“History has to be rewritten in every generation because, although the past does not change, the present does,” writes Lord Christopher Hill, one of Great Britain’s most eminent historians. “Each generation asks new questions of the past, and finds new areas of sympathy as it re-lives different aspects of the experiences of its predecessors.” It is this understanding, that the pursuit of historical knowledge requires new research and new reflections on the past, that undergirds a revised and extended edition of the Encyclopedia of American History.
The individual volume editors of this revised edition have made important additions and revisions to the original edition published in 2003. Most important, they have added many new entries—several hundred for the entire 11-volume set. This puts more meat on the bone of what was already a comprehensive encyclopedia that presented four centuries of American history in all its diversity and complexity. For the 10th volume, covering the period from 1969 to the present, new entries cover momentous events and important figures of the last six years. For the other volumes, new entries increase the diversity of Americans covered by biographical accounts as well as events that new scholarship shows have had greater importance than recognized heretofore.
In addition, careful attention has been given to correcting occasional errors in the massive number of entries in the first edition. Also, many entries have been revised to add further details while making adjustments, based on new scholarship, to the interpretation of key events and movements. Consonant with that effort to make the encyclopedia as fresh and usable as possible, the volume editors have added many new recently published books to the “Further Reading” notes at the ends of the entries, and new full-color historical maps help put history in its geographical context.
—Gary B. Nash
World History
