The "Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History" is the first true encyclopedic reference on world history. It is designed to meet the needs of students, teachers, and scholars who seek to explore and understand the panorama of our shared human history. The encyclopedia takes a dynamic world history perspective, showing connections, interactions, and chage over time and place. Major articles by leading scholars from around the world examine essential themes and patterns such as Art, Disease, Government, Religion, Science, and War and Peace, with hundreds of articles on processes, movements, places, events, and people. Students and teachers at the high school and college levels turn to this definitive work for a connected view of world history--the story of humans and their place in the universe.
From School Library Journal Grade 10 Up–Although the 538 articles in this set are arranged alphabetically, the approach is thematic, with entries and sidebars "showing connections and interactions, through trade, warfare, migration, religion, and diplomacy over time and place." Volume one opens with an overview of human history that serves as a guide to the Encyclopedia , and alphabetic and thematic lists of the entries appear in each book. Much prehistory is treated in this work, which bills itself as covering "250,000 years of human existence." However, readers may wonder why some subjects were included, or even given their own entry, and others weren't. For example, there is no entry for the Peloponnesian Wars, but the extensive index will lead students to information under entries for "Greece, Ancient," "International Organizations," "Oral History," "Thucydides," "Warfare, Naval," and "Engines of History." This last is an example of the somewhat obscure and/or unusual headings that sometimes appear. An up-to-date bibliography follows every article. The black-and-white photos are of uneven quality; many lack sufficient contrast. The maps included are insufficient to clarify the discussions of empires, countries, wars, and movements of peoples. This set would be useful as a supplement to general encyclopedias. –David Pauli, Hillsboro Public Library, OR
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From Booklist Starred Review A masterful title that weaves together the social, scientific, anthropological, and geographical influences on world history, this set will be the benchmark against which future history encyclopedias are compared. Featuring 538 articles by 330 scholars representing multiple disciplines, the title adroitly pulls together the major societies ( Mongol Empire, Sumerian society ); political movements ( Revolution--Cuba; Women's emancipation movements ); and, indeed, the traditionally studied wars ( World War I ) that have shaped the world we live in, all while remaining cognizant of how each has had an impact on the other. The academic credentials of the editors are impeccable. Senior editor McNeill has written dozens of respected texts and was winner of the National Book Award in 1964 for The Rise of the West .
Although attempting to cover as broad a subject as world history in five volumes seems impossible, the editors and their contributors have pulled the feat off with aplomb. No article runs more than approximately 10 pages, but each captures the essence of the topic being addressed, as well as the distinct style of the contributor. Cross-references are noted at the end of most entries, and the lists of further reading contain contemporary works. Primary source material is not left out, however; more than 500 sidebars featuring quoted material often use primary sources. The entry Babylon , for example, includes some text from the Code of Hammurabi.
Each volume opens with a "Reader's Guide" listing 34 subject categories, allowing users to concentrate on articles dealing with, for example, topics related to "Communication" or "Health and Disease." The first volume also features "This Fleeting World," a 56-page essay by David Christian covering the foraging, agrarian, and modern eras of history. Oddly, this essay is repeated in volume 5 (and may also be found in its entirety on the publisher's Web site [http://www.berkshirepublishing.com/assets/pdf/ThisFleetingWorld.pdf]).
With relatively few entries, not everyone will agree with what is included. In a set that features but 110 biographical entries, should there really be one devoted to American abolitionist and author Lydia Child? Do Bullroarers deserve a separate entry? In keeping with the philosophy of the set, however, there are nine entries in a row on trading--beginning with Trading patterns, ancient America --that discuss commerce among the people of various regions. Accompanying the text are numerous black-and-white illustrations and more than 50 maps, most of them excellent line-drawn maps created for the set. There are a few minor errors in cross-referencing and indexing.
As McNeill states in his preface, the encyclopedia is "designed to help both beginners and experts to sample the best contemporary efforts to make sense of the human past by connecting particular and local histories with larger patterns of world history." The encyclopedia succeeds admirably and belongs on the shelves of all high-school, public, and academic libraries. In short: buy it. Now. Ken Black
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