Images of the Recent Past: Readings in Historical Archaeology, edited by Charles E. Orser Jr. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, 1996

When searching for a reader in historical archaeology this volumeis the place to start. Charles Orser has collected some fine examples of historicalarchaeology for this publication that spans over a decade of research. They introducemethod, theory, the underlying philosophical issues behind theory, and the appli­cationof all of these to archaeological data sets of the historic period. The volume is organized thematically into six sections each with its ownintroduction. In all there are twenty chapters and Orser's introduction to the volume.The first and final sections offer perspectives on the state of historical archaeologyas an endeavor, both in the United States and abroad. The remainder of the volumepresents case studies in several categories. Though these categories seem somewhatarbitrary given the breadth of the material covered, they do serve to juxtapose articlesfacilitating an appreciation for the complementarity of varied approaches