The History Highway 3.0 Book Review
The History Highway 3.0
Book Review
| By Dale Farris, Secretary Golden Triangle PC Club April 2002 Content Features Wow! What a book! Anyone interested in history, professional historians and researchers, and librarians will most definitely want to add this wonderful tool to their collection of Internet research aids. Edited by two professional historians, the book is the culmination of much hard work by 51 (including the 2 primary editors) historians, history professors, writers, researchers, librarians, graduate students, and computer information specialists, all with a strong interest in history. What these professionals have done is quite impressive. Over 2,000 history web sites are organized by various subject categories, and each is briefly annotated and includes the latest URL for the site. In addition to the value of the paper copy, the book also includes a supplemental CD ROM disc, in the back of the book, that includes the contents of the entire book in PDF form. This PDF file provides access to the over 3,000 active links that are briefly summarized in the book. Chapters cover sites on historical topics, such as Asian History, General History, African History, and sub-topics in European History. United States History sites are also further sub-divided into 15 detailed topics. Also, the book includes chapters that annotate sites that cover the history of computers, history of science, history books on the Internet, maps and images, libraries, discussion lists, history of technology, state historical organizations, resources for teachers of history, and even a chapter on psychohistory. Whatever historical topic of interest you have, this book will have a section of web sites that relate to the topic. Then, as any savvy web searcher has learned by now, once you get to one of these specific sites, you are bound to find links at that site to others relevant sites. Each chapter's content is focused specifically on web sites related to the chapter topic, and the editors wisely eschewed elaborate background discussion for each chapter, and instead go right to the meat of the book, namely the listings of the web sites. In my own 3,500+ library of books, I count at least 85% as history books of all kinds, in all topic areas, and have personally relished the opportunity to work with the material in this nonpareil book. I only wish I had the extensive time to work straight through with the wonderful information this book takes you to in all fields of historical interest. Without a doubt, this is one book you will find yourself using over and over, especially if you want a guide to quality web sites related to your historical interests. Table of Contents Part I is a short primer for those with little or no experience using the Internet. This section discusses information available via the Internet, and possible uses of this accessed information. Also reviewed are possible means by which you can gain access to the Internet, the types of software necessary to work with the Internet, the manners and rules that "govern" the Internet, and a valuable new section on evaluating Internet resources. Part II is the heart of this book. This section contains 41 chapters that cover over 3,000 sites that will appeal to anyone interested in history, and that the specialists working on the book have determined to be reliable and useful for the study of history. These super chapters are filled with brief annotations of these many sites, and will provide a wonderful alternative to drilling down in the many existing pre-organized directories on the web, or trying to find that needle in the haystack through the many existing search engines. The key difference with these listings is the professional review by researchers that result in the inclusion of these sites in this book. This means you are buying valuable preliminary review by these experts, in order for a web site to included in the book. Contents on Included CD ROM Disc - PDF File The PDF file, History Highway 3.pdf, can be read by opening it in Acrobat Reader 4 or 5. The Acrobat Reader 5 is provided on the disc for PCs that do not have Acrobat Reader. Click on it to install it. If you experience problems with this reader, or require a Mac version, go to www.adobe.com for a free download of the appropriate reader for your system. About the Editors Dennis A. Trinkle is the Tenzer University Professor in Instructional Technology and the Associate Coordinator of Information Services and Technology at DePauw University. He received his BA from DePauw University and his MA and Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. He also serves as the Executive Director of the American Association for History and Computing (www.theaahc.org). He has published broadly on technology, teaching, and history. His recent books include The History Highway: A Guide to Internet Resources; Writing, Teaching, and Researching History in the Electronic Age; History.edu: Essays on Teaching with Technology; and The History Highway 2000. Scott A. Merriman is a doctoral candidate in modern American history at the University of Kentucky. He has previously taught history at the University of Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky University, and Thomas More College. He is also a coauthor of The History Highway: A Guide to Internet Resources, coeditor of The History Highway 2000: A Guide to Internet Resources, coeditor of History.edu:Essays on Teaching with Technology, and an associate editor for the Journal of the Association for History and Computing. He has contributed to the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, American National Biography, and Buckeye Hill Country. Target Readers Anyone with any degree of interest in history will definitely enjoy working with and pursuing the information available at the over 3,000 history web sites briefly annotated in this super reference. All libraries most definitely should make sure to add this essential tool to their growing Internet search tools, and all university libraries will also want to consider this reference an essential item to add to their inventory. I see this marvelous reference sitting on the handy ready-reference shelf, right alongside all the other web site bibliographies. In addition, I also suggest libraries install the supplemental software on their Internet workstations, as this will greatly aid in speeding up the use of the data in the book. The hard copy will likely quickly become dog eared, as history buffs and professional historians and researchers find out how valuable is this tool in their historical research. M.E. Sharpe Hits A Homer With the third edition of this unparallel reference, the M.E. Sharpe publishing company certainly knocks it out of the park this time. In this marvelous, well organized reference that focuses on Internet history sites, we have in one book the most abundant, amazing collection of web sites on history you could ever imagine. Since the first edition of this work arrived in 1997, history aficionados, historians, researchers, and librarians continue to sing the praises of this essential work that provides in one source briefly annotated web sites that nearly exhausts the range of history sites. With information on over 3,000 sites, the effort to review, assemble, edit, and produce this massive reference work must have been staggering. All folks interested in history to any degree, professional historians, students, and all librarians will definitely want to make sure they get their hands on this super work that is a remarkable accomplishment. The CD ROM disc alone is worth the price for this amazing book, and a testament to the commitment of the editors and the publisher to make this book unequalled in its scope and its ease of use. Book Contents 702 pages; acknowledgments; introduction; 43 chapters; glossary; editor background; index; CD ROM disc with entire contents in PDF file with live links Editors Dennis A. Trinkle and Scott A. Merriman ISBN 2002 - Third edition 0-7656-0904-5 - Paperback 0-7656-0903-7 - Hardback List Price $39.95 - Paperback $89.95 - Hardback Publisher M.E. Sharpe, Inc. 80 Business Park Drive Armonk, NY 10504 www.mesharpe.com |