The fitness of the United States of America as a subject for encyclopedic study is
plain. No discussion of world politics, economics, culture, technology, or military
affairs would be complete without an intensive examination of the American achievement.
What is not so obvious is why the editors chose to present this work as an encyclopedia
of the states rather than of the United States. In so doing, they emphasize the
fact that the United States is a federal union of separate states with divergent histories,
traditions, resources, laws, and economic interests.
Every state, large or small, is treated in an individual chapter, within a framework of
50 standard subject headings; generally, the more populous the state, the longer the
article. The District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico each have
their own chapters, and two additional articles describe in summary the other Caribbean
and Pacific dependencies. The concluding chapter is an overview of the nation as
a whole. Supplementing this textual material are tables of conversions and abbreviations,
a glossary, and more than 50 black-and-white maps prepared especially for this
encyclopedia.