Looking for Book Reviews

The following is a selected list of resources for finding book reviews using standard sources, supplementary sources for scholarly and popular books, and web resources. For further assistance, talk to a reference librarian. See the book review search tips link for sample searches from each database.

After identifying relevant reviews using the sources below, follow these steps to find those that are not full-text online:

Look up the journal title, not the article title, in the UO Libraries Catalog to determine if the Library subscribes to this journal and get the call number and location.
If the UO Libraries do not own the needed issue of a publication, you can acquire the review by filling out an interlibrary loan request.

Note: if you are looking for literary criticism – an in-depth examination of themes versus an overview and opinion of the book as a whole – you may want to start with the MLA International Bibliography instead of the sources below.

Standard Sources

We most frequently recommend the following sources for finding book reviews:

Academic Search Premier: Contains reviews of books published after 1990. About half of the articles cited are full-text.
Book Review Index: Broad coverage 1965-present, but very brief entries. Names of authors of reviews are not given (note: the paper volumes of the Book Review Index from 1965-2005 are now shelved in the stacks; their call number is: Z1035.A1 B6).

Sources for Reviews on Scholarly Books

Try Standard Sources first, and then try the following:

For recent publications:

Subject Specific Indexes: Try these before trying the following sources. Search subject indexes listed under the Databases & Indexes section of the libraries' home page. An index specific to your area of research will often cite reviews of scholarly books in that area.
Arts & Humanities Search: Also located at REF KNIGHT AI 3 .A63
Arts & Humanities Search references articles from approximately 1,100 arts and humanities journals. It is the online equivalent of the Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Arts & Humanities Search contains citations 1980-present and is updated weekly. The print version covers 1977-present. Search by Cited Reference.
Web of Science: Contains the contents of Social Science Citation Index and Science Citation Index, 1975-present.
JSTOR: Electronic Journal Archive: Try JSTOR for reviews of "landmark" books in many disciplines. It contains the full-text of over 100 core scholarly journals.

For older publications:

International Index to Periodicals, 1955-1965: REF KNIGHT AI 3 .R49
Continued by ...
Social Sciences & Humanities Index, 1965-1974: Humanities Index: REF KNIGHT AI 3 .H85
Social Sciences Index: REF KNIGHT AI 3 .S62
Subject Index to Periodicals, 1915-1961: REF KNIGHT AI 3 .A72 Split into ...
British Humanities Index, 1962-present: REF KNIGHT AI 3 .B7
British Technology Index, 1962-1980: SCIENCE Z 7913 .B7
An Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities, 1960-1990: REF KNIGHT Z1035.A1I63
Index to Book Reviews in Historical Periodicals, 1972-1977: REF KNIGHT Z6205.B73
Index to Book Reviews in England, 1749-1774: REF KNIGHT Z1035.A1 F67
Africana Book Reviews, 1885-1945 : An Index to Books Reviewed in selected English-language publications: REF KNIGHT Z3501.E35
Works in African history : an index to reviews, 1960-1982: KNIGHT Z3508.H5H46
A guide to critical reviews of United States fiction, 1870-1910: REF KNIGHT Z1225 .E35

Sources for Reviews on Popular Books

Try Standard Sources first then try the following:

For recent publications:

MasterFile Premier: Gives reviews of books published mostly after 1990. About half of the articles included are full-text online.
Lexis-Nexis Academic: Gives full text of book reviews in major U.S. media and some international sources. Strongest on recent fiction and other popular literature.

For older publications:

19th Century Masterfile: Covers magazine and newspaper articles, 1802-1906. Also available at REF KNIGHT AI 3.P7 as Poole's Index to Periodical Literature.
Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974: REF KNIGHT Z1035.A1C64; Inces more than 1,000,000 book reviews in history, politics, sociology, and other fields. A good source of British reviews
The New York Times Book Review Index, 1896-1970: REF KNIGHT AP2.N6582
Covers reviews published in the New York Times Book Review (an insert of the Sunday New York Times.)
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature: REF KNIGHT AI 3 .R48
A print index covering 1900-present. It is the complete index to 150-200 of the most widely circulated American periodicals. After 1976, includes a separate section of book reviews at the end of each volume. Available online for the years 1959-1982.
The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, 1824-1900: REF KNIGHT AI 3 .W45
This publication is an issue-by-issue list of the contents of 43 major periodicals. It includes an index of the authors of articles and reviews, but it does not index by the author of the book reviewed. Reviews written by a given author can easily be found by looking in the cumulated index of authors in volume 5; the only way to find reviews of a specific book is to scan the entries starting in the year it was published.

Reviews in Non-English Languages

Bulletin de Critique du Livre Francais (French): REF KNIGHT Z2165 .B924; Contains short reviews for new French books from all subject areas. Three main subject areas: Literature, Science and Technology, and Social Sciences. Updated monthly, and each issue contains a select list of new French paperbacks.
Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Wissenschaftlicher Literatur (International; German organization): (aka, IBR or International bibliography of book reviews of scholarly literature); KNIGHT Z5051.I64; Reviews scholarly works not published in English. German keywords are used to organize reviews by subject; keyword, author, and reviewer indexes are also provided. A valuable source for finding reviews of non-English language titles.

Web Resources

Internet Quick Reference: Book Info & Reviews: A set of links compiled by Celestina Wroth from the Indiana University Libraries.
H-Net Review Project: Maintained at Michigan State University – browse academic book reviews by author, title, subject or reviewer.
AcqWeb Directory of Book Reviews on the Web: A clearinghouse of sources to find book reviews, divided into categories for librarians' reviews, popular press, scholarly, online reviews, children's literature, and various subject-specific sources.
Amazon.com: Many listings include brief reviews by professional review journals, readers, or amazon staff. Sometimes includes tables of contents.
Salon.com: A highly-rated online journal that includes interviews with authors of literary fiction, as well as regular reviews. Can be searched by keyword.
Yahoo! Book Reviews: A clearinghouse of review sources. Useful for finding online newspaper reviews, but remember that to find less-recent content, you should use Lexis-Nexis (see above, under Sources for Reviews on Popular Books.)

Maintained by: Barbara Jenkins, jenkins@uoregon.edu