Centenary Paper: Mutuality, Community and Collectivity: The Book Review and Thinking in Public

In 1923 E. Allison Peers launched a new journal at a moment when Hispanic Studies was emerging as a field. Through reviews and editorials, he and the contributors were working out how to engage publics and build readership. From the pages of the journal, it is possible to see him creating a sense of shared dialogue. Often and without compunction, through book reviews, this involved the promotion of his own work and that of others, a question that has become sticky for academics. This article considers the question of (self)promotion, looks back at a selection of reviews from early issues of the journal, and compares these with how twenty-first century para-academia does the work of thinking in public. It proposes that the review needs rethinking and should be considered as a form that creates community and generates collective mutuality.