Facts on File National Profiles: Benelux Countries FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
This is a new series planned to include narrative, statistics, and directory information for more than 150 countries. Profiles of the British Isles, Japan, and Scandinavia are planned for late 1989. The text of these volumes is derived from Facts on Files's Encyclopedia of the Third World ( LJ 4/1/82) and the forthcoming Encyclopedia of the First World , to be published this December, and Encyclopedia of the Second World , to be published October 1990. More comprehensive subject coverage is found in greater detail here than in Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook 1989 (Gale, 1989), the Europa Year Book 1988 (Europa, 1988), or the Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations (Wiley, 1988. 7th ed.), but the Europa has better directory information. The statistics are generally for 1986, but some tables are not labeled. The index to the first volume was unavailable for review, but unless it's better than the Encyclopedia of the Third World or there is a good table of contents, it will be difficult to find the subsections within each country. Not all libraries will want this extensive coverage for all 150 countries. These single volumes offer the opportunity for selective purchase for large academic and public libraries.-- Louise Stwalley, Univ. of Colorado Lib., Denver correction: The review of The Archives: A Guide to the National Archives Field Branches in LJ 10/1/88 should have listed Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Leubking as authors.
Booknews
Organized into three parts--Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg--the book provides functional and up-to-date information on diverse aspects of each country, including historical background, climate and weather, ethnic groups, major languages and religions, government structure, heads of states, and agriculture, industry, and education. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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