Exercise 9

Part I. Timed reading exercise: spend one hour ACTIVELY reading Villains of All Nations and answering the questions below.   Review Rael's "How to Read a Book" and "Predatory Reading" [link].
Part II. Spend additional time reading the text in order to come up with at least one discussion question to facilitate class discussion. Write this question on the back of this exercise.
Part III. Track down one review of the book in an academic journal [you may use the Expanded Academic ASAP, Infotrac, Academic Search Premier or JSTOR to find reviews]. Staple the review to this exercise.

Provide a bibliographic citation for the book:

1) Who is Rediker (check out his website!)?  What are his motives for writing this book?

2) How is the book structured and organized? (You may provide a brief outline.)

3) What are some of his main arguments?

4) Does he argue effectively?

5) What kinds of secondary and primary sources does he use? List three important primary sources.

6) What do you think of the writing style?