioning other materials is not adequate. You should explain how they relate to the book or vice versa.
The list of approved texts for book reviews is below. All are available for purchase online, and several are available for free through the CSUN or Los Angeles library systems.
- Maysa Akbar, Urban Trauma: A Legacy of Racism
- Dennis R. Judd & Dick Simpson, eds., The City, Revisited: Urban Theory from Chicago, Los Angeles & New York
- Matthew Desmond, Evicted: Poverty & Profit in the American City
- Dorceta Taylor, Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility
- Lance Freeman, There Goes the ’Hood: Views of Gentrification From the Ground Up
- Mikki Kendall, Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot
- Llana Barber, Latino City: Immigration and Urban Crisis in Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1945-2000
For written assignments, please use double-spacing, 12-point font, and insert page numbers. When citing materials, you may use any academic citation style (e.g. APA, MLA, ASA), as long as you use it consistently and cite all materials used. When formatting citations, you may use footnotes, endnotes, or a bibliography, as you prefer. Uploads may be in PDF or Word only. Canvas will not open documents uploaded in Pages, or other alternate word processing software.
Important: No assignments have “hidden” or unstated requirements not indicated explicitly in the syllabus, or in the assignment in Canvas. There are no requirements regarding writing style or tone, and no formatting requirements besides those listed in this syllabus. Grammar and writing skill are not part of the grading criterion, although proofreading is recommended, and your ISA may provide you with feedback about ways to improve your writing skills.