The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 45, July 1941 - April, 1942 Page: 320

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

the individual student. Here is a study guide to furnish edu-
cational stimuli and to supplement effectively the exhortations
of the teacher in the classroom.
WILLIAM A. PITKIN.
Superior State Teachers College.
Writing History. By Sherman Kent.
New York: F. S. Crofts & Co., 1941. Pp. xi, 136.
Into the little manual, Writing History, Sherman Kent of
Yale University has packed a remarkable amount of very valua-
ble information and guidance. The discussion which appears in
this book is a very clear indication of the fact that the author
has spent many hours of careful thinking on the problem of
directing college students in the writing of historical essays.
This book should be a very welcome aid to all history majors
in those colleges and universities which require an essay at the
close of undergraduate study. It should help them to solve the
important problems of finding a subject, of doing research, of
organizing the material found during the research, and of
actually writing the essay. This manual should also be wel-
comed by students who are required to write a thesis in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the master's degree. Can-
didates for the doctoral degree who have escaped the discipline
involved in writing a senior essay or a master's thesis will also
find this book very helpful.
In the first chapter the author discusses the topic, "Why
History." In the next four chapters he deals with finding the
perfect topic, the elements of research, the organization of ma-
terial, and the writing of the essay. The sixth chapter, thirty-
three pages in length, contains an abbreviated manual of style
and usage. In a bibliographical note of ten pages the author
points out that "there is an unbelievably large literature about
the subject of history itself" (p. 103) and lists references on
many phases of historiography. In the appendix, twenty pages
long, Professor Kent gives consideration to the subject of mak-
ing an appendix.
All in all, it can be said that this book is a very valuable, clear,
and suggestive presentation of a difficult problem. It will help
the student who is confronted with the work of producing a
serious piece of historical writing by saving him many hours

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