Dr West's book is unusual in its skilful and seamless combination of how to do it; advice with a comprehensive work of reference. To illuminate his detailed, practical guidance, the author has used a series of landmark documents relating to one particular village, Chaddesley Corbett in Worcestershire; all of them available for virtually any locality. He then, through up-to-date, county-by-county source lists and bibliographies, makes it easy for the reader to locate and to use similar sources - ranging from Saxon charters and place names to turnpike trust records and commercial directories.