This book provides an excellent introduction and overview of Historical GIS. It is very well laid out, providing an overall introduction to the capabilities of GIS in its traditional context before moving on to case studies of how historical users have utilized Historical GIS.
I appreciate how the book demonstrates both the advantages as well as the drawbacks of using GIS technology in the context of historical research. It cleared up several misperceptions I had about GIS in general, which probably could have been done with any number of other GIS books out there, but as a historian, I appreciated the book being catered to my audience as opposed to a general reader.
The book is of similar quality as a college textbook, and appears to be used as such. While the authors do not assume the reader has a working knowledge of GIS, they do assume a basic understanding of the goals of GIS and how it might have potential in the field of historical research.
I highly recommend it to anyone in the field.