In recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that the end of good original trilogy reference works was in sight. Just about everything had already been said and when something came out it was often “old wine in new bottles”.
This is different with The Star Wars Historical Sourcebook: Volume One: 1971-1976 by W.R. (Bob) Miller, a book with a chronological overview of what happened in the Star Wars area from 1971 to 1976.
I can now hear you thinking: “1971? But isn’t Star Wars from 1977? ”Yes, but in 1971 radio presenter Terry McGovern (who can be heard in A New Hope as the voice of a Stormtrooper) came up with the term“ Wooky, ”which George Lucas later transformed into Wookiee . This is just one of the many facts that the reader will discover.
The way in which Miller puts detail in this book is insane and it is immediately clear why the creation of this publication took many years. The number of sources that he consulted is huge (books, magazines, Facebook posts … and I can proudly say that he has also frequently used interviews that I conducted) and no fact is lost in this book which is the first in a series.
As said, the strenght and uniqueness of this book is the fact that it is very detailed; 396 pages about the years before the very first Star Wars movie is something that has never been done before. This has two consequences: for the real Star Wars historian it is like a big party with all these facts, while for the casual fan it will feel like a dry read since the book doesn’t even contain any photos or images (the reason is that it is was not released under the Disney license). As the examples of some pages below show, it is purely a chronological summary of facts and statements and not a fluid narrative whole.
The Star Wars Historical Sourcebook is a book that is packed with unique, never-before-published information. I would like to say: it was worth the wait.
Several acclaimed people from Star Wars such as Gary Kurtz (producer), Charles Lippincott (head of marketing), Craig Miller (editor-in-chief Bantha Tracks) and Lorne Peterson (ILM) have already praised this work. A better ‘seal of approval’ is unimaginable.
In the words of Gary Kurtz:
“This historical sourcebook is an extraordinarily complete work, annotating almost everything that has been written about the original Star Wars Trilogy (now called Episodes 4, 5, and 6). I have personally found this sourcebook very useful for my own research into questions I am asked in interviews. Bob Miller has done a monumental job on this sourcebook and any true Star Wars fan or scholar must have this work in their collection.”
The Star Wars Historical Sourcebook: Volume One: 1971-1976 is available on Amazon:
Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de
