Over the past ten years the attention given in British universities to the study of southern Africa has grown rapidly. In 1969 a symposium held under the auspices of the African Studies Association of the United Kingdom (ASAUK) to review the state of current work on southern Africa in Britain and in Africa itself revealed the diversity of research in progress, as well as practical and political problems involved in such research.

The Reader's Guide to British History is the essential source to secondary material on British history. This resource contains over 1,000 A-Z entries on the history of Britain, from ancient and Roman Britain to the present day. Each entry lists 6-12 of the best-known books on the subject, then discusses those works in an essay of 800 to 1,000 words prepared by an expert in the field. The essays provide advice on the range and depth of coverage as well as the emphasis and point of view espoused in each publication.

This guide is designed to provide direction to the National Archives' copying program in the British Isles. It consolidates in one work its references to textual sources in the British Isles that have been copied by the National Archives and gives references to material relevant to Canada not copied by the National Archives. It also consolidates references to existing National Archives copying in the British Isles. It is intended for the use of researches with an interest in Canada working directly with original sources in British and Irish repositories.

This eagerly awaited new edition, has been fully revised and updated to take full account of the many and radical changes which have taken place since the Encyclopedia was originally conceived.