Cause & Effect: The Fall of the Soviet Union

Each volume begins with a timeline and an introduction. The first chapter gives a historical overview, and following chapters discuss cause and effect questions. Each chapter lists three focus questions which could be essay questions for a final exam, and goes on to discuss those issues. The questions are thought-provoking, and not usually covered in textbooks. They often draw parallels with contemporary issues and events. There are occasional minor inaccuracies and some of the images’ relevance can be puzzling. Quotations are often from secondary or tertiary sources.These are attractive books that are easy to read and should engage students. Bibliography. Index. Norman Desmarais, Acquisitions Librarian, Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island [Editor’s Note: Available in e-book format.] Recommended

An exemplary series, the analysis of milieu and the causes of essential global movements introduces young readers to a more thorough understanding of history than simple regurgitation of people and dates. Cleverly supported with paintings, focus questions, sidebars, and splendid maps, the text looks beyond the moment to enduring attitudes toward democracy and human rights that influenced Joan of Arc, the Arab Spring, the Napoleonic code, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the downfall of tyranny in Libya.Back matter includes notes and books and websites from the past four years. Primary and secondary indexing focuses on entries with the importance of ethnic wars, Hessian mercenaries, Nicholas II, Kazakhstan, minutemen, enlightenment, and guillotine. The authors use varied editorial facets as instructional tools, notably, challenging diction, e.g., foppish, despots, regimes, opulent, and rhetoric. Curiously, Marcovitz failed to identify the rowdiness of the Sons of Liberty and Green missed an opportunity to feature a portrait of Marie Antoinette or Marianne. Presentation of Russian history makes excellent use of pictures featuring the privations of women and children. This set raises the standard for young adult history texts by challenging student thinking toward a holistic world view.—Mary Ellen Snodgrass.