From Library Journal There is a real need for good historical dictionaries， and this title fills the gap partially. It contains approximately 7500 entries on "political， military， economic， religious， scientific， and medical matters" and some cultural topics. (At least double that number of entries would be needed for the dictionary to be comprehensive.) About 40 percent of the entries are on non-U.S. topics that appear evenly spread over the rest of the globe (except for fewer on South America). Entries are generally two to five sentences long， but some are as short as one sentence or as long as a column and a half. See references are used. Recommended readings or sources are not provided， nor is there a statement detailing inclusion policy. As with any topical dictionary， one can quibble about selections and omissions. Taken as a whole， however， coverage is good， despite the limited coverage on Latin America and lack of depth on the Third World. The Dictionary is somewhat similar to the Encyclopedia of World History (London: Harrap， 1987)， an update of William L. Langer's work of the same name (1972). The Encyclopedia has more Third World entries， but it is in chronological order， is harder to use， and is more expensive. The Dictionary' s entries are also comparable to the historical entries in any recent general encyclopedia， so small libraries may want to skip. Still， this is a good， cheap general reference work. Highly recommended for secondary school， public， and undergraduate libraries with a heavy demand for historical information. --Patrick J. Brunet， Univ. of Wisconsin-La Crosse Lib.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information， Inc.