Research Guides: History Resources: Book Reviews

Online Book Review Sources

America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
Index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada. Journal articles, book titles, book reviews, and dissertations.

Coverage: 1910 to present.
Gale Literature: Book Review Index This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive guide to book reviews: cites or links to full-text reviews.

Coverage: 1965 to present
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Index of academic historical journals on the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, etc.
Coverage: 1955 to present
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Large and important archive for academic journals, books, and primary sources in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Many journals do not have current issues.
ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Search all ProQuest databases simultaneously. Includes arts, humanities, social sciences, news, and science and technology.
Readers' Guide Retrospective, 1890-1982 This link opens in a new window
Index of articles from magazines, including full coverage of the original print volumes of Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature™. Atlantic Monthly, Century Magazine, Christian Century, Commonweal, Foreign Affairs, Fortnightly Review (London), Good Housekeeping, Harper's, Ladies Home Journal, Literary Digest, The Nation, New Republic, Reader's Digest, Saturday Evening Post, Saturday Review, Scribner's, and Women's Home Companion.
Coverage: 1890-1982.

General Review Information

Reviews are valuable tools for evaluating books. The first reviews available on a particular title are most often short pieces in newspapers, magazines and online review sources.

Enter the title of the book in the search field in quotes, and select "review" as the document type. See the database help files for details.

Scholarly or academic book reviews in peer-reviewed journals take a longer to be published, typically 1-2 years after publication.

Print Book Review Sources

Many older book reviews can only be found in print resources. These resources are little used today, and most are in storage. They include:

Book Review Digest [1905-January,1999]
Provides citations and excerpts of book reviews from about 90 periodicals.
CENTRAL ANNEX Z1219 .C95

Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals, 1802-1974
Index for book reviews in 150 humanities journals.
CENTRAL REFERENCE 6th FL Z1035.A1 C65

Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974
Index for book reviews in 459 scholarly journals in history, political science, and sociology.
CENTRAL ANNEX Z1035.A1 C6

C.R.I.S.: The Combined Retrospective Index to Journals in History, 1838-1974
11 volumes. CENTRAL ANNEX Z6205 .C18

C.R.I.S.: The Combined Retrospective Index to Journals in Political Science, 1886-1974
8 volumes. CENTRAL ANNEX Z7163 .C18.

National Library Service Cumulative Book Review Index, 1905-1974
6 volumes. CENTRAL ANNEX Z1035.A1 N35 1975.