How does one come to edit book reviews for H-Net? In this episodeYelena and Robert share with listeners how to apply to become a review editor for H-Net Reviews. Then Yelena speaks with H-Net's staff copyeditors Charlotte Weber and Basia Nowak about their process of training review editors. Charlotte and Basia discuss H-Net's Standards and Guidelines for Reviewing, and how review editors learn to negotiate the fine line between negative (but publishable) and unprofessional reviews. This episode is a companion piece to episodes 5 on Professionalism & Constructive Criticism and episode 6 on

In this second part of our series on the early days of H-Net, Robert speaks with long-time H-Law editor Charles Zelden about the earliest book reviews on H-Law, which included both reviews published elsewhere and reviews published by the list. The first call for "quick and informal reviews of new books" was issued by editor Chris Waldrep in 1993. While there few models for online reviews in those days, editors hoped that the online format would facilitate quicker turnaround of reviews of new books, and Charles talks about how it ended up becominng a fairly interactive process between editors

The Art of the Review Show Notes for Episode 15 Citations

Yelena Kalinsky Blog Post

This episode is one of an occasional series where Yelena and Robert speak with H-Net's copyeditors Charlotte Weber and Basia Nowak about the nuts and bolts of reviewing at H-Net. In this installment, we discuss the use of citations in scholarly book reviews, which Charlotte and Basia explain are usually kept to a minimum. One exception to this rule is a historiographical review essay, such as the one mentioned during the conversation. That review was:

  • Brian Cowan. Review of Tyacke, Nicholas, ed., The English Revolution c. 1590-1720: Politics, Religion and Communities. H-Albion, H-Net Reviews

This episode, which we are calling The Living Review, takes as its point of departure the idea of looking back to a review after some years or decades. Robert and Yelena discuss an interview Robert did with James Struthers, professor of Canadian Studies at Trent University in Ontario. Prof. Struthers looks back at a review he wrote in 1994 for the now defunct H-State list. He speaks about the early days of reviewing on H-Net, comparative history, and the historiographical fate of the book he reviewed. Listeners should note that the sound quality on this interview is somewhat compromised. We've

In this second part of our two-part episode on professionalism, Robert and Yelena discuss how network advisory boards can help review editors vet a review's tone prior to publication. Review editors should exercise their editorial prerogative when they judge a review's tone unprofessional, and should confer with their boards in ambiguous cases. We then look at an example of a review from the H-Holocaust network that poses a challenge by its combative tone, and we bring in historian Vladimir Solonari, author of Purifying the Nation: Population Exchange and Ethnic Cleanshing in Nazi-Allied

This is the first of a two-part episode about professionalism in academic book reviewing. In this episode, Robert and Yelena look at H-Net's guidelines for professionalism and speak with H-Net copyeditors Basia Nowak and Charlotte Weber about two reviews that constructively critique the books under review. 


Listeners can take a closer look at H-Net's Guidelines for Reviewing here. The section on professionalism states:

Whether the evaluation of a work is favorable or unfavorable, reviewers should express criticism in courteous, temperate, and constructive terms. Reviewers are responsible for

The Art of the Review Show Notes for Episode 4 Quotes

Yelena Kalinsky Blog Post

This episode dispenses some straightforward advice about the use of quotes in reviews. Robert speaks with H-Net copyeditors Charlotte Weber and Basia Nowak about some dos and don'ts of using quotations in reviews.


The review we mentioned in the episode was:

  • Abraham Peck. Review of Norman J. W. Goda, Barbara McDonald Stewart, Severin Hochberg, Richard Breitman, eds., To the Gates of Jerusalem: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald, 1945-1947. H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews. September, 2015.
    • Link on the H-Net Commons.

Follow H-Net Reviews on Twitter: @HNet_Reviews or subscribe to the H-Reviews

In this episode, Robert continues the discussion of reviews we liked with H-Net copyeditors Charlotte Weber and Basia Nowak. The reviews discussed are below.


More reviews we liked:

  • Bassam Abed. Review of Grehan, James, Twilight of the Saints: Everyday Religion in Ottoman Syria and Palestine. H-Socialisms, H-Net Reviews. March, 2015.
    • Link on the H-Net Commons.
  • Alexandra Foulds. Review of Byrne, Katherine, Tuberculosis and the Victorian Literary Imagination. H-Disability, H-Net Reviews. April, 2015
    • Link on the H-Net Commons.

Follow H-Net Reviews on Twitter: @HNet_Reviews or subscribe to the H-Reviews

Shownotes for Episode 2: Reviews We Liked, pt. 1

System Administrator Blog Post

In this episode, Robert and Yelena discuss two reviews we liked and one review that did not pass muster. We conclude that judging a review is at least partly subjective, and that preference for colorful anecdotes, thorough historical background materials, and other elements of a review are largely in the eyes of the beholder.


An unlikable review:

Fred Lamar Pearson, Jr. Review of John T. McGrath, The French in Early Florida: In the Eye of the Hurricane. American Historical Review 107:1 (Feb. 2002): 184. (Available online by subscription)

Reviews we liked:

  • Sarah H. Brown. Review of Roberts, Blain,