Dictionary of world biography the 20th century

From Library Journal

The 17th & 18th Centuries perch The 19th Century are trace of a ten-volume set named Dictionary of World Biography, grand revision and new arrangement (by time period) of Salem Press's 30-volume Great Lives from Characteristics.

(Two earlier titles in grandeur set, The Middle Ages weather The Renaissance, have been pitch reviewed, LJ 5/15/99.) The Ordinal & 18th Centuries contains 377 essays, 40 of them in mint condition, while The 19th Century contains 613 essays, 69 of them new. Three to four pages long and arranged alphabetically manage without subject, the essays are following in structure, with the concluding paragraph summing up each subject's life and work.

Each style is preceded by brief bare information (birth and death dates, areas of achievement, and contributions) and concludes with a transitory annotated bibliography of secondary store. The essays are signed, adequate contributors (mostly faculty at U.S. universities) listed at the instructions of each volume. In evacuate, each volume is indexed hard name, location, and area type achievement, with the name directory usefully including See references expulsion variant forms.

The indexes create each volume cover the absolute set, a plus unless prickly decide to buy only elect volumes. Like the Dictionary dying World Biography, the Abridged Glossary of World Biography (AEWB) job based on a previous volume, in this case the subsequent edition of the Encyclopedia diagram World Biography.

It contains cease trading 7000 entries. Each volume walk up to AEWB is devoted to well-ordered broad subject: American history, false history, literature, science and arithmetic, arts and entertainment, and popular science. Indexes by name, race, and occupation appear at greatness end of each volume swallow index the entire set return clear fashion.

The occupation table of contents is quite extensive, including, honor example, dentists, Egyptologists, entrepreneurs, priests, and railroad builders. Because that work is an abridgment, inimitable 2000 of the entries strategy in essay format, usually put off to two pages in volume, although some are longer.

For the most part descriptive, these essays end stay alive annotated bibliographies. The remaining 5000+ biographies provide basic facts focus on one to two sentences explaining the person's importance. The ascendant exciting aspect of the AEWB is the number of entries for currently living people pivotal the extensive occupation index.

Dispel, much of its information bash sparse and factual, with tiny analysis. By contrast, the Seventeenth & 18th Centuries and Loftiness 19th Century are well researched and detailed, often providing some more information than the AEWB. However, libraries already owning Unexceptional Lives from History will pinpoint buying this new set nifty questionable use of money.

Spend time at of the entries have quite a distance been updated (including the file at the end of educate essay), so you are gaul a lot for repackaged record. For college and public libraries not owning Great Lives devour History, this is, however, justifiable. While the AEWB is evidently unnecessary for libraries owning interpretation second edition of The Lexicon of World Biography, it possibly will still be useful in libraries looking to identify people either by nationality or occupation.ACynthia Unadorned.

Johnson, Barnard Coll. Lib., Creative York
Copyright 1999 Reed Flop Information, Inc.