Chronicle of the World
Popular reference tools in most libraries, historical chronologies take different approaches. Azimov's Chronology of the World (LJ 9/15/91) is arranged by region or country within time periods, while the NYPL Book of Chronologies (LJ 1/91) is arranged by topic. In the present work, a broad spectrum of social, political, technological, and natural events from 3.5 million B.C. through A.D. 1995 are arranged chronologically in a column for each year. Major events are described as if written by a modern journalist reporting a contemporary happening. Thus, the headline "Walking hominid 'Lucy' dies at the age of 25 years" (with a dateline of Ethiopia, c.3.1 million B.C.) is followed by a journalistic account of Lucy's significance in hominids' capacity to walk upright. This approach necessitates a lengthy index alphabetized by topic, followed by chronologically arranged events. The accounts are straightforward, objective, and enlivened by two to five (mostly color) illustrations and photos on each large page. Several challenges for a work of this nature are successfully overcome, e.g., names contemporary with the event are used with today's equivalents in brackets to balance historical accuracy with clarity. Compiled in consultation with dozens of British academicians, this innovative work will be particularly useful for student assignments. Highly recommend for academic and public libraries. [For a review of the publisher's Chronicle of the 20th Century on DC-ROM, see "CD-ROM Review," p. 160.?Ed.]?Stanley P. Hodge, Ball St. Univ. Lib., Muncie, Ind.-?Stanley P. Hodge, Ball St. Univ. Lib., Muncie, Ind.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.