Historical dictionary of NATO and other international security organizations /

Rimanelli (Saint Leo Univ.) offers a mammoth book with quite a few commendable features--thousands of entries, helpful organizational charts, lists of acronyms, photographs of key players, a committees listing, a detailed chronology of NATO's history, and an extensive bibliography. Included are good cross-references and see references. However, a look at the maps put this reviewer off. Apparently copied from other sources, the maps are hard to read, with odd typefaces, dark background colors, and legends that continue or start outside the frame--rendering some of them almost useless. More coverage of other international security organizations would have been helpful in this volume. Readers will find entries on CENTO, SEATO, and more. But the material presented on organizations other than NATO lacks maps, photographs, and other peripheral information that would help readers understand it. This reviewer continues to question why reference works of this type still are being produced on paper rather than in CD-ROM format, and to wonder how many readers want a heavy, two-and-one-half-inch-thick book. Summing Up: Optional. Lower-level undergraduates and general readers. S. J. Stillwell Jr. University of Arizona

The publication of this volume is opportune since it coincides with NATO's 60th anniversary (the alliance is now rejuvenated by France's rejoining its command structure). Whether or not NATO is, as the introduction says, "the most powerful alliance that every existed," it continues to be strategically important-sending troops to Afghanistan, Kosovo, Kabul, etc.-when other Cold War alliances like the Warsaw Pact have expired. The main part of the book is a 600-page A-to-Z dictionary with both short and long articles on everything NATO: agencies (Nuclear Planning Group), treaties (Atlantic Charter), people (Yeltsin), events (Berlin crisis), and concepts (mutual assured destruction). The rest of the book is more than supplemented by a thorough chronolog, a dictionary of acronyms, organization charts, photos of commanders, maps, and a very complete bibliography. Apparently, this title will replace NATO's previous annual, NATO Handbook (later Jane's NATO Handbook). Rimanelli (St. Leo Univ., FL) has written monographs on NATO and foreign policy and has spent extended time working for U.S. government programs and in Europe. Bottom Line The "International Organizations" series that this book belongs to is just one Scarecrow series available in this same format; there is also "Historical Dictionaries of Religions" and "Historical Dictionaries" of individual countries. Gale also publishes similar historical dictionaries, and it seems to get its e-versions out quicker. This title would be a useful addition to every library if an interest in European history, politics, and international relations exists. [Online: NetLibrary.]-Janice Dunham, John Jay Coll., CUNY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.