Justin Winsor's History of America.

Since the completion of his "Memorial History of Boston," Mr. Justin Winsor, at present the librarian of Harvard, has devoted his attention to editing a "Narrative and Critical History of America." The work covers the ground up to the civil war, and the first of the eight volumes is devoted to the period before the European discoveries. The book is a collection of articles by various writers, with critical essays and notes by Mr. Windsor. The history is not continuous, and only the salient points of each period are treated. A knowledge of American history is requisite for the reader, but for the student, the materials brought together are invaluable. Mr. Windsor contributes some very able papers in the fifth volume which are remarkable for their literary and historical treatment. As might be expected from the varied authorship, the work, judged as a historical narrative, is often deficient, but as a digest of our knowledge about our predecessors on this continent, it is unsurpassed.

No other literary undertaking of equal size has ever been undertaken in America. The amount of industry on the part of the editor was enormous, and he may be said to have inspired almost every article.