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Dissertation Information for Martha Terosse Boaz

NAME:
- Martha Terosse Boaz

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (USA) (1955)

ADVISORS:
- Rudolph H. Gjelsness

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Joe Lee Davis
- Raymond L. Kilgour
- Bennett Weaver

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: A qualitative analysis of the criticism of best sellers : a study of the reviews and reviewers of best selling books from 1944 to 1953

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality of the book reviewing of best sellers from 1944 to 1953. An effort has been made to determine whether or not reviewing is a form of ballyhoo or advertisement, which might have been a major factor in accounting for the popularity of these best sellers.

The method followed has been (1) to give a factual account of the best selling from 1944 to 1953; this includes a year by year listing of the ten best selling books from 1944 to 1953 in the fields of fiction and non-fiction, a total of twenty titles for each year, with some information about the sales figures and popularity; (2) to discuss some principles and criteria of book reviewing and to set up certain specific criteria for evaluating the book reviews within this study; (3) to analyze, by these criteria, the reviews of best-selling fiction and non fiction books from 1944 to 1953; and (4) to formulate conclusions regarding these reviews.

The qualifications of the books reviewers, of the titles under consideration, were investigated. It was evident that reviewers were more critical than merely reportorial in their writing; it was found that most the critics were well qualified for book reviewing by preparation, experience, interest, and ability and, for the most part, they exhibited an average, or better than average, knowledge of theory of criticism.

Significant factors were noted about the review publications, containing the reviews studied. The analysis of the reviewing media revealed that certain periodicals, in their signed book reviews and in their concentration of attention on book reviewing, have manifested a desire and a capacity to subject current best sellers, since 1944, to a thorough and effective criticism.

Generally speaking, the reviews indicate book reviewing rather than literary criticism. Most of them, however, stand well as book reviews and meet standards, as they have been set up in this study, for reviewing. They display good literary form; they are authoritative in treatment; they show considered comparison with other books; and they are comprehensive in coverage.

The conclusions drawn are (1) the book reviewing of best sellers from 1944 to 1953 indicates, on the whole, a judiciousness that has considered both the merits and the demerits of the best sellers of the period; (2) the book reviewing of this time-span provides a fairly satisfactory criticism for the average American reading public.


MPACT Scores for Martha Terosse Boaz

A = 16
C = 3
A+C = 19
T = 18
G = 2
W = 16
TD = 17
TA = 2
calculated 2010-04-17 17:48:16

Advisors and Advisees Graph