Group Analysis of a Monograph

So you're a history instructor, and you want your students to know how a book is put together. But for crying out loud, the book is 300 pages long and far too dense for your cute little high school juniors to digest.

The solution...

Break it down according to chapters. Have the students form the same number of groups as there are chapters in the books. Then have each students present the essence of the book to the rest of the class. Walk them through how/why the book is structured as it is. Emphasis the role of each chapter in forming the argument or key elements/turning points of the narrative. This allows the students to see how a book works in scholarship, and it also teaches them how to distill a complex argument in simple terms to an audience.