"A monument of historical scholarship. These biographical
narratives, well-written and riveting, often read more like
character sketches than dry, dusty history."--Henry Louis Gates,
Jr., Harvard University
"The time has come for a fresh look at event-making men and women
of the American past. The American National Biography...will be a
work that every library must have and every scholar will yearn to
own."--Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., City University of New York
"A once-in-a-lifetime publishing project. How lucky we are that it
has reached such high standards in excellent scholarship,
imaginative coverage, and intelligent commentary."--Joyce Appleby,
President of the American Historical Association
"A significant event in American cultural history....It is the
collective biography of the American people...and as such should be
available in every school, university, and public library in the
country."--Bernard Bailyn, Harvard University (Emeritus)
"[A]n impeccably edited work that aims at the highest standards of
balanced historical perspective and scholarly accuracy."--New York
Genealogical and Biographical Record
"[A] masterpiece of scholarly distillation....American National
Biography Online (ANB Online), with sophisticated search
capabilities, learned but lively articles, internal cross
references, up-to-date bibliographies, and links to external web
resources, represents the benchmark for online scholarly reference
tools. Erudite but accessible, this stellar scholarly undertaking
is for anyone from the informed general reader to students from
middle school on
up."--Library Journal netconnect
"With its coverage of people excluded from [Dictionary of American
Biography] and its updated treatment of many others, ANB is an
esential addition to the reference collection of any large public
and academic library, even if the library already has DAB on its
shelves."--RBB/Booklist
"Although written to a high standard of scholarship, American
National Biography is designed for the general reader. The writers
and editors have sought to make each entry as clear as possible,
yet have managed to do so without dumbing things down....The range
of subjects is truly dazzling....Depth is not sacrificed to
breadth....[A]n invaluable reference tool [that] is also likely to
induce compulsive browsing."--Wall Street Journal
"Not since putting a man on the Moon has an American organisation
undertaken such an ambitious logistical project....These volumes
are an absorbing panorama of the long, colourful American
parade....[T]he essays are well-written and entertaining [and] the
pages are strewn with little nuggets....[I]ts publication is indeed
something to celebrate."--The [London] Sunday Times
"American National Biography...offers a single, authoritative,
current resource of high quality; a first resort that should find a
place on the shelves of every aademic and public
library"--CHOICE
"The editors have, in fact, set aside the older DAB and created an
altogether new work....Nearly 40 per cent of the figures in the new
ANB--6.802 persons--did not appear in the original DAB or its
supplements....[T]he design of the ANB's editors to shorten the
longer entries and lengthen the shorter ones was eminently
wise....Carl Becker's article on Benjamin Franklin [in the DAB]
remains a graciously written gem. Yet Leo Lemay's essay on Franklin
in the new
ANB, though shorter, is more complete, more knowledgeable, and more
historically accurate."--The Times Literary Supplement
"Provides a vibrant picture of our nation's history as defined by
the diversity of American life."--Curriculum Administrator
"All general academic and large public libraries will need this new
set..."--College and Research Libraries
"A monumental work that does much to present a more balanced
portrait of the American people....ANB's editors don't gloss over
controversial subject areas."--Chicago Sun-Times
"One of the significant reference publishing events of the
decade."--Booklist Editors' Choice
"One thing--maybe the main thing--readers want from history, and
what the A.N.B. commendably gives, is stories of lives: lives that
both resemble our own (and that we can therefore understand), and
that are more interesting than our own, whether the people who
lived them were better, more talented, or more dangerous."--Richard
Brookhiser, The New York Times Book Review
"The American National Biography is a literary milestone, a kind of
Human Genome Project for the advancement of historical
understanding....stunningly ambitious....[Its] greatest achievement
is the vitality and reach of its voice....[T]he ANB will find no
equal in documentary prose for years to come. It reminds us what it
means to have one life to live."--David Michaelis, The New York
Observer
"A kind of Who's Who of American history and culture....[S]et[s] a
standard in style, scope, and judgment that the profession [of
history] will be challenged to sustain. American National Biography
is not just a reference work. It is itself a defining artifact, at
the end of the twentieth century, for a culture that could exist
'only in America'."--Edmund S. Morgan and Marie Morgan,New York
Review of Books.
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