Reference Reviews

Doug's Student Reference Room

Great Events from History: The 20th Century, 1941-1970. Edited by Robert F. Gorman. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, Inc., 2008. 6 vols. 3,918 pp. $495.00. ISBN 978-1-58765-331-5 (set).
Great Events from History: The 20th Century, 1971-2000. Edited by Robert F. Gorman. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, Inc., 2008. 6 vols. 3,900 pp. $495.00. ISBN 978-1-58765-338-4 (set).

Great Events from History: The 20th Century, 1941-1970 These two sets are the ninth and tenth installments in Salem Press’s Great Events from History series. Each set covers a vast array of events from over 70 categories. The major geopolitical events are featured; the first set opens with overviews of World War II in the Pacific and European theaters and includes several entries related to the Holocaust, the beginnings of the Cold War, the Korean War, and Vietnam, as well as post-colonial struggles and revolutionary political movements around the world. The second set includes articles about the end of the Vietnam War, nuclear arms treaties between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the 1970’s, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the efforts at peace in the Middle East, the anti-apartheid movement, the ethnic conflicts and shifting political divisions in Eastern Europe, and the genocide in Rwanda.

The breadth of each collection makes both sets useful across the high school curriculum. Consumer trends can be traced through the development of the aerosol spray container, Tupperware, mini-skirts, fast food franchising and disposable diapers in the 1941-1970 set, and through cell phones, barcode scanners, and CD and DVD players in the 1971-2000 set. Extensive coverage of political and social movements—and of the accompanying social and civil rights legislation—offers a valuable resource to social science teachers and students. Natural and man-made disaster coverage offers opportunities for study in both science and social science courses. Several entries across both sets provide a substantial picture of the emergence and growth of the environmental movement and of the explosive pace of innovation in medicine, science and technology. There are essays on major movements in literature, music, dance, visual arts, radio and television, sports, fashion and popular culture.

Essays are typically 3 to 4 pages long and include key dates and people involved, a summary, and the historical significance of the event, providing a substantial overview of the topic. Each essay also includes suggestions for further reading and a useful cross-reference to related essays in the collection. Organized chronologically, these sets allow for an examination of the major events of a given time frame. Each volume opens with a table of contents for that volume, followed by an alphabetical keyword list of contents for the entire set. The geographical, chronological, and category indexes in the last volume may prove especially useful to teachers planning units and research projects. Also included are extensive subject and personage indexes. The scope of these collections creates possibilities for many different kinds of inquiry within and across curriculum. Highly recommended for high school, college and public libraries.

—Doug Achterman