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Book Review Guidelines

We do not accept unsolicited book reviews. If you have a recommendation for a book review, please contact our Book Review Editor:

The Journal of Strategic Security publishes book reviews to inform readers of the publication of a book of professional interest and to provide a concise evaluation of the book by a qualified observer. Book reviews are guideposts for our readers to navigate the strategic security sector.

Reviews should address the following areas:

  • Type of book (biography, anthology, history, monograph, etc.)
  • Place the book in the context of existing literature in the field – how does the book contribute or add to the field?
  • Briefly describe the book’s main argument – is it clear?
  • What are the book’s special attractions, deficits, or other features? If it has flaws, point them out candidly but courteously and professionally
  • Evaluate the book’s usefulness for those interested in intelligence, counterterrorism, and protection
  • Finally, is the book worth buying? Reading? By whom?

Guidelines:
Reviews should be complete and preferably electronically submitted. Limit your text to approximately 1000 words (1,200 words maximum and 750 words minimum) typed, double-spaced, and carefully edited. Reviews may be edited for space and style if selected for publication. Include your name and institutional or agency affiliation as you would like it to appear, e.g., John Smith, Henley-Putnam University, or John Smith, Department of Homeland Security.

Reviewers should also include their highest level of education with abbreviation in addition to a 150-word biography at the end of the review.

Include the following in the review heading: title, author, publisher, number of pages, ISBN, and price of the book, as well as appropriate info from the sample below.

Sample Book Review Heading:
Hezbollah: A Short History. By Augustus Richard Norton. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-691-13124-5. Maps. Photographs. Glossary. Notes. Sources cited. Index. Pp. vi, 187. $16.95.

Additional Style Notes:

  • Do not use footnotes or endnotes – indicate exact pagination for direct quotes such as “Henley-Putnam is a leader in the strategic security sector,” (p. 321).
  • Provide the full names of anyone mentioned in your review

Current as of June 2021