Study of History

The chief objective of this text is to provide a handy reference guide for teachers, students and researchers of modern European economic and social history. Since the bibliography covers only works written in the English language it will probably be of less use to the last named group, at least insofar as those within it are already seasoned researchers on a particular country or topic. However, it would have been quite impossible from the point of view of length to have included all the literature in foreign languages, while to have done so would have defeated the essential aim of the volume, namely that of providing a reasonably convenient guide for those who teach and study the subject but who are not primarily specialists in the field. Geographically the volume encompasses the whole of continental Europe, including Turkey in Europe (for Britain see "Bibliography of British Economic and Social History" by W.H.Chaloner and R.C.Richardson, Manchester University Press, 1984).
The bibliography covers writings on the period 1700 to 1939 and includes most of the literature published during the 20th century and a small selection of the important, and still relevant, writings which appeared in the 19th century. Insofar as the rapid growth in the volume of literature is of fairly recent origin, the incidence of post World War II writings is, of course, much higher than that for the earlier period. The selection is confined largely to books and articles; for the most part it does not include annual publications or government reports, though a number of publications of important public, semi-public and/or international organizations - for example, the League of Nations - have been included. For each entry, details are given regarding the date of publication, publisher and place of publication in the case of books, and the volume number and year of publication for articles. Normally the first edition of the book is listed, except in cases where later editions include substantial revisions. Where practical, the UK edition of books is given, and the publishers are specified; in America the corresponding US publishers can if necesary be found from "Books in Print".
The titles of journals are given in full for each entry to obviate the tiresome business of referring to an abbreviations list. The classification is by area and country, with a breakdown into a dozen or so subject headings for most countries and regions. As far as practicable, the subjects headings have been kept uniform throughout in order to facilitate cross-reference between countries and subjects. The detailed listing of the headings in the contents pages should prove helpful to those wishing to utilize the bibliography in this way.