Defining Documents in American History: The Cold War Review

Monday, February 12, 2018 9:29:10 PM
“The Salem Press Defining Documents in American History volumes constitute a fascinating series. All follow a common pattern of important documents that are put in context with critical essays (generally written by classroom teachers at the college or secondary level) that include a summary overview, the defining moment, biography of the author of the document, analysis of the document, and themes that emanate from the document. Appendixes include a chronology, bibliography, Web resources, and an index.
This two-volume contribution identifies 86 primary source documents to trace the Cold War from 1945 until the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. The sources include official government documents, letters, memos, speeches, and other genres. The supporting features that put each source in context are very valuable. At the end of each entry is a brief listing of usually four sources for further study.
With the overwhelming number of reference volumes pouring out, one wonders how a library can decide what to acquire when free online sources are readily available. To that question, I can only state that unlike many other reference books that are dated by the time of acquisition, the documents in this reference source will remain historical fixtures; therefore, this hard copy reference work will have a long shelf life.”
—ARBA