Statesmen Who Changed The World

This work comprises a set of essays on more than 60 heads of state or diplomats who have made a mark upon Western history since the fifteenth century. In this project, the editors have enlisted contributions from nearly that many American-based historians. Each statesman (only two are women) is sketched biographically, with emphasis given to the figure's role in international affairs. Each sketch is coupled with a bibliographic essay (or annotated bibliography) in which the contributor highlights major archival and secondary sources. A selective bibliography of works by and about each subject closes each entry Invariably, the bibliographic segments are more useful than the biographical sketches. The latter do not seem to fill a void, especially for such well known figures as Napoleon I, Metternich, de Gaulle, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. However, the essays summarizing contemporary scholarship serve as useful pathfinders to current thought on these figures. Further, the bibliographies serve the librarian as checklists with which to assess a library's holdings Entries for the personages in the dictionary are arranged alphabetically. Historically, they range from Machiavelli, Charles V, Phillip II, and Elizabeth I to the only living entrants: Castro, Gorbachev, Nixon, and Kissinger (the last two are paired in one entry). Seventeen of those profiled are Americans: from Franklin, Jefferson, and Madison through J. William Fulbright. Many of these statesmen are unfamiliar names--Adam Czartoryski, Carlos Tabor, William II, Alexander Pavlovich I, and Luis Maria Drago--and doubtless might not have been selected in another editor's compilation. One might also note that the significance of events in the Far East and Africa seems underplayed in this volume, perhaps understandable in a work that focuses upon Western statesmen Five appendixes conclude this work. Appendix A lists other historical figures mentioned in the main entries; appendix B is a list of conferences and treaties similarly mentioned; appendix C defines major diplomatic, political, and military events; appendix D names important organizations and terms; and appendix E gives chronologies of heads of states for Austria, the British Isles, France, Germany, the Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Russia/USSR, Spain, and the U.S Most of the persons covered in this work are also profiled in various sets of "Great Lives from History" (American series ["RBB" O 15 87], British and Commonwealth series ["RBB" Je 1 88], and Renaissance to 1900 series). "Books for College Libraries" and the "Reader's Advisor" serve much of the same advisory function as this dictionary for most of the figures as well. Smaller academic and public libraries owning these tools might forego purchase of this new work. Still, the coverage of "Statesmen Who Changed the World" is comprehensive, and the treatments, on the whole, are balanced. Its key strength may lie in its singling out for attention lesser-known statesmen for beginning historians and other scholars. It is an appropriate selection for university and other research libraries.

Booknews

Covering the 1400s (Niccolo Machiavelli) to the 1990s (Fidel Castro, Mikhail Gorbachev), this volume provides essays on some 70 Western statesmen (heads of state or ministers in the area of foreign relations) who influenced or changed the world in which they lived. Each essay begins with a biographical sketch covering the subject's life and career; continues with a descriptive bibliography of available archival materials, works written by and about the subject, and the most recent scholarship; and concludes with a bibliographical checklist. Five appendices provide additional information. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)