World history

Historical Abstracts.

Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1955–. Provides citations and abstracts of articles, book reviews, books, and dissertations from over 2,000 journals in world history from 1450 to the present. North American history is covered in the companion index America: History and Life.

ABZU: A Guide to Information Related to the Study of the Ancient Near East on the Web

http://www.etana.org/abzu. Links to thousands of Web-accessible texts—articles, books, papers, and scholarly editions of the world’s earliest texts—searchable or browsable by author or title. A collaborative project undertaken by several organizations, including the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, this resource is valuable for archaeologists and historians.

Finding World History

http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/whmfinding.php. A selection of reputable sites with brief reviews organized by region and time period. Also includes guides to analyzing evidence and documents. A project of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

Cambridge History of Africa.

8 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Covers African history chronologically and in depth. Use the table of contents and indexes for access. Other Cambridge History works cover many countries and regions such as China, Japan, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean.

Ed. Michael Grant. 3 vols. New York: Scribner, 1988. Provides lengthy articles that introduce many facets of the classical world. Each article is followed by a helpful bibliography.

Civilizations of the Ancient Near East.

Ed. Jack M. Sasson. 4 vols. New York: Scribner, 1995. A collection of essays on the culture and history of Egypt, Syro-Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia. The work includes some coverage of Arabian, northeast African, and Aegean cultures as well as extensive bibliographies.

Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine.

Ed. W. F. Bynum and Ray Porter. 2 vols. New York: Routledge, 1994. Includes essays on body systems and how they have been perceived through time, theories of illness (including the history of specific diseases and their treatments), clinical history, and medicine in society and culture.

Dictionary of the Middle Ages.

Ed. Joseph R. Strayer. 13 vols. New York: Scribner, 1982–89. With supplements. An encyclopedia covering people, events, ideas, movements, texts, and cultural features of the medieval world. Articles are often illustrated with period artwork and are followed by bibliographies of primary and secondary sources.

Encyclopedia of Asian History.

Ed. Robin Lewis and Ainslie Embree. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 1988. Discusses people, places, events, and topics in detailed and well-documented essays covering central Asia, southern Asia, and the Far East.

Encyclopedia of European Social History from 1350 to 2000.

Ed. Peter N. Stearns. 6 vols. New York: Scribner, 2001. Offers substantial, well-documented survey essays on topics such as social change, urban and rural life, gender, popular culture, religion, and everyday life.

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture.

Ed. Jay Kinsbruner and Eric D. Langer. 2nd ed. 6 vols. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Presents a wide variety of topics in more than 5,000 articles that together constitute an overview of current knowledge about the region. Entries cover countries, topics (such as slavery, art, Asians in Latin America), and biographical sketches.

Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment.

Ed. Alan Charles Kors. 4 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Covers ideas, figures, historical events, and culture in Europe from the 1670s to the early nineteenth century.

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust.

Ed. Israel Gutman. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 1996. Offers lengthy articles on people, places, events, and concepts related to the Holocaust, each followed by a selective bibliography.

Encyclopedia of the Renaissance.

Ed. Paul F. Grendler. 6 vols. New York: Scribner, 1999. Offers nearly 1,200 substantial articles on topics related to the culture and history of the period.

Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History.

Ed. Spencer C. Tucker. 3 vols. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1998. Includes 900 entries covering prominent figures, military events, and war protests. The third volume offers a wealth of primary source documents in English and English translation.

New Cambridge Modern History.

14 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1957–79. Covers world history from 1493 to 1945, chronologically and by topic, providing detailed and lengthy narrative surveys of the times. New editions of individual volumes are occasionally published. Similar works published by Cambridge University Press cover ancient and medieval history.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation.

Ed. Hans J. Hillerbrand. 4 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Lengthy, scholarly articles treat people, places, events, documents, and ideas related to the Reformation. Each article reflects current research and interpretation and is followed by a selective bibliography.

Times Atlas of World History.

Ed. Geoffrey Barraclough and J. R. Overy. 4th ed. London: Times Books, 1993. Offers more than 600 maps showing historical periods and movements such as the spread of world religions, the industrial revolution, and European expansion. The maps are supplemented by explanations and discussions of each period. For more specialized maps of particular places or periods, search your library catalog for historical atlas.

Chronology of World History.

Ed. H. E. L. Mellersh. 4 vols. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1999. Provides year-by-year coverage of global events, including developments in the arts, politics, science, and society.