History: Books

Some researchers might remember the "red books" that contain Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), a staple of library research. The red books are available online (41st ed.). LCSH help researchers to locate books quickly and efficiently.

Rule #1 when using the red books is to be specific. If, for example, you are looking for books about the German occupation of Poland during World War II, the main subject Poland probably won't work very well. Why? It is too broad. Instead, use the narrower, more precise heading: Poland — History — Occupation, 1939-1945. How to find it?

• Browse by country. Many countries receive a History subdivision (e.g., Poland — History). Pull up your country's file. Main headings are listed alphabetically. Search for the name of your country. Subdivisions appear in chronological order under the main heading (e.g., Poland — History — Revolution, 1830-1832 comes before Poland — History — Occupation, 1939-1945).
• Use cross-references. Look, for example, for "World War" under the "W" file to discover that the correct heading is not Second World War, World War II, WWII, or WW2 but World War, 1939-1945. That is evident from the UF (or Used for) cross-reference. (Users will also discover that books about the war are located in the General Stacks between call numbers D731 and D838.) Other important cross-references include:
  • BT for Broader term(s)
  • NT for Narrower terms(s) [especially useful]
  • RT for Related term(s)
  • SA for See also
• Look for related terms in alphabetic proximity to the main subject. Following alphabetically after World War, 1939-1945 are the subdivisions Aerial operations, African Americans, and Atrocities. Below Atrocities are NT cross-references such as Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), but also country subdivisions including World War, 1939-1945 — Atrocities — Poland. Spot below the latter the NT cross-reference, Jedwabne Massacre, Jedwabne, Poland, 1941. Reproduce the "red book effect" in the browse by subject function of the library's discovery service (e.g., Poland — Civilization; Poland — Economic conditions; Poland — History).

Once the proper subject heading has been identified, perform an Advanced search in the library's discovery service. Select "Subject" from the initial drop-down menu and "contains exact phrase" from the second drop-down. Type or copy/paste the subject heading including subdivisions into the accompanying search box. Execute your search.

See How do I find primary sources? to discover LCSH without the red books.

The Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) is a discovery platform for connecting to scholarly e-books. Users will find thousands of humanities titles published in English and other languages. "DOAB Foundation is a non-profit legal entity under Dutch law (‘stichting’), established by OAPEN Foundation and OpenEdition. The Foundation is based at the National Library in The Hague" (About DOAB).

More open access e-books:

• Big Ten Open Books
• Open Access Books (JSTOR)
• Open Book Publishers (United Kingdom)

Begun in 2008, HathiTrust Digital Library is a preservation repository for public domain and in-copyright titles. The project digitized books from the collections of major research libraries. HathiTrust partners include Internet Archive, Google, and Microsoft.

Researchers can access HathiTrust e-books in the public domain, currently over 7,000,000 volumes. HathiTrust is similar to Google Books but the content is much better described, organized, and displayed.

Internet Archive (IA) is billed as a non-profit library. IA provides access to millions of digitized e-books. Perform an Advanced Search for author, title, or subject ("Description"). Create an account to borrow most books for 1-hour or 14 days. If you prefer WorldCat, use Advanced Search > Limit availability to: > Library Code: INARC.

Search these databases to find scholarly reviews of history books:

The following journals publish reviews of history books:

H-Net publishes scholarly book reviews from 1993 to present.