The volume of secondary material now available to students is often overwhelming. The Reader's Guide to the Social Sciences offers students, teachers, researchers, and librarians expert guidance to and critical analysis of the vast number of books available in hundreds of specific topics. This work includes approximately 1,200 alphabetized entries that carefully review the literature on specific subjects from abortion to world systems theory. In addition, nine major entries cover each of the major disciplines (political economy; management and business; human geography; politics; sociology; law; psychology; organizational behavior) and the history and development of the social sciences in a broader sense. Each entry lists the key texts published on the topic (normally six to twelve books or articles), followed by an essay of 800-1000 words that discusses these texts. The essays provide the reader with advice on the quality, emphasis, range and depth of coverage, and point of view of each book listed in the bibliography.
The major survey articles act as a large-scale map of the discipline, enabling readers to put the standard length entries into context, to understand the historical development of the discipline, and to review key controversies and points of departure between schools of thought. The entries in the Reader's Guide to the Social Sciences are fully cross-referenced and provide the reader with access to scholarship in social science topics across a diverse range of often confusing disciplines. Winner "Outstanding Reference Source" award - American Library Association