Cowie succeeds in giving an involving, unbiased account of the history and the theory. This study of their history in ELT is an interesting study of how applied linguistics develops and of the interaction between theory and application. As the market expands and becomes even more competitive, large claims are made for each innovation. Thus it is useful to have a sober, scholarly, and engaged history of the origins and development of the genre, focusing on key lexicographers of the 1930s and 1940s. This is a useful start that will remain a reference for decades, and no one else could have written it.
Later chapters assume some knowledge of the various positions within applied linguistics.
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