American Antiquity publishes book reviews of scholarly books and ebooks on the archaeology of North America, and on topics of global and theoretical interest in anthropological archaeology. 

It also publishes book review essays, reviews of two to four print or digital editions.

Please send books to the Associate Editor for Reviews:

Barbara J. Mills
School of Anthropology
1009 E South Campus Drive
P.O. Box 210030
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ  85721-0030

Email: bmills@arizona.edu

Book Reviews

Book reviews in American Antiquity are reviews of individual print or digital books. These reviews are critical assessments of the contributions that a book makes to the field and to a particular body of knowledge; they summarize the main topics or themes of a book; they outline the theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches that authors/editors/contributors apply towards the case study or case studies they present; and they relate main conclusions a book makes to broader scholarly conversations in the field.

Book review authorship in American Antiquity is through invitation only. Ideally, book reviewers are “close enough” to the topics covered in the books that they have a good familiarity with the relevant literature and current conversations about them in the field, but not “too close” to any of the authors, editors, or contributors. If someone invited to write a book review is actively collaborating with a book author or editor, or has a long history of such collaboration, or was a peer reviewer of a manuscript prior to publication, or is an affiliate of the same department/agency/company as a book author/editor/contributor, that person probably should not write a book review for the journal. If and as needed, please ask the Associate Editor for Reviews about potential conflicts of interest.

Book Review Specifications 

Book reviews in American Antiquity should be completed within approximately 90 days of the acceptance of the review invitation (the exact due date to be included in the invitation), and they may be up to 750 words in length, not including the word count associated with the bibliographic header and book review author byline. Reviews that exceed the word limit are likely to be returned to the reviewer for revision. Book reviews begin with the bibliographic header at the top of the first page of the ms. (as formatted in the Editorial Manager invitation), followed by the reviewer's name, followed by the reviewer's department/office/agency and institutional affiliation, followed by the text of the book review. Neither titles (professor, director, associate, and so on) nor contact information of book reviewers are included with published book reviews.  

Book review manuscripts adhere to the SAA Style Guide. They should be in Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced. Book reviews may be written in English (with US English spellings, rather than UK English), and they may also be written in Spanish, although the process of handling book reviews written in Spanish may be longer than for those written in English. Direct quotes from the book should include page numbers for any such quotes. Citations of other published works are discouraged in book reviews, which do not include “References Cited” sections, and such references should be used sparingly, or not at all.

Book Review Essays

Book review essays in American Antiquity are reviews of two to four print or digital editions. They have been selected for a review essay because they share common research topics. Authors are encouraged to critically evaluate the books’ contributions to contemporary archaeology. While some description of the individual books’ formats and arguments is to be expected, book essays are meant to go beyond a typical book review to reflect more broadly on the research topic(s) and for authors to offer their own perspectives on how successful the books are in moving the discipline forward. Essay authors are also encouraged to compare the books to canonical works on the topic and to add their thoughts on what is needed next in relation to the common research themes explored in the books being discussed. 

Book review essay authorship in American Antiquity is through invitation only. Ideally, book reviewers are “close enough” to the topics covered in the books that they have a good familiarity with the relevant literature and current conversations about them in the field, but not “too close” to any of the authors, editors, or contributors. If someone invited to write a book review is actively collaborating with a book author or editor, or has a long history of such collaboration, or was a peer reviewer of a manuscript prior to publication, or is an affiliate of the same department/agency/company as a book author/editor/contributor, that person probably should not write a book review for the journal. If and as needed, please ask the Associate Editor for Reviews about potential conflicts of interest.

Book Review Essay Specifications

Book review essays in American Antiquity should be completed within approximately 120 days of the acceptance of the review invitation (the exact due date to be included in the invitation). Lengths are in the range of 2000–2500 words, not including the word count associated with the bibliographic header and book review author byline. Reviews that go beyond this word count may be returned to the reviewer for revision. Please format your essay as you would a standard research article, including a title, your name, affiliation, and contact information, along with the a listing of the books’ bibliographic details on the first page. Include an abstract of no more than 200 words and a Spanish translation, followed by the text of your book review essay and a references cited section. 

In preparing your book review essay, please adhere to the SAA Style Guide. Book review essays may be written in English (with US English spellings, rather than UK English), and they may also be written in Spanish, although the process of handling book reviews written in Spanish may be longer than for those written in English. If quoting from the book directly, please include page numbers for any such quotes. Citations of other published works is encouraged. In-text citations should use Chicago Manual of Style Author-Date format, and the full reference should be in a References Cited section at the end of the review.

Please check Preparing Your Materials for other elements that should be included in your Book Review Essay, including:

• Abstract
• Keywords
• Acknowledgments
• Funding Statement 
• Data Availability Statement 
• Competing Interests Statement 
• References Cited