Chambers Dictionary of World History

From Abahai (1592-1643), an ancient leader of Korea and Mongolia through to Zwingli (1484-1531), a Swiss reformer, this book contains over 7,500 entries which, collectively seek to encapsulate the history of the world. Consultant Editor, Bruce Lenman has held academic posts in Canada, the USA and the UK and, according to his short biography, is eminently suited for a project such as this work. No single person reviewing this product could be expert in every aspect covered in the almost 1,000 pages of information. This assessment is, therefore, based on comparisons between my own areas of professional expertise and the information provided here. Not only did I find the book to have given an accurate appraisal of whatever event or person I studied, I also found myself learning things I did not previously know. When the reader considers the scope of the book - i.e. World History, and the fact that such a huge, even daunting, subject is covered in a single tome, one has to accept that each specific entry (The American War of independence, Pre-Islamic China, Marco Polo - to mention but three!) cannot receive comprehensive coverage. For me to have learned something from a brief entry concerning Nelson says much about this book. This is a reference book and not something people are likely to read from cover to cover. Nevertheless, I would suggest all schools, writers, journalists and anybody engaged in research should consider this product as an essential addition to their own libraries. In addition, any person with an enquiring mind will find the answers to all those vexatious questions about people and events. All things considered, this is an excellent work and one to which I shall regularly return. NM

This book is a very thorough desktop reference of world history. The entries cover many different topics and many different periods of history. I wouldn't say this is an all-inclusive work, but it does a very good job of presenting brief introductions to the subjects it includes. The subject include not only people and events, but also concepts and ideas. This book is helpful to anyone who needs a source to look up something without first going to the Internet. It is a one volume collection and is ideal for students of all ages.

This book is a great reference for any history buff, but is especially adequate for quiz bowl players who want to improve in Social Studies. It provides a wide range of entries (7,500+) that allows a quiz bowl player to learn general information about thousands of topics. The cross-reference system is effective in creating an effective knowledge base. Although the entries are sometimes brief and the alphabetical list leaves related topics separated, it is a great starting point in learning about a history topic for quiz bowl.