REVIEW OF BOOKS: A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE

Abstract

James Ole Winjum, The Role of Accounting in the Economic Development of England; 1500-1750 Michael E. Parrish, Securities Regulation and the New Deal Hanns-Martin W. Schoenfeld, Cost Terminology and Cost Theory: A Study of its Development and Present State in Central Europe Doris Langley Moore, Lord Byron Accounts Rendered What is the role of book reviews in the Internet era? Such was the query of a colleague upon learning of my appointment as Book Review Editor of the Accounting Historians Journal (AHJ). When we are able to download books and journals, as well as create and read online reviews at our favorite Internet bookstore, does the published book review serve any purpose? Not wanting to eliminate my position at its outset, I decided that a useful way to answer this question would be to revisit and re-examine previous book reviews in AHJ. BOOK REVIEWS IN AHJ Since its inception in 1977, AHJ has published approximately 300 book reviews of newly published and reprinted works. A quick glance at the works reviewed, their authors and reviewers, indicates the breadth of publishing in accounting history and provides a who's who of members of the discipline. We find books and reviews by Zeff, Winjum, Schoenfeld, Wells, Kawahara, Katano, and Woolf. Many individuals have contributed to both sides of the ledger, authoring and editing volumes, as well as reviewing them. Themes appear and re-appear, such as doubleentry bookkeeping, standard costing, financial reporting, and accounting theory. The reviews demonstrate the global dispersion of the discipline, with works emanating from Asia and the Pacific Rim, Europe and the U.K., Scandinavia, and North America. AHJ replaced The Accounting Historian, with its first three volumes reproducing its predecessor. The following section samples the book reviews contained in these three volumes. The selections are a personal choice, not a statistical sample. They cover the broad range of topics and geography contained in the cohort of 22 reviews. After excerpting these reviews, I provide a brief summary of key points. The latter illustrate the continued value of the review vehicle to highlight ever-important topics in accounting history research and historical research more generally. EXCERPTS FROM AHJ, VOLUME 1, NUMBERS 1-4,1974 James Ole Winjum, The Role of Accounting in the Economic Development of England; 1500-1750 (Center for International Education and Research in Accounting, 1972, 252 pp.) reviewed by Marc J. Epstein (pp. 36-37) Though Yamey, Edey, and Thomson provided an introduction and overview to the development of accountancy in England.... no comprehensive study has been made of the development of accounting in this period in England. Further, though the Sombart thesis is a well accepted notion, a rigorous test of that thesis had not been conducted. James Winjum successfully completes both tasks.. Central to the entire study is the test of the Sombart thesis that double-entry bookkeeping was `both a manifestation of the spirit of capitalism in its formative decades as well as a propulsive agency furthering a significant economic and cultural development.' Through an examination of extant accounting treatises and textbooks and merchant accounts of England (1500-1750), Winjum finds the proof necessary to support the thesis... Over the last few years, discussion has continued on the validity of the Sombart thesis. The contribution of this test of the thesis is obvious. It is also important to note the research methodology employed. Winjum's study provides the results of extensive investigation into both treatises and original records and provides a thorough discussion of the previous support of the thesis by influential scholars. `Scissors and paste history' is clearly not being used here in this carefully researched study... The book is a major contribution to the literature of accounting history generally and English economic and accounting history specifically. …