America and World War I: A Selected Annotated Bibliography of English-Language Sources (review)

America and World War I: A Selected Annotated Bibliography of English-Language Sources is an updated version of a research guide in military history that was first published in 1985. Scholarly attention to America and World War I has increased dramatically in the last twenty years, and this book includes the most recent and important work in English on America and World War I, making it a good starting point for anyone embarking on a research project or simply interested in finding out more about some aspect of the war.

America and World War I presents an annotated bibliographic listing of books, published documents, articles, review essays, doctoral dissertations, private papers, libraries and repositories, film, and oral histories regarding the American experience in World War I. The book is organized into sections devoted to Reference Works and Internet, Manuscript Depositories and Libraries, the Origins and Outbreak of the War, Military Aspects of the War, the Homefront, Social and Cultural Impact of the War, Diplomacy of the War, and the Peace Settlement. Each of these sections contains sub-headings that list both primary and secondary source materials alphabetically rather than dividing them into separate sections. This organizational structure means that students or scholars interested in finding primary sources on a particular topic will need to carefully peruse each relevant section. Each entry contains a short description that often qualifies a work's strengths or focus, helping to guide the researcher in making selections about which works might be useful for a particular project. Many annotations give a brief overview of an author's thesis or argument, another useful feature.

There are some important omissions, however. Researchers using this volume may be disappointed with the listing of Internet sites that simply directs scholars to the Great War Society's 1914-1918 webpage and the links it provides. A more comprehensive listing of relevant Internet sites within the general topical categories would be a useful addition. The failure to adequately appreciate the importance of the Internet as a research tool for students and scholars is also evident in the descriptions of manuscript depositories which does not include any information on what documents may be available on-line or even website addresses. While the list of manuscript depositories contains all the major archives for World War I materials, including the National Archives, Library of Congress, and Army Military History Institute, there are a myriad of smaller libraries with First World War collections that often remain unknown to all but the most dedicated researcher. Including a more comprehensive list of manuscript depositories would make the volume even more useful to researchers. Finally, the volume lacks an interpretative essay of new developments or trends in World War I scholarship which could help students and scholars place the author's annotations within the larger scholarly debates about the American experience of war.