Twenty years after the first edition, Paul K. Davis has edited the third edition of this comprehensive tome, Encyclopedia of Invasions and Conquests from Ancient Times to the Present. Davis is a well-known historian with multiple published books, all focusing on warfare, battle, and warriors, who once again provides an excellent reference source. The third edition is a 600-page comprehensive source that can be used by hobbyists, academics and students. The third edition not only updates the content of the second edition to include invasions and conflicts through 2016 but it also includes additional readings, maps, historical timeline events and section introductions.
The Encyclopedia is laid out in an easy-to-navigate and use format. It consists of a list of maps (97 total), preface, list of contributors (12 total), entries (227 total), readings (28 total), historical timeline of entries, bibliography and an index. The third edition includes an introduction to each of the following sections: Ancient World (13 entries), Classical World (26 entries), Dark and Middle Ages (53 entries), Renaissance and Age of Exploration (33 entries), Age of Revolutions and Napoleon (14 entries), Age of Empires (28 entries) and 20th-21st Centuries (60 entries). Each entry also includes see also references to entries with similar or related content. The introductions provide an overview of warfare in each section which was excluded in previous editions. The historical timeline consists of 232 items that range from 2,300 BCE to 2016 CE. Davis researched and utilized 584 sources, citing them all in the bibliography. This is an incredible number of sources, which ranges from the ancient and classical period to current publications. This in-depth research is reflected in the high quality of comprehensive entries, some of which provide overviews while others are more detailed. No matter how good the source or quality of sources, a book is only as good as its index. Davis provided a thorough, though slightly flawed, index. With 1,527 indexed terms, it is easy to search for terms and topics in this 600-page tome.
This third edition of the Encyclopedia of Invasions and Conquests is highly recommended to all high school, public and academic libraries. This source is not geared to one specific demographic and can be easily utilized by young adults in school, bachelor or graduate students, educators and subject specialists, as well as hobbyists. The Encyclopedia is laid out well and is easy to navigate while covering warfare from the ancient world through to the twenty-first century. Unlike most encyclopedias, Davis has incorporated additional readings and time period overviews so that users can easily understand the context in which the entries occurred. I strongly encourage libraries with a highly used reference collection, a community that strongly participates in National History Day, or patrons interested in military history, to purchase this Encyclopedia for their collection. Academic libraries that are attached to organizations with strong history, public history or park preservation programmes are also encouraged to purchase.
