Prior to the late nineteenth century, for many observers US history was merely a minor adjunct to European history. With the end of the nineteenth century, the USA became a major force in world events. Earlier US historians and writers such as Alfred Mahan and Frederick Jackson Turner gave US history a new legitimacy. Now the historical literature relating to the USA is voluminous and encompasses many subdisciplines (e.g. economic history, social history, cultural history, military history, etc.). With such a large amount of material available, both the casual student of history and the experienced professional historian may feel at times overwhelmed. This volume attempts to make some sense of this large mass of material. The authors state that their hope is that the Guide will “contribute to the renewed interest in the study of US history and be a useful guide to those newly engaged in historical research”.
Over the years, I have used the third edition of Blazek and Aversa’s (1988) guide to humanities information sources on frequent occasions, so I was eager to see this book co‐authored by Blazek on US history. Like the present volume, the humanities title is another Libraries Unlimited subject guide. Just as the earlier volume has been a reliable source, so this new offering from Blazek with Perrault did not disappoint. Anna H. Perrault is Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of South Florida, Tampa, and Ron Blazek is Professor Emeritus, School of Library and Information Studies, Florida State University, Tallahassee. Perrault has published materials on collection analysis and resource sharing, and has edited an earlier reference text on the natural history collection at Louisiana State University (Perrault, 1987). Blazek’s research interests include the role of the librarian/information specialist, burnout in public services and information needs of users. Prior to this volume, Blazek’s most recent book is the fifth edition of The Humanities: A Selective Guide to Information Sources (Blazek and Aversa, 2000).
In United States History, Blazek and Perrault have designed their guide to meet the needs of a wide variety of users, including “sophisticated researchers and practicing historians; students, both graduate and undergraduate; librarians; and the general public”. It is their intent that their book will be useful to persons working in interdisciplinary research (e.g. governmental and political relations, ethnic and gender studies, popular culture, etc.) and persons with a casual interest in US history.
Besides introductory materials, the authors provide six chapters. These are: “Sources of general importance to US history”; “Politics and government”; “Economic history”; “Diplomatic history and foreign affairs”; “Military affairs”; “Social, cultural, and intellectual history”. Of all the chapters, the authors concentrate their efforts on the chapter on social, cultural, and intellectual history. This spans nearly 300 pages (pp. 277‐551) and contains annotations on a wide variety of topics, including genealogy and immigration, political movements, ethnic, racial, and gender influences, Black Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, education, feminism, religion, journalism, science and technology, and popular culture. Blazek and Perrault include hundreds of reference titles in print and non‐print formats (i.e., microforms, CD‐ROMs, online databases, and Internet resources). In all, the authors include information and annotations for over 1,250 works. Although Blazek and Perrault were already at work on September 11, 2001, they refer to the tragic events of that day and its aftermath in their introduction and comment on the resulting renewed interest in US history and patriotism within the USA.
The work contains materials published as late as 2002, and it will be useful to public libraries and academic libraries, their staff and users. For its depth of research, scope, writing, and usability, this book will be a strong asset for many libraries and librarians. It is highly recommended.
