Book Reviews at SEL

Does SEL accept proposals for book reviews? SEL does not accept proposals for standard book reviews. Instead, our practice is to invite mid- to late-career scholars to complete a themed review of work in their field of specialization. Publishers now send books directly to reviewers who have agreed to complete this process for SEL.

What happened to the omnibus review? For more than sixty years, SEL was well known for the commissioned omnibus review of recent monographs, edited collections, and new editions in the field that is included in each issue. Each year, SEL's editors select a leading scholar in each of the journal's four fields to review the entirety of that year's recently published studies. Reviewers typically received between 100-125 books each year from all of the major university presses, and the essay would be 10,000-15,000 words. The resulting omnibus reviews served to index the state of each reviewer's field and were consulted by emerging and established scholars alike. In fact, the omnibus reviews consistently ranked among the most read articles in each issue. Unfortunately, due to COVID and the ongoing constraints on faculty members' time, it became increasingly difficult to convince a single reader to tackle the number of books involved in the traditional omnibus review, much less author an almost 15,000-word essay. 

What is SEL's new book review model? SEL has embraced a new themed book review method of smaller batches of books grouped by subtopic with a shorter essay length (7,000-9,000 words). Our new version of the review involves fewer books targeted to a reader's interests, which (a) retains the spirit of the omnibus, (b) offers scholars books they were probably already planning to read, and (c) increases the likelihood that a reader will agree to do the review. Further, a smaller list of books to read also means that we can feature the work of scholars whose teaching schedules might have prevented them in the past from taking on the larger omnibus review. 
Reviewers for our new themed reviews are asked to put the books in conversation with each other, making connections and raising questions. Each themed review would ideally be a work of synthesis rather than coverage. What I have asked recent authors to accomplish is not a traditional book review but something more in the spirit of the historic omnibus that SEL has been known for. How does this collection of books address gaps in the field? What common questions, challenges, or issues are being raised and addressed? What future avenues do these texts open up? We hope you enjoy our new themed reviews!