For this report, you are to read a book about a topic related to the Chicano/ Hispanic scope of this course. You are free to choose from one of a multitude of choices. Your choices are, but not limited to: Aztecs, Maya, Olmecs, Teotihuacn, Spanish exploration and colonization, Mexican Independence, California Mission system, Mexican California, Texas Revolution, US-Mexico War, etc. As you can see, your choices are extensive, so please choose one of these or other topics, or if you would like to review a book about a topic indirectly related to this course, please consult with me about your selection. If you decide to focus on a US history topic, make sure your book has coverage of Chicano-based issues. Some suggestions are provided on the lower portion of these guidelines.

The report is to be 5-7 pages in length. Please do not use any of the course textbooks for this assignment. Please include a works cited page, but you can also use a title page if you wish. The title page is optional, but keep in mind that the title page and works cited pages do not count toward total page length of your review. You are also encouraged to follow the MLA or Chicago formats to develop this report. Please double-space your review. This report will count as 15% toward your final grade. And in your works cited page, please list the title that you have chosen in the following manner:

Townsend, Richard (1992) The Aztecs. New York: Thames and Hudson.
In terms of the content of the report, I am looking for two main points of discussion. First, you should devote the first half of the report to a summary of the main points that the author is trying to convey to the reader. However, I request that you do not devote your entire review to a summary of your book. Keep your summary to approximately no more than 70% of your papers content. For example, if your review is 5 pages, then 3 and 1/2 pages of summary, and the rest to devoted to commentary will be a good balance. To help you to address this issue, consider some of these questions: What is the authors purpose for writing this book? What type of background is he/she writing from. And as for the second point of discussion, this is where you provide your opinion or perceptions of the book. In other words, what did you think about it? How did the book relate to the class? Is this a good book for use in a community college class? You are definitely encouraged to write in first person singular (I feel that…, I think..) as you provide your opinions.
Next, I have some possible book review suggestion choices. You are welcome to select any of these for your review. Keep in mind that these are all suggestions, you are not obligated to choose from this list. If you find a book that’s not in this list, just let me know. All I request is that you consult with me first about your choice. And be sure to choose a book that has academic value to it, I will not accept “coffee table books” nor books geared toward a juvenile (middle school and younger) audience:

Miguel Leon Portilla, The Broken Spears
Richard Townshend, The Aztecs
Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition
Bernal Diaz, The Conquest of New Spain
Christopher Columbus, The Four Voyages
Bartolome de las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies
John Eisenhower, So Far From God: The US-Mexico War
Michael Wood, Conquistadors
Michael D. Coe, The Maya
Michael D. Coe: Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs
David Weber, The Spanish Frontier in North America
Colin MacLachlan and Jaime Rodriguez, The Forging of the Cosmic Race: A Reinterpretation of Colonial Mexico
Richard Griswold del Castillo, The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
David Weber, Foreigners in Their Native Land
Sam Haynes, James K. Polk and the Expansionist Impulse
Nigel Davies, The Ancient Kingdoms of Mexico
William Earl Weeks, Building the Continental Empire: American Expansion from the Revolution to the Civil War
Mark Burkholder and Lyman Johnson, Colonial Latin America
Richard Bruce Winders, Crisis in the Southwest: The United States, Mexico, and the Struggle over Texas
David Carrasco and Scott Sessions, Daily Life of the Aztecs
Frances F. Berdan, The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society
Steven E. Woodworth, Manifest Destinies: Americas Westward Expansion and the Road to the Civil War
Linda Schele and David Friedel, A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Mayans
Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before The Mast