From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up—Excellent resources covering the causes, course, and consequences of the war. In both sets, introductory essays serve as useful overviews, providing background history and information on the military operations conducted during the war and significant figures. Arrangement is alphabetical, and the detailed entries conclude with see-also references and a list of works consulted. There are more than 800 articles in the student edition (approximately 200 fewer than in
Encyclopedia), covering events, people, places, battles, and such topics as art, atrocities, loyalists, propaganda, and smallpox. Lesser-known figures and events found in
Encyclopedia are not included in
Student Encyclopedia. Entries that appear in both sets are often identical in text.
Student has a one-column format; the wide margins contain entry headings and highlighted text quotes.
Encyclopedia features two columns of somewhat denser text per page. Numerous, average-quality black-and-white reproductions are found throughout both resources, and clear maps highlighting marches, battles, and other important actions, and a few charts. Both encyclopedias conclude with a chronology, a glossary of military terminology, a complete bibliography, and useful primary sources ranging from
Cato's Letters (1721) to the text of the
Alien and Sedition Acts (1798).
Student includes notes on how to read maps, primary sources, and charts and graphs. The comprehensive nature of these sets makes them ideal references as they are much more detailed than Richard L. Blanco's
The American Revolution, 1775–1783: An Encyclopedia (Garland, 1993) and Peter D. G. Thomas's American Revolution books (Oxford Univ.). While public libraries may opt for the
Encyclopedia, the natural choice for schools would be
Student.—
Michelle Barsom, Bainbridge College, GA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
*Starred Review* This set covers the social, political, and military history of the American War of Independence. The
A-Z entries focus on prominent personalities, key battles, and significant cultural and political developments in the time period from the end of the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War) to the establishment of George Washington as the first president. More than 50 black-and-white maps, mostly depicting battles and military campaigns, provide a sound geographic orientation for the user. Troop locations and movement are depicted, as are precise locations where famous figures were killed. Additionally, black-and-white illustrations are liberally sprinkled throughout both sets, and many of them, like the maps, are period pieces, lending a flavor of the era. The set ends with a comprehensive bibliography of about 20 pages and a glossary defining more than 100 words and terms (
barbette, redoubt, smoothbore ), many of them peculiar to the time period.
Two introductory essays discuss the origins and military operations of the American Revolution. Like the entries in the body of the encyclopedia, they are followed by a list of bibliographic references as well as a see also category referring users to specific entries. The concise and well-written entries are identical to those in the larger Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War: A Political, Social, and Military History --the student version simply has around 200 fewer entries, mostly for relatively less-important skirmishes and individuals. The contributors are an international mixture of history professors, independent scholars, and military historians.
Primary documents comprise the fifth volume. The depth and breadth of the material here should satisfy any scholar of the period. Sources begin with a sample from "Cato's Letters" (1721), a set of newspaper essays written by British Whigs about the true nature of democracy, and extend to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, a product of bipartisan conflict in the fledgling U.S. government that laid the groundwork for later debates about the balance of power between states and the central government. In between are gems like Paul Revere's own account of his famous ride, British General William Howe's military campaign strategy for 1776 as described in a personal letter, battle reports, the texts of treaties and speeches, and the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. As a whole, these documents are an excellent complement to the A-Z entries and can be just as useful to the novice as to the experienced researcher.
In addition to having fewer entries and a more open-looking design than the larger encyclopedia, this version offers a student-centered resource area containing a categorical index, a list of preapproved scholarly Web sites, and a brief section on how to conduct effective historical research, including the use of primary sources and maps. Though not specifically stated, it seems geared toward libraries serving high-school students and college undergraduates. Academic libraries would be better served by the main set, as it is more comprehensive. Michael Tosko
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
