From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up-These comprehensive encyclopedias have much in common. Both open with the same four essays discussing the origins, outbreak, overview, and legacy of the war. They are followed by alphabetical entries on virtually every aspect of the conflict, including battles, people, military equipment and strategies, and social and political changes associated with it. The readable articles range from a few paragraphs to several pages. While the entry texts are identical in both resources, there are 300 fewer (for a total of 900) in the
Student version, which omits some lesser-known figures, events, and battles. Nine topics that still entertain controversy are examined in separate, boxed essays within related entries. The most significant difference between the sets is in the volumes on documents.
Encyclopedia contains chronologically arranged, mostly official documents (treaties, diplomatic dispatches, and laws) that generally open with single-paragraph introductions.
Student Encyclopedia includes a few of these documents, along with primary-source excerpts from letters, diaries, memoirs, and speeches, arranged thematically. The introductions are longer, and conclusions, providing context and analysis, will help users gain a better understanding of the human costs of the conflict. Both sets contain more than 30 clearly marked, black-and-white line maps. Many of them are found within entries along with average-quality black-and-white photos. Layouts also vary.
Student has a larger font, wider margins, and some additional photos. This difference, along with the accessible documents, will make it the preferred choice for most high schools.
-Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
*Starred Review* Although often overshadowed by World War II in world history, the Great War set the stage not only for the Second World War but for virtually all of the major ethnic and political conflicts that have taken place since then. In 1,200 alphabetical entries covering major personalities, events, treaties, and sociopolitical issues of the time, this set purports to become "the definitive reference on a struggle whose aftershocks are still being felt."
With international contributors from all over the globe, the set incorporates new information on topics like war-related atrocities, pacifist movements, and the establishment of postwar international tribunals. There are comprehensive entries on matters such as the first battlefield use of the tank, airplanes and aerial bombardment, and, of course, the use of chemical weapons. Other entries cover specific theaters and campaigns (Africa, the Adriatic, for example) or the role of specific countries in the war. Although most entries are a page or less, others can take up to more than 10 pages (Western front overview, for example). Each entry is followed by see also references and a list of resources for further exploration. Some entries also include "Historical Controversy" sidebars; for example, the entry Germany, navy has a sidebar on "Germany's Decision for Unrestricted Submarine Warfare and Its Impact on the U.S. Declaration of War." The volumes contain numerous black-and-white photographs that clearly have been carefully chosen. Although many of the pictures are of prominent figures, also appearing are depictions of live-action fighting, including one of an aerial dogfight taken from the air.
Volumes 1-4 each begins with a table of contents for the set and the same collection of 16 maps. Volume 4 also contains a list of Medal of Honor and Victoria Cross recipients, a chart of army and navy ranks, a chronology, a glossary, and a bibliography. Besides containing the index, the fifth volume is devoted to primary documents, beginning with the Treaty of London in 1839 and concluding with a poem by Robert Graves written in 1938 recalling his war experience. In between are pieces like an excerpt from Hitler's Mein Kampf; Ho Chi Minh's declaration "The Rightful Demands of the Vietnamese People," submitted to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; and the text of a German propaganda flyer, "To the Colored Soldiers of the U.S. Army." This encyclopedia clearly shows how World War I is the hub of modern world history and culture.
Overall, this set is an outstanding contribution to reference works on the Great War, particularly useful for academic and research libraries. Another version, World War I: A Student Encyclopedia, which we reviewed in the March 1, 2006, issue, has identical but fewer (900 instead of 1,200) entries. Michael Tosko
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
