When searching for a reader in historical archaoelogy this volume is the place to start. Charles Orser has collected some fine examples of historical archaeology for this publication that spans over a decade of research. They introduce method, theory, and the underlying philosophical issues behind theory, and the application of all of these to archaoelogical data sets of the historical period.

Bulletin of the History of Archaeology

Orser does an excellent job of organizing the material and providing an introduction to each of the sections....I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about historical archaeology or to anyone teaching a historical archaeology class.

Mississippi Archaeology

This reader includes a broad range of methodological and theoretical articles that cover a wide range of topics. They are important, coherent and provocative articles that set the tone of where the discipline is today. It will be an important text in any historical archaeology class.

Paul Shackel, (University of Maryland)