Ph.D. candidate, Marcelo Carocci-Ormsbee’s book review is now in print. The review, which can be found in the Journal of Military History’s April 2021 edition covers Rebecca Ayako-Bennette’s book “Diagnosing Dissent: Hysterics, Deserters, and Conscientious Objectors in Germany during World War One.” This is Carocci’s first book review.
Carocci initially approached the editor of the journal to indicate interest in doing reviews. Carocci’s dissertation research focuses on the interplay between the Civil War, health, and medicine during the occupation of New Orleans. Because much of Carocci’s work relates to military history, establishing a relationship with the Journal of Military History was a logical approach for advancing Carocci’s academic profile.
Shortly after Carocci contacted the journal, the editor asked him to review Ayako-Bennete’s book. Due to the delays with the postal service as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, the book was late to arrive at Carocci’s house, which made his already short deadline for completing the review even shorter. But Carocci worked efficiently, and was able to submit the review for publication without a problem.
Carocci hopes to complete more reviews in the future, but does offer advice to others. Book reviews are not just merely about summarizing, but also providing context and scholarly expertise. Because of that, Carocci believes that an effective reviewer should do their due diligence and find out as much as possible about an author and their body of scholarship before accepting the review, to ensure that they can provide adequate context to the review. And, once a person accepts to do a review, they should not hesitate to ask colleagues and mentors to read drafts and to provide comments and edits.
Even though this is Carocci’s first book review, he hopes to do plenty more.
Congrats again, Marcelo on your first publication!
CATEGORIES: Graduate Students