Review of Unmasking Administrative Evil
Each student is required to read Unmasking Administrative Evil by Danny Balfour, Guy Adams, and Ashley Nickels and write a 6-8-page (typewritten, double-spaced, 12-point font – not including the title page, references, abstract and appendices) review of the book. This entails summarizing the book’s key concepts and critiquing the authors’ arguments. In constructing their reviews, students should also apply public administration concepts gleaned from the course readings, discussions, and scholarly literature in their critique whenever possible. A good book review at the graduate level, nonetheless, entails more than just rote summarization. Broadly speaking, it should address the following:
· What is the book’s main goal?
· What are the main/important points highlighted in the book?
· Discuss/evaluate the evidence utilized in making those points. Is the evidence convincing?
· Is the book well-written? Is it understandable? Critique the writing style.
· Who is the target audience?
More specifically, the book review should be structured as follows (See the Book Review Rubric in the “Files” section of Canvas for more detail on the grading criteria for this assignment.):
· Introduction (about 1-2 pages) – This section includes bibliographic information describing the authors, the title, when the book was written, who it was written for, whether it was well written/understandable, etc. The introduction will also seek to put the book into context. In that vein, you should include a brief overview of the book’s overall theme and purpose along with the purpose of your evaluation.
· Summarization (about 2 pages) – The summarization component will address the key points in each chapter or group of chapters. Paraphrasing is appropriate here. However, you should still remember to appropriately cite any paraphrased material in proper APA format (e.g., with author and page number citation in parentheses).
· Evaluation (about 2-3 pages) – The evaluation component is where you provide your opinion of the book. Was the book interesting, enjoyable, or boring? Do you think it’s relevant to the field? Why/why not? Are the authors’ arguments well supported? Is the evidence convincing? With respect to the latter four questions, you will want to include additional scholarly source material that supports your opinion. Remember, at the graduate level, our opinions must always be substantiated by something tangible, and this would be a great place to draw from some of the existing public administration literature in support of your argument(s). Journal articles found in the university’s online databases ( https://libguides.uncp.edu/az.php) might be particularly helpful in this regard. A sample of potential scholarly journals that might be utilized is also noted below.
· Conclusion (about 1-2 pages) – The conclusion will wrap things up for the reader. Here, you will want to delineate the book’s strengths and weaknesses (Again, though, remember to support your argument with scholarly source citation where appropriate.). You should close by providing the reader with an overall recommendation regarding the book’s usefulness/appropriateness for the field and what it might mean for the present/future of public administration.
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What is the book’s main goal?,
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What are the main points highlighted in the book?,
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How convincing is the evidence used to support those points?,
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Is the book well-written and understandable?,
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Who is the target audience?
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