Scotland presently has a Cultural Commission looking at many aspects of the country's culture from production to consumption and considering how central, regional or local policies can be devised or developed to support the whole process. My only caveat in all this is that culture, especially in its artistic manifestations, is fundamentally a grass‐roots spontaneous activity, or whole series of activities. At least, it should be in a culturally thriving society: modern history gives us plenty of grim examples of official state art, usually monumental, normally vainglorious and frequently either hideous or banal; ancient history, on the other hand, as is in evidence in this work, gives us examples of a quite different calibre. Perhaps temporal distance lends enchantment. But if we want to try and understand past (even recent or current) societies, we have to get to grips with their culture or cultures in their widest sense.
Thomson Gale will not stand accused of lacking confidence and ambition. To try and cover arts and humanities of western civilisation from ancient times to the age of enlightenment in five volumes, to a standard template, might seem an almost foolhardy venture. Yet, within the definition of their purpose and target audience, these volumes do succeed in giving a consistent introduction and overview to such a vast and complex subject. Or rather, subjects. The topics covered in each volume are:
architecture and design;
dance;
fashion;
literature;
music;
philosophy;
religion;
theatre; and
visual arts.
So, a broad coverage is achieved, especially since each volume is further equipped with an overview of the whole era, a chronology of world events, and glossary. There is also for each a collection of further references and of media and online sources, and a volume index.
In reviewing this ambitious work, two major aspects must be looked at: the overall structure and the actual content. Obviously, each aspect also influences the other. As mentioned above, the structure is consistent throughout all the volumes, and so all the periods. There is a possibility in a work structured in this way that overlapping subjects (the fundamental influence of formal religion on art in ancient societies being an obvious example) may be compartmentalised: in fact, the essays themselves do take adequate account of this. Within each subject section in each volume, subjects are covered by a chronology of important events, an overview essay, topics, significant people, and documentary sources. To give an idea of what this means in practice, comparing the theatre sections for just two volumes, we find six topics covered in Ancient Greece and Rome (origins of Greek theatre, festivals and theatres, types of Greek drama, the beginning of Roman theatre, Roman theatres, playwrights and actors, and other types of Roman theatre), and nine in Medieval Europe (the legacy of Rome, the renaissance of Charlemagne, the development of liturgical drama, serious comedy, the popular Bible, plays on the cutting edge, professional performers, community theatres, and the afterlife of medieval theatre). There are short entries on 12 persons in ancient Greece and Rome (from Aristophanes to Seneca the Younger) and three in medieval Europe (Geoffrey de Gorron, Arnoul Gréban and Hildegard of Bingen). The pattern is repeated across all subjects and all volumes. So, the student can compare hairstyles in ancient Egypt with fashion in the French Revolution, or musical theory in the Renaissance with notation in medieval Europe.
This obviously requires careful editing in terms of selecting topics which are, above all, relevant to the period and subject under discussion but which may then be suitable for wider cross‐comparison. By and large useful comparisons could be made, although the volume on the Renaissance is particularly geared towards geographical surveys of the subjects by country. That probably is a realistic reflection of the national development of modern Europe and continues in the Baroque and Enlightenment volume, although there also seem to be more subject‐based topics here as well. The Encyclopédie rightly features heavily in the Baroque and Enlightenment volume, both as a subject in itself and as source for texts on other subjects.
Consistency is achieved in writing style and coverage; this, too, aids the student user especially and is a tribute to the skills of the editors and contributors alike. The texts are sound, clear and usually concise discussions of their topics, eminently suitable to the senior pupil or undergraduate, as well as to more advanced students in parallel fields seeking comparative or background information. The biographies are well chosen (although noting that choice of people for ancient Egypt is of course strictly limited by our lack of knowledge) and present as appropriate general discussion, works, and discussion of their importance or influence. It is important to stress that these essays, while they present all the salient facts, are analytical discussions of the nature and importance (both contemporary and subsequent) of their subjects. The contributors are all academics specialising in the various fields covered, and able to present their subjects in terms that non‐expert students can understand, without resorting to gross generalisation or trivialisation.
Every essay has a bibliography of four or five key source references for further study. Additional references are presented at the end of each volume, where will also be found a useful, and in our times very realistic, list of major media sources, whether recordings on CD, films, or internet resources. The texts are throughout doubly illustrated: by pictures, of relevance but reproduced in black and white only as well as a rather grey printing process allows; more especially, by quotations from source documents, whether a satire on women's horned headdresses, an Egyptian harpist song, or Voltaire on comedy from his Letters on the English. These are numerous and apposite, appearing in boxes beside the texts they amplify or illustrate, and add considerable value to the whole work. Overall planning and presentation of the volumes is admirably suited to their purpose and content, allowing the finding of relevant information and encouraging wider browsing or cross‐reference.
The publisher's claim that this set of volumes gives a fresh perspective on history is over‐stated: cultural history, and the influence of arts and humanities on history, has been covered in many narrative and various reference texts, although intellectual history as such tends to be more the preserve of Continental European than English‐speaking scholars. But that does not diminish the value of this work in any way. Where it is unique is in taking such a consistent approach to such an enormous time span and range of subjects across Europe from ancient Egypt to modern times. This title sits among other encyclopedias from the same publisher: they cite the influence of their World Eras series. This is a major, but certainly not exorbitant purchase: for senior school or university libraries it will justify its price in terms of the sheer range of subjects covered in a consistent and accessible manner and which will thereby prove of great value to students especially. This is an educational resource and source book – of ideas and texts as well as of facts – which will aid a whole range of potential users in a wide range of library collections, from major public to educational at various levels of study.
