Write a five-paragraph essay consisting of a critical review of Christopher Browning’s book Ordinary Men.  In your review, you should situate the book in its historical context, summarize the premises behind the book’s historical argument, evaluate the use of historical evidence, and critique the merits of the book’s conclusions.

 

Paragraph 1: Introduce the Holocaust, Reserve Police Battalion 101, and Browning’s book/argument
Paragraph 2: Summarize the social/psychological factors that Browning transformed ordinary men into mass murders
Paragraph 3: Summarize the specific historical factors that Browning argues transformed ordinary men of RPB 101 into mass murders
Paragraph 4: Evaluate Browning’s use of evidence and critique the merits of his conclusions
Paragraph 5: Conclude by explaining how the lessons of this book are relevant to society today

All quotations, statistics, or references to specific arguments need to be cited using a parenthetical citation stating author’s last name and page number.  If you read a Kindle edition that does not have page numbers, provide the location number instead.

The focus of your paper should be on Browning’s book and argument, but you may reference Doris Bergen’s book War & Genocide and/or Daniel Goldhagen’s video if you wish.  Do not use any other sources for this paper.

After your conclusion, return a couple of extra lines and then insert a bibliography listing all the books and/or videos you used in writing your paper.  The bibliography must follow the Chicago Manual of Style formatting guidelines.  A sample bibliography is included in this module, and you should copy the formatting displayed.

Papers should be carefully edited for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style.  This is your culminating assignment for this class.  It should be polished and show off your knowledge of the historical subject matter and your critical thinking skills.