[ Order This Book ] More Info: Description Review American Census: A Social History Author: Margo J. Anderson Cover: cover List Price: $19.00 Published by Yale University Press ISBN: 0300047096 Review {This book} was written to fill a conspicuous gap, and on the whole it has accomplished this very well. . . . The best chapters are those on the 19th century, when opposed views were sharply defined and the technical questions were rather simple. . . . As a historian, Anderson is understandably least comfortable in trying to assess the most recent period. . . . Her bias is . . . that of an analyst who wants data to work on. She never faces up to the questionunderlying all the others: how much effort, money, and invasion of privacy are warranted to produce an ever-larger quantity of figures. . . . Apart from such criticisms, this is a worthwhile book, an excellent summary in language that the general reader can understand of how the country's statistical record was shaped by American history.