A book review is an article that describes and evaluates a book after its publication. Popular books may be published and reviewed simultaneously. More scholarly reviews may appear months or years later.  This guide provides a list of sources that provide citations to book reviews. It is helpful to have the complete title, author, and date of publication when searching for reviews.

A note on electronic database access: All of the databases below are available on the library's research Website (http://library.ucsc.edu/research.html). Search for the database by title, or click on "Article Databases" for an alphabetical list.

General Book Review Sources

Expanded Academic Index ASAP from Infotrac/Gale
Online Database. Covers 1980-present.
Contains citations and some full-text reviews from popularly and scholarly journals. Search for the book title or author name, along with the keyword "review".

Lexis-Nexis Academic
Online Database. Coverage varies, covers most newspapers ~late 1980's-present.
Contains full-text reviews from major newspapers including the New York Times and the London Times. Connect to the database and perform a Guided News Search. Under News Category, choose Arts and Sports News. Under News Source, choose Book, movie, music & play reviews. Search for the book title or author name under headline or full-text. Be sure the date range covers the year of publication.

Web of Science
Online Database. Covers 1975-present.
Under "General Search", search for book title words and limit to publication type book review.

Books in Print
Online Database. Covers books currently available in print. Search for book title or author and select the Reviews tab. Note: Not all entries include reviews. Best for popular fiction.

PCI (Periodicals Contents Index)
Online Database. Covers 1770-1995.
Search for book title or author words and limit to scope book reviews only.

Book Review Digest
Located in McHenry Reference, Index Table 2. Call Number Z1219.B67. Covers 1905 -present.
Search by author name.

Book Review Index
Located in McHenry Reference, Index Table 2. Call Number Z1035.A1B57. Covers 1965 -present.
Search by author name.

New York Times Book Review Index
Located in the McHenry Reference stacks, Call number Z1007.N48. Covers 1896 - 1970.
Search by title or author name. An online index is also available for the years 1996-present, at http://www.nyt.com.

Combined Retrospective Index to Book reviews in Scholarly Journals
Located in McHenry Reference, Index Table 2. Call Number Z1035.A1C57. Covers 1887-1974.
Search by author name.

Specialized Book Review Indexes

Listed below are a selection of online subject databases that contain reviews of books written for specific academic disciplines.

ABELL
Reviews are specific to literary theory and literature. Search for author or book title, and limit to "reviews" under search options.

ABI/Inform
Specializes in books reviews in economics and business.

America: History and Life
Book reviews in American history. Search on author or book title keywords and limit to document type book review.

Art Abstracts
Reviews are specific to film and subjects in the arts. Search for author or book title keywords, combine with the phrase "and book review".

Contemporary Women's Issues
Book reviews in women's studies. Search on book title as keyword, or author name as book author. Limit to article type book review.

EconLit
Book reviews in economics. Search on author or book title keywords and limit to document type book reviews.

MathSciNet
Reviews in mathematics, statistics, engineering, and the physical sciences. Search for author or title keyword.

Music Index
Reviews in music history and musicology. Search for author or book title keywords and limit to document type printed material review.

Sociological Abstracts
Book reviews in sociology. Search on book title as keywords.