Book reviews [1985, Vol. 12, no. 1]

              The Accounting Historians Journal Vol. 12, No. 1 Spring 1985
BOOK REVIEWS
Linda H. Kistler, Editor
UNIVERSITY OF LOWELL
Thomas J. Burns and Edward N. Coffman, The Accounting Hall of Fame: Profiles of Forty-one Members (Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University, 1982, pp. vi, 104, single copies available upon re-quest).
Reviewed by Kathryn Verreault Bentley College
Possible themes for a book on the forty-one members of the Accounting Hall of Fame are numerous. The book could center around a chronological development of contributions in accounting by selected individuals. A grouping of contemporaries and their re-spective contributions might constitute an interesting theme. Ac-counting contributions summarized by subject also could be con-structed creatively. The contributions of these individuals organized by economic similarities might also produce a successful book. This book contains none of the above.
Instead, forty-one alphabetic profiles comprise this book. No more. No less. Each profile is accompanied by a sketch of the re-spective member. Any narrative exceeding the first page is located at the end of the book. This magazine-style format has been adopt-ed throughout.
The contents of this book could have been made interesting and informal. Each member's contributions could have been summar-ized in a meaningful manner rather than the mundane recitation of details. For instance, educational contributions could have been isolated from theoretical or research contributions. Professional contributions might have been emphasized as such. Any rational summary of material would aid the teacher. Unfortunately, the con-tent does not follow any recognizable method of analysis.
Each profile seems similar to a "Who's Who?" listing in terms of both style and content. An analysis of three random profiles tracing