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E-ZBorrow
Search a consortium of 60+ academic libraries for physical items (e.g, print books or DVDs) not available at CMU. Requested items typically take 3-5 business days to arrive and are loaned for a maximum of 12 weeks.
ILLiad (interlibrary loan)
Request books, articles, theses and more! Articles and book chapters can be requested in PDF format. Print books can take 7-10 business days to arrive. First-time users will be asked to register before requesting items.

History & Modern Languages Librarian

she/her

Contact:

On leave until Dec. 2023. For assistance in History, contact CMU Librarian Ashley Werlinich, liaison librarian for English, Drama, and temporary liaison for History. For assistance in Modern Languages, use our general feedback forms.

Subjects: History, Language & Linguistics

Books In Hunt Library

Topics in the history discipline frequently, though not always, fall into the following classifications in the Library of Congress classification system. You can go to the library stacks and browse the shelves for books with call numbers beginning:

CB - History of Civilization
D - World History and History of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
E-F - History of the Americas
HC - Economic History and Conditions
HD - Industries. Land use. Labor.
HN - Social History and Conditions. Social Problems. Social Reform.
HQ - The Family. Marriage. Women.
HT - Communities. Classes. Races.
HX - Socialism. Communism. Anarchism.
JV - Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International Migration.
JZ - International Relations

Finding Book Reviews

Book reviews can help you assess and evaluate how useful a certain text will be for your research. While summaries from publishers are helpful, book reviews in scholarly journals can place the author's work in context and describe how the work contributes to existing historical literature and/or debates in the field.

Book Review Databases

Look for filters to limit your results to only book reviews (versus other kinds of articles).

Book Review Index This link opens in a new window
Index to book reviews in periodicals, links to full text.
New York Review of Books This link opens in a new window
Magazine on literature, culture, and current affairs. 1963-present
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Archive of back issues of core scholarly journals across a wide range of subjects, with an emphasis on arts, humanities, and social sciences. Also includes current content for select journals and a large collection of University Press books.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Current humanities and socials science journals. In advanced search, select Reviews. Search journals in all disciplines, or you can limit to research area.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
ca. 1900-present. Multidisciplinary journal database. Use the drop down menu to select Document type and then select Book review. NB-author will be author of the book review, not the book being reviewed (that would be the cited author)
Periodicals Archive Online This link opens in a new window
ca. 1800s-2000. Historical backfiles of periodicals. Dates vary by publication and vary widely. In the Advanced Search, type the title of the book and in Document Type mark Review. Reviews are from journals and magazines in all subjects.
Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 This link opens in a new window
1890-1982. Choose Book Review from Document Type. Reviews are from magazines in all subject areas.

In Newspapers

Use the author's name and the title (or keywords from the title) and then the instructions for finding a review for that database. If full text isn't available, click to see full text retrieval options.

Historical Newspapers: New York Times (1851 - ca. current minus 3 years) This link opens in a new window
In the Advanced Search, type the title of the book and in Document Type mark Review. To find reviews in the Book Review section, which started October 10, 1896, use the Advanced Search, type book review and change default to section
ProQuest US Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Full text of over 1300 newspapers, news websites and blogs from leading publishers throughout the world. In the advanced search, in Document Type select Review
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
An interdisciplinary, full-text database of over 18,000 sources including newspapers, journals, wire services, newsletters, company reports and SEC filings, case law, government documents, transcripts of broadcasts, and selected reference works.