Books on Early American History and Culture, 1981-1985: An Annotated Bibliography continues a series of bibliographies listing book-length works on North America and the Caribbean prior to 1815. Meant for scholars, librarians, and students of early America, the book surveys over 900 monographs, essay collections, exhibition catalogues, and reference works published between 1981 and 1985. Entries include brief annotations, which describe the scope and approach to each item and, where applicable, the book’s main thesis.

In addition to the standard bibliographic components, this book also includes a list of journals where the work has been reviewed and the number of times the book has been cited in the professional journal literature. In thirty-one thematic chapters the book covers such topics as government, religion, society, gender, race, and ethnicity. The work includes detailed subject and author indexes and evaluative material.