Although it may be commonplace for many Americans to view most European nations as nearly identical in political terms, at the local and national level, each European country may display some similarities but also many differences. Associate professor of comparative politics, Hans Slomp's two volume encyclopedia, Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics, serves as a resource for those seeking to understand the distinctive and similar features of European politics from the local to the supranational. Intended for an American audience, Slomp's work explores many political concepts such as organized labor, liberalism, and conservatism all within an American-European comparative framework. This work is a remarkably accessible and illustrative comparative political analysis that illuminates the political, economic, and philosophical differences among European nations and more generally between Europe and the United States.

Consisting of two volumes, the first resembles a political science monograph or textbook, whereas the second volume is more similar to a traditional encyclopedia. The first volume is a revised and updated version of Slomp's 2000 book, European Politics into the Twenty-First Century: Integration and Division (Westport, Conn.: Praeger). Throughout this updated version, Slomp added highly informative comparative sections, charts, and tables, which contrast American and European politics. This results in clear and easy to understand comparisons of the United States and Europe as well as comparisons among European nations. The comparative themes that run through this volume are discussed with such clarity that each chapter is an almost enlightening experience. Slomp's ability to construct highly informative comparative charts and to compose immediately discernible comparisons with anecdotal descriptions make this a remarkable and important work. The only weakness of this volume is that it is marketed as an encyclopedia. Therefore, in most libraries, this highly readable work will be placed in noncirculating reference sections. Although volume 1 may have been better suited as a stand-alone monograph or textbook, this work is nonetheless important.

Volume 2 of Europe, A Political Profile represents a more traditional reference work. Divided into two sections, this volume contains encyclopedic country profile entries and a glossary of political terms. The country profiles are grouped together by region and contain a section on various elements of each country's political system such as its constitution and civil society. In addition to a glossary of terms, volume 2 also contains a short sources and further readings section and an appendix that lists some brief statistics on European nations and the United States.

Slomp's Europe, A Political Profile is a very important work that most likely could have reached a wider audience had it been published as a monograph or textbook. While this two volume reference set is really a political science treatise with an additional book-length country profile appendix, it is nonetheless highly recommended. The chapters in volume 1 would serve very well as assigned readings in European and comparative political science and international public policy courses. For that reason, it is recommended that academic libraries wishing to acquire this set purchase the electronic version, as it will therefore not be limited to a non-circulating reference section. Although this set does not necessarily function well as a reference item, volume 1 represents a significant contribution to European-United States comparative politics and is therefore highly recommended for selected high school libraries, all large public libraries, and all academic libraries.