You will complete a critical book review of the chosen reading for this assignment.
Doing the Best That I Can: Fatherhood in the Inner-city; First Edition; Edin, Kathryn, and Timothy J. Nelson.
“Across the political spectrum, unwed fatherhood is denounced as one of the leading social problems of today. Doing the Best I Can is a strikingly rich, paradigm-shifting look at fatherhood among inner-city men often dismissed as “deadbeat dads.” Kathryn Edin and Timothy J. Nelson examine how couples in challenging straits come together and get pregnant so quickly—without planning. The authors chronicle the high hopes for forging lasting family bonds that pregnancy inspires, and pinpoint the fatal flaws that often lead to the relationship’s demise. They offer keen insight into a radical redefinition of family life where the father-child bond is central and parental ties are peripheral.”
A critical review of a book aims to describe and evaluate the author’s purpose and central arguments. In short, what did the author set out to do, how did they do it, what did they find, and did they accomplish their objective(s)?
A critical book review is not an opinion piece based solely on the reader’s reaction to the book. This type of analysis reviews the book in a descriptive, summative way. Still, it is also evaluated regarding the merits of the author’s central arguments, claims, and evidence. After reading your critical book review, your readers should have not only a general sense of what the book is about (to help them decide if they should read it), but also a sense of the quality of the book (to help them decide if it is worth their while to read it). In short, the critical book review should tell someone about the book and the author in question and not about the person writing the review. It should be more objective than subjective and more about the book than about the opinions of the person reviewing it. In addition to providing a critical analysis of the book’s content, the paper should also provide a connection to course material. You should provide evidence that supports your assessment of the book. This evidence includes but is not limited to what the author presents in the book and the readings we have discussed in class. Please do not simply state whether or not you liked the book but really unpack the main points of the author’s argument.
Your paper should be at least 5-8 pages (excluding title and reference page), with 1-inch margins, 12-point font, Times New Roman font, in-text citations in the American Psychological Association (APA) format, and a reference page also formatted in APA (also please see policy on plagiarism in the Part III syllabus).
Suggested Structure of the Book Review (5-8 pages total):
Introduction (2-3 paragraphs) Provide a brief description of the book, and a brief statement about your assessment of the book: does it achieve its objectives?
Summary of the book (about 1.5-2 pages) Provide the reader with the information necessary to gain a good sense of the book, and enough additional information to understand your analysis of it.
Critique of the book (about 3-5 pages) Consider the following questions in your critique: How appropriate and convincing is the evidence provided for the argument or theme? How complete is the argument? Has the author neglected important counter-positions? Finally, briefly summarize the weaknesses and strengths you have found in the book. No book is perfect, but does it accomplish its goals on balance? Here is where your critique comes in (be sure the critique remains objective).
Conclusion (about 1 page) Does the book have additional shortcomings or strengths, and should it have expanded its purpose, evidence, and argument? Again, this is another opportunity for you to engage with course content.
References
“”When my mom came back from that hospital, she looked at me and said, ‘it’s your baby.'” When asked how I felt at that moment — when his paternity could no longer be denied– Ernest replies that it “made me feel great!” as if the months of vociferous denials had never occurred. “Sure, I was nervous. I was excited. I was a lot of things all at one time. I didn’t know what to do, what to feel. But one thing that I did know for sure, that it was mine… That’s my son. And that’s the only one that I have in the world.”
“However, men did not give much thought to who they wanted to have children with. On most occasions, young men felt the need to be fathers and claim their status as men”
“Do the pressures of pregnancy fracture an otherwise strong relationship, or is it pregnancy that transforms a fairly casual liaison into something more – at least for a time?”
“African American men are the most likely to say that marriage ought to be put off until the thirties, the forties, or even beyond.”
“Fatherhood was a ‘package deal.'”
“What goes wrong between the euphoria of the baby’s arrival and that child’s fifth birthday, when surveys reveal that only one in three men will still be in a relationship with their child’s mother?”
“low-income couples often practice a kind of “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to birth control… woman often stops taking birth control because she wants kids and lacks the sufficient incentive to wait.”
“In just a few words or a single sentence, inner-city father like Amin can often summarize what passes for courtship of the women who become their children’s mothers.”
“Do the pressures of pregnancy fracture an otherwise strong relationship, or is it pregnancy that transforms a fairly casual liaison into something more– at least for a time?”
“it was these dispositions piled on top of the aching sense of abandonment he felt when his father simply drifted away that explained his compelling desire to find trouble whenever the opportunity arose.”