If you're going for wow, that was a good read:

1. If it's boring, just put it down and start something new. There are SO MANY incredible history books out there. Why waste your time?

2. This does not apply to stuff you have to read for school or research.

If you're going for historiographical quality:

1. I'll look up reviews, if there are any. Are they from academic journals or popular publications? (Or both?) Are they generally good?

2. Who is the author(s)? What is their background?

3. Who is the publisher? (This requires some knowledge of who the top academic publishers are besides university presses, which will vary by field.)

4. When was the book published? (Generally, the more recent, the better.)

5. How often does the book cite its information? (footnotes, endnotes, &c)

6. What primary sources does it use? How many different primary sources does it use? Generally, more is better, but for some topics that's not going to happen as much.

7. Does it use its primary sources honestly? Like, say, does it take as straightforward "this really happened" a story that, when you look up the citation, comes from a fictional satire?

8. Does it talk about competing opinions anywhere? (Again, this might not always be a factor--definitely not a Deciding Factor on book quality)

9. What secondary sources does it use? What are their publishers?

10. What is the book arguing? Even if it presents itself as a "narrative" or a "story." Is the underlying point that U.S. soldiers are heroes and their actions in whatever war are justified, even though what you're reading is an account of D-Day? Or is it trying to show the utter barbarity and senselessness of war, even though people like me have always learned the invasion of Normandy and fight through France was essential to the Allied victory?

11. Not applicable in all cases, but in "society-based" stories (say, "Sausage and Civic Culture in Seventeenth-Century Germany"): what perspectives does it consider? Is everything about/seen through the view of white men? (Obviously there are other axes of identity to consider, but white and male are the barn doors).

If you're going for "I have to read this book for a paper/exams/etc"

1. Author

2. Historiography of topic

3. Sources

4. Method

5. Thesis

6. Outline of book

7. Topic/thesis/SHORT description of each chapter

8. A couple examples of how it directly uses its primary sources (basically, its methodology in action)