From School Library Journal
Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
An approach by era, secondary in the alphabetically-arranged DAH, forms the foundation of the EAH. Each volume reflects one of the eras in The National Standards for United States History, Revised Edition, used to organize the history curriculum. Thus, the set's applicability as a complement to classroom instruction is self-evident. Each volume, organized A-Z, covers in approximately 3,500 entries the key events, people, and trends that gave an era its distinctions and that influenced the eras to come.
The first volume, treating "Beginnings to 1607," provides rich context for the era of voyages of discovery. It depicts the Europe emerging from feudalism and religious wars, energized by science and curiosity and motivated by trade, as well as the cultures of the native peoples of the Americas, ill-prepared for their clash with outsiders. So it is that an encyclopedia of American history accommodates articles on Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci as well as Columbus and Elizabeth I. The back-of-the-book chronology (a feature of every volume) gives this context temporal structure. Every volume also includes transcriptions of primary documents (more selectively than the DAH) and a volume-specific index.
Befitting a reference tool designed to strengthen the high-school curriculum, EAH includes maps and other illustrations. Because it, unlike DAH, has biographical entries, many of the illustrations are portraits.
The potential drawback of the organization by era is fragmentation of broad topics such as education, religion, literature, race, and labor. These and others receive their due through an era-specific article in each volume (with the usual exception of the scene-setting volume 1). Information about specific topics treated in a dedicated article in just one volume (e.g., Ford Motor Corporation, Lewis and Clark expedition, Harvard College, Haymarket riot) may appear in other volumes as well. As in the DAH, entries in the set's comprehensive index knit these disparate discussions together. Also as in DAH, EAH's signed articles conclude with bibliographic references.
If they can have but one American history encyclopedia, libraries should consider their clientele's needs. AHigh-school libraries should go with EAH, and their librarians should capitalize on its value as a tool designed to support the curriculum. Public libraries need to consider whether users are most likely to be high-school students (in which case EAH) or college students and college-educated adults (in which case DAH). RBB
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