1999

D -- History and Area Studies


Werkzeug des Historikers: eine Einführung in die historischen Hilfswissenschaften [Tools of the Historian: An Introduction to Methods and Techniques for Conducting Historical Research]. Ahasver von Brandt. 15th ed., with an updated bibliography and an afterword. Ed. Franz Fuchs. Stuttgart [et al.]: Kohlhammer, 1998. 219 p. ill. 18 cm. (Urban-Taschenbücher, 33) ISBN 3-17-015499-0: DM 24.00 [99-1/4-403] This title first appeared in 1958 and has since become the essential tool for history students. The 15th edition includes an updated bibliography covering the past fifteen years. While Brandt annotated many of his entries, Fuchs has not. It would have been preferable, especially for beginning history students, had the editor selected fewer works, but added comments. [wl/hsb]
  Bibliographie Altägypten 1822-1946 [Bibliography on Ancient Egypt 1822-1946]. Christine Beinlich-Seeber. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 25 cm. (Ägyptologische Abhandlungen, 61) ISBN 3-447-03682-6: DM 448.00 [99-1/4-404]

Part 1. Alphabetisches Verzeichnis: A-I [Alphabetical Listing: A-I]. 1998. xxxii, p. 1-878

Part 2. Alphabetisches Verzeichnis: J-Z [Alphabetical Listing: J-Z]. 1998. v, p. 879-1,789

Part 3. Indices. 1998. ix, 1,158 p.

This carefully researched, high-quality bibliography fills an important gap by covering Egyptology exhaustively from 1822 (the year hieroglyphs were first deciphered) to 1946, when the Annual Egyptological Bibliography (AEB) began publication. Together with the Heidelberg University's Fachkatalog Ägyptologie, which is available only online (at <http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/helios/fachinfo/fachref/aegypt/fachkat.htm), and the AEB, it represents the single greatest effort to compile a bibliography on Egyptology.

The bibliography contains around 25,000 entries as well as 8,000 book review citations. Their selection and organization are thematically and chronologically meaningful. However, titles published in non-Latin alphabets are excluded, which is regrettable, especially with regard to Russian scholarship. Also excluded, wisely, are Christianity and Coptic Egypt and papyrology. No fewer than twelve separate indexes are the real treasure of this bibliography. The bulk consists of a subject index, well-organized with detailed subsections. There is also a listing of all, even the smallest, museums, private collections, exhibits and auctions featuring Egyptian antiquities worldwide. An electronic version is planned. [ee/hsb]
 

Bibliographie zum altägyptischen Totenbuch [Bibliography on the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead]. Svenja A. Gülden and Irmtraut Munro. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998. x, 189 p. 24 cm. (Studien zum altägyptischen Totenbuch, 1) ISBN 3-447-04077-7: DM 98.00 [99-1/4-405] The amazingly broad research literature covering the Egyptian Book of the Dead is gathered here into a thorough, well-researched and verified compilation. Its special organizational feature allows researchers to find the literature by any of the 194 individual maxims that comprise the Book of the Dead. The bibliography is easily accessible, the entries are numbered throughout, and an author index is included. Illustrating that bibliographical cooperation is useful, this work profited from Beinlich-Seeber's Bibliographie Altägypten 1822-1946 (see RREA 5:216) and the Book of the Dead Project at the University of Bonn. [ee/hsb]
  Internet für Althistoriker und Altphilologen: eine praxisorientierte Einführung [Internet for Classicists: A Practical Introduction]. Dieter Kaufmann, Paul Tiedemann. Darmstadt: Primus-Verlag, 1999. xii, 186 p. ill. 24 cm. ISBN 3-89678-110-3: DM 34.00 [99-1/4-412] The publishing house of Primus has by now issued about a dozen Internet guides, all with the same cryptic subtitle. They are all composed of the same three parts: (1) introduction to the Internet, (2) important Internet addresses for researchers in the field, and (3) publishing on the Internet. The first and third sections hardly vary from one guide to another.

These Internet guides tend to be directed toward a clientele that experience shows to be hard to win over to digitized information. The advantage of the Internet for text- and source-based disciplines such as classics is obvious, providing as it does easy access to a wealth of Greek and Latin texts as well as to a rich treasure of information pertaining to antiquity.

The selection in this volume is based on "quality" and "relevance"--criteria that are not, alas, further elaborated. The big question remains unanswered: on what basis does one recommend a Web site, either in a guide such as this, or, in the library context, by providing a link on a page? Some of the Internet addresses in the second part are annotated, and some are not. Where they exist, the annotations tend to be rather skimpy and to repeat the information that is already on the Web pages. One would like to know how many titles are in a bibliographic listing, when it was begun, who is responsible for it, when it is updated, what its relationship is to other relevant bibliographies, etc. With collections of full texts it is important to know who has assembled them, on which editions they are based, etc. Of course it costs time and effort to gather this kind of information and provide critical commentary, but only then does an Internet guide make sense: anyone can gather a bunch of URLs; the art lies in evaluating them.

Bottom line: academic libraries do not need this book. [kh/sl]

Mensch und Landschaft in der Antike: Lexikon der historischen Geographie [People and Landscapes in Antiquity: Lexicon of Historical Geography]. Ed. Holger Sonnabend. Stuttgart; Weimar: Metzler, 1999. xii, 660 p. ill. 24 cm. ISBN 3-476-01285-9: DM 98.00 [99-1/4-413] Edited by a classicist at the University of Stuttgart, this lexicon consists of 214 signed articles (with bibliographic references) written by fifty-three authors and indexed by name, place, and subject. It focuses on the interdependence of humans and their environment in history and aims to reconstruct geographic conditions and geographic knowledge of the past-limited here to the classical period (ninth century B.C.E. to the seventh century C.E). It aims to be an interdisciplinary reference work for classicists, geographers, geo-archaeologists, and historians of technology. The editor promises "new perspectives" and declares that this volume presents many topics for the first time in their historical-geographic context. Unfortunately, bringing writers together from different disciplines does not ensure an interdisciplinary work, which comes about only when the same topic is illuminated from different points of view. Perhaps a volume of conference proceedings is better suited to such an ambition than is a lexicon. In any case, the expectations raised by this volume are on the whole disappointed. The articles on asceticism and constitutions, to name two examples, fail meaningfully to relate their subjects to specific geographic contexts. A later edition might bring an improvement--the topic, certainly, warrants it. [jm/sl]
  Lexikon des Mittelalters [Dictionary of the Middle Ages]. Stuttgart; Weimar: Metzler. 28 cm. Vols. 1 (1980)-6 (1993) published by Artemis/Artemis & Winkler; vols. 7 (1995)-9 (1998) published by LexMA-Verlag. [99-1/4-418]

Vol. 9. Werla-Zypresse, Appendix. 1998. viii p., 1,094 cols. ISBN 3-89659-909-7: DM 290.00.

Index. Ed. Charlotte Bretscher-Gisiger. 1999. 776 cols. ISBN 3-476-01688-9: DM 298.00

Lexikon des Mittelalters. [Study edition]. Stuttgart; Weimar: Metzler, 1999. Vols. 1-9. 25 cm. ISBN 3-476-01742-7: DM 1,980.00 [99-1/4-419]

Dictionary of the Middle Ages. American Council of Learned Societies. Editor-in-chief Joseph R. Strayer. New York: Scribner, 1982-1989. Vols. 1-13. ill. 29 cm. ISBN 0-684-19073-7: $1,670.20 [99-1/4-420]

Dictionnaire encyclopédique du moyen âge [Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Middle Ages]. Ed. André Vauchez. Paris: Éditions du Cerf [et al.] 28 cm. [99-1/4-421]

Vol. 1. A-K. 1997. xxviii, 858 p. ill. ISBN 3-204-05865-3: FF 1,890.00 (with vol. 2)

Vol. 2. L-Z. 1997. p. 860-1692. ill. ISBN 3-204-05866-1: FF 1,890.00 (with vol. 1)

With the publication of its index volume, the Lexikon des Mittelalters (LexMA) is now complete. Finished in just over twenty years (1977-1998), it is an indispensable resource for scholars as well as others with a serious interest in the Middle Ages. (The project was originally proposed in 1969 as a continuation of the one-volume Lexikon der Alten Welt [1965; reprinted in three volumes in 1990].) A huge administrative undertaking, it changed publishers twice (from Artemis to LexMA-Verlag and finally to Metzler), with approximately 3,000 contributors writing under the guidance of over 100 advisors from 14 countries. It is a balanced, consistent, and user-friendly reference work.

Specialists can always find fault in a work of this scale. Nevertheless, the two-and-a-half-page errata list for the entire set at the end of volume 9 testifies to the high editorial quality of this mammoth project. Also in volume 9 are a selection of comprehensive thematic articles, a supplementary list of names and places, and extensive lists of rulers and family trees.

A comparison of the German dictionary with its American and French counterparts is revealing. All three cover not only the Latin Middle Ages of western Europe, but also Byzantine, Slavic, and Mediterranean/Islamic subjects. LexMA has by far the largest number of articles, especially concerning persons. Unlike the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, the French work is relatively weak in its coverage of German and Scandinavian topics. All three works are similarly broad in scope, though the LexMA has many more short articles than are found in the U.S. and French publications. On the other hand, LexMA has the fewest illustrations, which are especially prolific in the Dictionnaire encyclopédique du moyen âge. The greatest weakness of the LexMA, particularly when compared to the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, is its index. Nonetheless, overall the German encyclopedia is the most comprehensive and detailed of the three and, thanks to its international orientation, its leading place among reference works for the Middle Ages will not be restricted to Germany. The newly published student's edition (which includes the previously unnumbered index volume in its volume 9) puts this important work in the price range of smaller libraries and individual scholars. [ch/sl]
 

Dictionnaire du moyen âge: histoire et société [Dictionary of the Middle Ages: History and Society]. Paris: Encyclopædia Universalis; Albin Michel, 1997. 923 p. 21 cm. ( [Les dictionnaires] Encyclopædia universalis) ISBN 2-226-09418-0: FF 170.00 [99-1/4-422]

Dictionnaire du moyen âge: littérature et philosophie [Dictionary of the Middle Ages: Literature and Philosophy]. Paris: Encyclopædia Universalis; Albin Michel, 1999. 868 p. 21 cm. ( [Les dictionnaires] Encyclopædia universalis) ISBN 2-226-10790-8: FF 170.00 [99-1/4-423]

Like other volumes in the series, these two represent cumulations of relevant articles from the Encyclopædia Universalis, an encyclopedic work that was intended from the beginning as a "mediator between the research community and the general public." This ambitious undertaking has succeeded in attracting highly regarded French experts as contributors, resulting in a work that fills the gap between the most demanding reference works, such as the Lexikon des Mittelalters, and compact lexical tools for beginning students and the lay public, such as the Kleines Lexikon des Mittelalters by Wilhelm Volkert (see RREA 5:226).

The enormous quantity of material on the European and Byzantine Middle Ages has led to a division into two volumes, the first focusing on political development and society, with 522 articles, and the second on literature and philosophy, with more than 420. Depending on whether the articles have been drawn from the nineteen-volume Corpus (comparable to the Encyclopedia Britannica's Macropedia) or the four-volume Thesaurus (similar to the Britannica's Micropedia), one will find either detailed treatments with bibliographic apparatus, or just short articles with no references to literature.

Most articles in volume 1 are devoted to short biographies of secular and ecclesiastical leaders, to dynasties, and to geographical entities--though with regard to the latter, below the level of kingdoms only a few of the most important dominions and city-states are covered. Especially valuable are the overview articles, e.g., "Féodalité" by G. Duby and "Grandes invasions" by L. Musset, that, in the spirit of the Annales school, look at phenomena of "longue durée," e.g., fundamental structures and long-term developments.

One might criticize the complete lack of illustrations and cross-references within the individual articles, also the fact that the bibliographies often seem stuck in the 1950s and 1960s, even though some include new publications as recent as 1994. (In the article "Allemagne," for example, the most recent reference, if one excludes reprint editions, dates from 1967.)

In volume 2, the focus is on individual writers and works, as well as on literary genres. Islamic writers such as Averroes and Avicenna receive their due, as do "Averoïsme" and "Avicennisme latin." As in the first volume, the index is an enormous aid. It includes many terms, e.g., "Néo-Platonisme" or "Mystique chrétienne," "juive" and "arabe," that lack their own entries, but are covered in articles the reader is directed to (sixteen and thirty-five articles, respectively).

A comparison with the Dictionnaire encyclopédique du moyen âge discussed above (RREA 5:223) leads to no decisive verdict in favor of either work. The Dictionnaire encyclopédique has far more articles, almost all of which are supplied with brief but current references to relevant literature. But it cannot match the bibliographic coverage (dated though it may often be) of the major articles in the Dictionnaire du moyen âge. In sum, each of these works is a valuable contribution to the field, and indeed they complement each other in many important respects. Although the Dictionnaire du moyen âge may duplicate articles available to library patrons who have access to the complete Encyclopædia Universalis, due to its modest price it should, like the Dictionnaire encyclopédique du moyen âge, not be lacking in the history section of reference collections in research libraries. [ch/jg]
 

Kleines Lexikon des Mittelalters: von Adel bis Zunft [Brief Lexicon of the Middle Ages: From the Nobility to the Guilds ]. Wilhelm Volkert. 2d rev. ed. München: Beck, 1999. 330 p. 19 cm. (Beck'sche Reihe, 1,281). 1st ed. publ. as Adel bis Zunft. ISBN 3-406-42081-8: DM 24.00 [99-1/4-424] This compact reference work is intended for readers of German with a general interest in the Middle Ages and for students at the undergraduate and beginning graduate level. Selection of entries has focused "above all on terms relating to the social and economic order of the High and Late Middle Ages in the German Reich, to its legal and constitutional circumstances, as well as to its ecclesiastical organization." As a result, articles on government, courts, the economy, and money predominate. This may be a necessary limitation for a work written by a single author, but as a result, articles about individuals, places, and geographical regions are lacking, as are headwords relating to intellectual and literary history.

This paperback edition has the same rubrics as the original edition of 1991, with a text that has been revised "in some places," as the foreword states. The thirteen-page bibliography of publications on the history of the Middle Ages, by contrast, has been thoroughly updated to include a substantial number of fundamental works published in recent years. Unfortunately, however, there are no references to further reading attached to individual articles. Still, this work will certainly prove useful for its intended audience. Research libraries, on the other hand, can probably do without it. [ch/jg]
 

Dictionnaire de la renaissance [Dictionary of the Renaissance]. Paris: Encyclopædia Universalis; Albin Michel, 1998. 923 p. ill. 21 cm. ( [Les dictionnaires] Encyclopædia universalis) ISBN 2-226-10584-0: FF 190.00 [99-1/4-426] The dictionary reprints mostly biographical articles from Encyclopædia Universalis focusing on art and music, while literature and politics are less well-represented. Chronologically it covers the early Florentine Renaissance to the late sixteenth century. While the preface mentions the Renaissance having started with Petrarch and Giotto, strangely neither of the Encyclopædia Universalis articles on these persons is included. Compared to the Thames and Hudson Encyclopedia of the Italian Renaissance (1981), for example, this work features more art in fewer articles. It is perfectly serviceable as a compact dictionary on Renaissance art. [ch/hsb]
  Japaner in der Neuen Welt: eine teilannotierte Bibliographie von Werken zu japanischen Einwanderern in Nordamerika in europäischen Sprachen [Japanese in the New World: A Partially Annotated Bibliography of Works in European Languages on Japanese Immigrants in North America]. Hans Dieter Ölschleger and Eva König. München: Iudicium, 1997. 1,038 p. 23 cm. (Bibliographische Arbeiten aus dem Deutschen Institut für Japanstudien der Philipp-Franz-von-Siebold-Stiftung, 4) ISBN 3-89129-395-X: DM 236.00 [99-1/4-429] This specialized bibliography is of exceptionally high quality: all titles have been described with book in hand, annotations are extensive, and the author has striven for completeness in monographs and journal articles in Western languages (although newspaper articles and the immigrant press are excluded). Dissertations and theses are the only works that are not annotated. A detailed subject index is included. [sh/mjc]
  Bibliographies on Southeast Asia. Comp. Herman C. Kemp. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1998. xvii, 1,128 p. 25 cm. (Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 22). ISBN 90-6718-121-8: Hfl. 175.00 [99-1/4-433] This bibliography of bibliographies on all Southeast Asian countries includes in their entirety the entries from the author's Annotated Bibliography of Bibliographies on Indonesia, which was published in 1990. That results in the entries for Indonesia comprising over half the total in this comprehensive volume. Although fewer than fifty percent of the titles are described from book-in-hand, more than seventy percent of the works are annotated, and both a subject and author index are included. The author adds a referral to Internet resources via the home page of the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. This is an excellent example of a subjective bibliography of bibliographies. [sh/mjc]
  Familiengeschichtliche Bibliographie [Bibliography of Family Genealogies]. Ed. Eckart Henning and Gabriele Jochums. Stuttgart: Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft Genealogischer Verbände. 23 cm. (Dieter Zwinger, Osannstr. 24, D-64285 Darmstadt) [99-1/4-434]

N.F. 1. 1945/60 (1997). 284 p. ISBN 3-9806303-0-7: DM 174.00

This title has had a beleaguered history, one that has included significant interruptions in the publication schedule and difficulty finding editors. The complexity of the genealogical literature only compounds the task of producing this type of reference work. The current volume, published in 1997, covers the years 1942-1960 and uses the same format as previous volumes, although organization, choice of titles, and bibliographic format have been updated to accommodate current user expectations. In order to keep the number of titles within manageable bounds, allied areas of genealogy, e.g., heraldry, have been excluded, as have works that focus on well-known historical figures. For example, a Goethe biography was left out, while an essay on Goethe's ancestors was included.

The editors have compiled their bibliography from existing genealogical sources and catalogs, regional and art historical bibliographies, and German genealogical journals and series. The volume is divided into three parts: "Bibliographies and Periodicals," "Sources," and "Descriptions." Titles originate from state, church, and private sources. The "Descriptions" portion contains nine subdivisions, of which "Family Histories" and "Ancestors and Offspring of Famous Individuals" constitute the main sections. A carefully prepared, comprehensive alphabetical index provides access by author, family name, place name, as well as keyword.

A number of concerns need to be mentioned. For example, the treatment of umlauts in the alphabetical arrangement of articles within the various divisions has led to unexpected sequences, e.g., the article on Mäderer comes after the one on Mayser; this approach should be abandoned in the next volume in favor of a sequential numbering approach with access provided by an index. In addition, the selectivity of resources included has caused the regrettable omission of certain types of materials that indirectly include genealogical information, such as company histories of family-owned enterprises or genealogies of German families whose works were published abroad. As a final example, the editors have simply made mistakes in their interpretation of terms, e.g., interchanging Pfarrerbuch and Pfarrbuch, which then led to the listing of materials in incorrect locations.

The questionable physical quality of the paperback format also detracts considerably from this work. Nonetheless, Familiengeschichtliche Bibliographie is a work that should be widely purchased by libraries and genealogical research centers. [mvm/jb]
 

Lexikon der deutschen Geschichte [Dictionary of German History]. Ed. Beate Braitling et al. Freiburg im Breisgau: Ploetz, 1999. 543 p. ill. 25 cm. ISBN 3-451-40510-5: DM 68.00 [99-1/4-436] With approximately 5,000 articles on recent German history, this title is aimed at a general readership interested in contemporary events and current politics. For the most part, articles focus on individuals of the modern era and on recent historical topics, but inexplicably the editors have also included articles on individuals such as Mahler and Haydn. The entries are very short, present only basic information, and offer no suggestions for further reading. Illustrations, genealogical tables, and graphics supplement the textual information. [wl/jb]
  Lexikon Drittes Reich [Dictionary of the Third Reich]. Friedemann Bedürftig. Unabridged pbk. ed. München; Zürich: Piper, 1997. 400 p. 19 cm. (Serie Piper, 2,369). ISBN 3-492-22369-9: DM 19.90 [99-1/4-437]

Taschenlexikon Deutschland nach 1945 [Pocket Dictionary of Post-WWII Germany]. Friedemann Bedürftig. Unabridged pbk. ed. München; Zürich: Piper, 1998. 459 p. ill. 19 cm. (Serie Piper, 2,495). Original title: Lexikon Deutschland nach 1945. ISBN 3-492-22495-4: DM 19.90 [99-1/4-438]

The Lexicon Drittes Reich contains some 1,000 articles on the Third Reich, but excludes material on the Second World War. Generally, the focus is on organizations, events, persons, political areas, with a preponderance of biographical articles. A four-page bibliography and a subject and name index provide bibliographic access. This title is hard to classify; it does not quite address the needs served by monograph literature, nor does it measure up as a reference tool to have close at hand when researching the Third Reich.

Taschenlexikon Drittes Reich is composed of articles on post-WWII German history with emphasis on biographical material, chiefly on politicians and writers. There is no subject index; however, cross-references in the alphabetical list of topics provide links to other relevant items. Maps, tables, graphics, and black and white photographs provide additional information.

Both books present their subject matter well, are nicely produced, and are most appropriate for the circulating collection of public libraries. [jpl/jb]
 

Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration 1933-1945 [Handbook on German-speaking Emigrants 1933-1945]. Ed. Claus-Dieter Krohn in collaboration with the Gesellschaft für Exilforschung. Darmstadt: Primus-Verlag, 1998. xiii, 1,356 cols. 28 cols. 28 cm. ISBN 3-89678-086-7: DM 128.00 [99-1/4-439] This excellent book offers a survey of current research on emigration from the German-speaking countries between 1933 and 1945 by proven scholars in this area. While much of the material deals with the already well-documented emigration of scientists, writers and artists, the editors also offer information on the experiences of many individuals whose stories have not been told before. This is an effort to deal with a complex topic, one that has varying parameters depending on how broadly or narrowly the concept of emigration is defined. Because many of the topics addressed in this book are covered by the monographic literature, this title makes no effort to be comprehensive, but represents a collection of over a hundred articles that as a whole yield an overview of the multifaceted aspects of the emigration issue.

Individual chapters focus on the factors leading to emigration, the destination countries, and various categories of emigrants, including political exiles, scientists, writers and artists. The concluding chapter recounts the experiences of those returning to Germany after the war, and also offers a reception history of exile research.

A certain unavoidable unevenness in the treatment of the respective topics is evident--more information is given on the exile experience of scientists and artists, for example. And although the chapter on the thirty-six countries of destination is fairly comprehensive in one respect, the imbalance in coverage is also evident here, in that more space is devoted to South Africa or Brazil than to Palestine, even though the latter provided refuge to more emigrants than did the other two combined.

As a general survey book, this title cannot replace more specialized sources; but with its selective bibliography and the references to specialized literature in the respective chapters, it does provide a very useful survey of emigration research in its most important aspects. This, and its reasonable price, make the Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration affordable and appropriate for both research and public libraries. [krb/jb]
 

Die Fischer-Chronik Deutschland 1949-1999: Ereignisse, Personen, Daten [Fischer Timeline History of Germany 1949-1999: Events, Persons, Dates]. Wolf-Rüdiger Baumann et al. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 1999. 1,343 p. ill. 19 cm. (Fischer-Taschenbücher, 14,245). ISBN 3-596-14245-8: DM 24.90 [99-1/4-440]

Wendepunkte--die Chronik der Republik: der Weg der Deutschen in Ost und West [Turning Points--A Timeline History of the Republic: The Path to Unification in East and West]. Hartwig Bögeholz. New, expanded ed. of Die Deutschen nach dem Krieg. Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1999. 832 p. ill. 22 cm. (rororo, 60,761: Sachbuch). ISBN 3-499-60761-1: DM 29.90 [99-1/4-441]

This title offers a year-by-year chronology of a unified Germany after 1990, as well as individual timelines for the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic before that. Textual information is supplemented by illustrations, tables, and maps. Also, a fifty-page section of short biographies provides a survey of the politicians, scientists, scholars, business persons and literati who played a role in post-war German history. This is followed by a seventy-page section of economic statistics and population data. A list of abbreviations and a combined subject and names index provide bibliographic access to the content. The Fischer Chronik is a useful synopsis of recent German history, appropriate for any reference collection.

Similar to the Fischer work, Wendepunkte offers a chronology of the events of recent German history. Again, the FRG and GDR are treated separately between 1950 and 1990. This reference tool emphasizes political history, to the neglect of social or economic events except as they affected politics. Each year is introduced by a heading that signals the political thrust of that year, e.g., the respective headings for 1961 are "The Wall" for the FRG and "The Protecting Wall" for the GDR. Text blocks provide excerpts of documents relating to the events being presented, and photographs offer visual connections to the events covered. Indexes of names and subjects complement the text. This title is kept up-to-date on the author's homepage: <http://www.boegeholz.de. [jpl/jb]
 

Faktenlexikon Deutschland: Geschichte, Gesellschaft, Politik, Wirtschaft, Kultur [Facts about Germany: History, Society, Politics, Economy, Culture]. Jürgen Gros and Manuela Glaab. München: Heyne, 1999. 606 p. ill. 21 cm. (Heyne-Bücher, 16; Heyne-Sachbuch, 670) ISBN 3-453-15532-7: DM 24.90 [99-1/4-442] With ten chapters, each averaging thirteen pages, devoted to each of the five areas mentioned in the subtitle, this book provides a quick and very useful survey of information about Germany after unification. A well-conceived layout that makes excellent use of formatting, with headings, keywords in the margins, lists and sidebars, increases the usability of the book overall. The emphasis is on society, politics, and economy, with less focus on history and culture. The treatment of the individual federal states (Bundesländer) in the "Staat und Politik" section merits special mention. On the other hand, there is little material on Germany's relation to the European Union. Nonetheless, this information-packed title should be a first choice for school and public libraries. [jpl/jb]
  Handbuch zur deutschen Einheit: 1949-1989-1999 [Handbook on German Unification: 1949-1989-1999]. Ed. Werner Weidenfeld and Karl-Rudolf Korte. Rev. ed. Frankfurt [et al.]: Campus-Verlag, 1999. 895 p. 22 cm. ISBN 3-593-36240-6: DM 78.00 [99-1/4-443]

Handbuch zur deutschen Einheit: 1949-1989-1999 [Handbook on German Unification: 1949-1989-1999]. Ed. Werner Weidenfeld and Karl-Rudolf Korte. Rev. expanded ed. Bonn: Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung, 1999. 895 p. 21 cm. (Schriftenreihe, Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung, 363). ISBN 3-89331-370-2: free to libraries (Bundeszentrale ..., Berliner Freiheit 7, D-53111 Bonn, fax [49 228] 515-113) [99-1/4-444]

This handbook includes seventy-one twelve-page articles by sixty-seven German authors on a wide range of topics relating to the unification of Germany, such as the state of the nation, the opposition movement in the German Democratic Republic, the controversy over the "German question," and the like.

As to whether such a specialized reference tool is still necessary, the answer is "yes." As this book suggests, unification is still a work in progress. The work itself, now in its third edition, reflects the developmental phases of the unification process. The first edition, for example, fulfilled the function of a historical documentation, while the second and third delve more deeply into the unification process itself. Especially useful in the current edition is the effort to explore the origins of unification. This balanced and well-organized treatment is appropriate for public, school, and academic libraries alike. [jpl/jb]
 

Histoire et dictionnaire de Paris [Historical Dictionary of Paris]. Alfred Fierro. Paris: Laffont, 1996. 1,580 p. ill. 20 cm. (Bouquins) ISBN 2-221-07862-4: FF 189.00 [99-1/4-446]

Historical Dictionary of Paris. Alfred Fierro. Trans. Jon Woronoff. Lanham, Md.; London: Scarecrow Press, 1998. xx, 243 p. ill. 22 cm. (Historical Dictionaries of Cities, Nr. 4) ISBN 0-8108-3318-2: $68.00 [99-1/4-447]

As the title indicates, Histoire et dictionnaire de Paris is a reference work in mixed form. It contains (1) events in the history of Paris to the present time in eight chapters; (2) activities of Parisians, under topics such as population, government, religion, education, economics, art, architecture, etc.; (3) a chronology of important events up to October 23, 1995; (4) a dictionary of factual topics covering all aspects of daily life in Paris (but not persons or the infrastructure of the city) with an inclination toward cultural-historical curiosities; (5) a research guide that contains a partially annotated bibliography of literature on archives and libraries, the most important publications on Paris, and maps, iconography, film, and sound recordings. It includes an index. This is an excellent handbook on Paris, especially its past. The author is the curator of the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris and had many sources at hand. The work belongs not only in libraries, but also in the collections of all those who are lovers of Paris.

The Historical Dictionary of Paris is a much abbreviated adaptation of the French work. It contains a brief chronology, a short history of Paris, and the actual dictionary section of about 400 articles. This section includes a number of references to Anglo-Americans who have lived in Paris. The bibliography is not annotated and consists mainly of English-language titles. For those who can read French, only the French version is worth purchasing, not just because of its greater content, but also because its price is half that of the English version. [sh/mjc]
 

Fuentes de información para historiadores: obras de referencia y bibliografías [Information Sources for Historians: Reference Works and Bibliographies]. Francisco Alma Miranda. Gijón, Asturias: Ediciones Trea, 1998. 177p. 22 cm. (Biblioteconomía y administración cultural, 21) ISBN 8489427968: $21.80

An RREO Original Review 

Fuentes de información para historiadores: obras de referencia y bibliografías is a practical manual for historians and librarians. Drawing on his courses on "Scholarly documentation for historians" for doctoral students at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, the author aims to present historians with a systematic approach to compiling sources and bibliographies and to instruct them in the use of print and electronic resources. In addition, he provides a specialized bibliography useful for history librarians in university libraries and documentation centers. There is no comparable work for history in Spanish, though such manuals exist for other disciplines and for historians in other languages.

The work is divided into two parts. At the outset the author analyzes the basic information sources for historians. He begins with definitions and a typology of information sources. The major categories--namely, reference works and bibliographies--are defined and further subdivided. Among the reference works particular to history he lists chronologies, biographical dictionaries, and encyclopedias; the sources of bibliographic information are bibliographies, catalogs, and serial bibliographies. He sketches the new electronic information landscape, including bibliographic databases, directories, numeric and textual databases, whether online or on-disc.

The series of bibliographic essays which fill in this outline contain brief but informative histories of various forms of reference works as well as comments on the current state of such tools for history. Treatment of dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, historical statistics, chronologies, and biographical tools in all formats focuses on Spanish and universal history. Though the work is aimed primarily at Spanish historians, librarians will find especially useful the information about reference works for Spanish history.

The chapters treating the sources of bibliographic information give advice about initiating a research project using bibliographies, catalogs, and serial bibliographies. In each category, the guide moves from general to more specialized tools for historical research; it presents sources for universal as well as Spanish history and compares Spanish tools to comparable works in other countries.

General resources comprise bibliographies of bibliographies, national bibliographies, national library catalogs, and bibliographies of periodicals, etc. Specialized bibliographic sources for history include standard works and lesser-known guides of the Biblioteca Nacional. Retrospective bibliographies are supplemented by catalogs of commercial bookstores. Other print sources include directories of historical journals, indexes, abstracting tools, and citation indexes. Unlike many countries, Spain lacks both a serial bibliography for historical works and, except for the irregularly published Indice histórico español, a publication which indexes periodical literature. To compensate, the author gives thorough lists of Spanish journals indexed in Historical Abstracts.

The final section of part one considers both general and specialized electronic sources. A detailed description of Spanish databases (e.g., ISBN, Bibliografía nacional española desde 1976 en CD-ROM, and the collective catalogs of university consortia) is followed by brief notices on general international databases. Subgenres covering theses, official publications, and periodicals are noted. Most of the specialized databases for the study of history listed here are the well-known North American and British periodical indexes, e.g., Historical Abstracts, Humanities Index, Periodicals Contents Index. Spanish databases discussed may be less familiar: Bibliografía histórica: Cuadernos de bibliografía histórica, ISOC (based on the Índices españoles de ciencias sociales y de humanidades), and several regional databases. An extensive array of databases for Latin American history fills several pages. Finally, the author describes several promising databases useful for identifying and locating documentary sources; some (e.g., Censo de Archivos Iberamericanos and Descripción des Fuentes Documentales), said to be available on the website of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture, cannot be found there.

The second part of the work presents, according to the author, the most complete bibliography of bibliographies for the study of history of Spain and Latin America yet published. It thus fills an important lacuna, for most bibliographical compilations in other languages slight Spain. The works are presented in two ways; an alphabetical list is followed by a chronological and topical arrangement.

Page and screen images illustrate many of the descriptions. The author includes a glossary of terms and concepts and symbols used in the work. The descriptions and annotations are very thorough, down to the number of records and quality of interface in some databases. There is no index.

Much of the information about electronic sources will soon become--if it is not already--obsolete, but the importance of this impressive and comprehensive compilation for Spanish historians will endure. Its utility for librarians will derive from the excellent bibliography and the commentary in the text.

Susanne F. Roberts (Yale University)

Mondo vaticano: passato e presente [The World of the Vatican: Past and Present]. Niccolò del Re. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1995. 1,110 p. 22 cm. ISBN 88-209-2003-4: Lit. 150,000 [99-1/4-456] This specialized encyclopedia contains signed articles in the following five categories: popes (no other people are included), buildings, Vatican organizations, offices and functions, and terms from papal history, activities, events. It would have been more user-friendly to organize the information in categories rather than in strictly alphabetical order. An appendix contains an alphabetical listing of the articles, but no formal subject index. Despite its shortcomings, this is a solid reference work. [sh/hsb] Moskva: entsiklopediia [Moscow: Encyclopedia]. A publishing venture of the Government of Moscow; published...on the 850th anniversary of the city. Ed. S.O. Smidt [et al.]. Moskva: Naucnoe izdatelstvo Bolshaia rossiickaia entsiklopediia, 1997. 973 p. ill. 27 cm. ISBN 5-85270-277-3: DM 175.00 [99-1/4-467] This encyclopedia replaces the one published in 1980 under the same name. However, it is much more than a revised edition, showing the progress the city has undergone in barely twenty years. History is an important focus. The encyclopedia contains well over 4,000 signed articles on people (only the deceased are included) and features color illustrations, maps and tables as well as bibliographic references. It includes an alphabetical index of the articles; a subject index would have been useful. [sh/hsb]  

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