^#smrgSAHAF The American Peoples Encyclopedia: A Modern Reference Work - 20 Volumes ( 19 + 1 Atlas / Index ) -

The editors have endeavored to compile a modern, attractive reference work having maximum utility for the home, school, office, and library. They have tried to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the content by turning for major articles to authors eminent in their fields of concentration. The contributions of all authors have been edited to conform with a simple style that guarantees their usefulness to the layman; but clarity and simplicity have not been attained at the cost of accuracy. Where topics of a complex nature require the use of technical or abstruse terms, these are explained or defined. By such means the encyclopedia helps to famil-iarize the reader with known terms and so to promote the understanding of intellectual advances.

Readability has been improved by breaking down the subjects into component parts and by using special kinds of type to point out their relationships. Major divisions are indicated by the use of headings in the center of the column on a separate line. Other important divisions or related topics are called to the reader's attention through the use of sideheads in boldface type at the left margin beginning a paragraph. Cross references within or at the end of articles refer to index entries.

The illustrative materials have been selected for those qualities that would give the reader information, new insight, and the "feci" of actuality. Flow charts and cutaw ay photographs depicting modern industrial processes, for example, amplify the pertinent passages in the text, to which they are related by captions. Frequently a subject is illustrated through the use of a series of photographs arranged in sequence to explain a whole process, a growth development, a historical period, or the ways of life in a foreign land.

The complete atlas that appears in Volume 20 depicts in fullcolor maps the political boundaries and geogra-phical features of the modern world, areas belonging to certain historical periods, and both cylindrical and polar projections of the earth. The most recent population statistics available appear on the reverse sides of all maps.

Up to dateness is a consideration of the utmost importance, and to this end it is the policy of the editors to maintain a process of continuous revision, with special emphasis given to articles on rapidly developing subjects. Systematic changes bring the entries up to the current date, thus giving reliability and recency of information.

Finally, it has been the constant aim of the editors to help the reader increase his understanding beyond the scope of any one article by two major devices. The first is an alphabetical index to the whole fabric of the encyclopedia. The second is a full range of bibliogra-phies appended to important articles that will guide the reader to recognized works on the same or related subjects.