Business History Review

Recommended supplement

There is a certain irony to this reference work dealing with history when one realizes how little history about itself is contained within its covers: no mission statement, no vignettes about its founders, and no information about the subject of business history, even in the annual association publication! Surely the editorial board will reconsider the oversight.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of this little green academic publication (the format is very basic with only a few pictures to enliven the imagination) is the large number of book reviews. Each review is done by a different reviewer and includes all the necessary information to call and purchase the book. One would like to believe such scholarly works get reviewed in other venues, but that is not often the case. If one wishes to develop an acquaintance with or build a collection of books on business history, these reviews are an efficient way to do it. Also, the "Editor's Corner" is interesting because it provides information on awards for fellowships, prizes, grants, announcements on pertinent publications dealing with scholarships, and the like. There are approximately four feature articles each amounting to 30 or 40 pages.

They are briefly abstracted, heavily footnoted, but user-friendly, nevertheless, and provide for comfortable and informative reading. The spring 1996 issue included "Chain Building: The Consolidation of the American Newspaper Industry, 1953-1980," by Elizabeth MacIver Neiva.

A second publication to consider is the Journal of The History of Economic Thought (ISSN 1042-7716) published each spring and fall by the History of Economics Society (HES) since 1974. The Web page address for the HES is cs.muohio.edu/HisEcSoc. The Spring 1997 edition included "Adam Smith on the Virtues: A Partial Resolution of the Adam Smith Problem," by Spencer J. Pack. The publication is approximately 175 pages, with approximately eight reader-friendly articles covering some 15 to 20 pages, including six or seven book reviews. If you would like to offer an article, you can get information at www.iup.edu/ec.

www.hbsp.harvard.edu
kdonahue@hbsp.harvard.edu

Business History Review

Quarterly publication
ISSN 0007-6805
For more information, call
Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation
Phone: (617) 495-6154
Fax: (617) 496-5985