Regional and Area Studies

Over 4,700 entries

The Benezit Dictionary of Asian Artists consists of more than 4,700 entries on Asian artists representing all regions of the continent, including the Middle East, and every era from antiquity to the present. The content is drawn from the most recent edition of the Benezit Dictionary of Artists (Editions Gründ, 2006), supplemented by fifty new entries on contemporary artists commissioned for this publication and over one hundred updated biographies.

Although most of the articles are on East Asian artists, primarily from China and Japan, the overall geographic and chronological scope is considerable, representing artists throughout the continent, and from ancient periods into the 21st century. This dictionary provides a compact, accessible collection of entries on Asian artists from ukiyo-e printmaker Hiroshige to Indian cubist painter Maqbool Fida Husain to Jin Dynasty painter Gu Kaizhi to Israeli artist Yaacov Agam. The artists specialize in a wide range of media, from calligraphy to performance art.

Entries provide concise narratives of artists’ careers, and many include bibliographies, exhibition histories, collection holdings, or auction records; additional entries are illustrated with images of artists’ signatures.

Over 3,200 entries

The Benezit Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators features over three thousand entries on British artists, ranging from contemporary cartoonists to medieval manuscript illuminators. The majority of the content was chosen from the most recent edition of the Benezit Dictionary of Artists (Editions Gründ, 2006), with more than ninety revised entries and sixty new ones, primarily on 19th- and 20th-century artists.

This work provides a compact, accessible collection of entries on printmakers, poster artists, illustrators, cartoonists, calligraphers, and illuminators either native to or active in the United Kingdom from the Middle Ages to the present. The Dictionary is therefore an essential reference for the rich history of British printmaking—both fine art prints as well as works for mass print media—and artistic activities related to the production of manuscripts and printed books. Because of Benezit’s focus on European artists, particularly those active in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, this collection provides excellent coverage of these media during their most significant periods of development.

Entries provide concise narratives of artists’ careers, and many include bibliographies, exhibition histories, collection holdings, or auction records; over 200 entries feature images of artists’ signatures and monograms.

Over 130 entries

This publication, the first of its kind since 1898, represents the work of more than one hundred internationally recognized experts from nearly a dozen countries. It has been designed to satisfy the growing thirst of students, researchers, professionals, and general readers for knowledge about China. It makes the entire span of Chinese history manageable by introducing the reader to emperors, politicians, poets, writers, artists, scientists, explorers, and philosophers who have shaped and transformed China over the course of five thousand years. In 135 entries, ranging from 1,000 to 8,000 words and written by some of the world's leading China scholars, the Dictionary takes the reader from the important (even if possibly mythological) figures of ancient China to Communist leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. The in-depth essays provide rich historical context, and create a compelling narrative that weaves abstract concepts and disparate events into a coherent story. Cross-references between the articles show the connections between times, places, movements, events, and individuals.

The work features a range of appendices, including a timeline of key events, a pronunciation guide, a bibliography, lists of rulers and other prominent people, and other supplemental materials for students of Chinese history and culture.

Over 100 entries

The fourth volume of the Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography covers the years 1979-2015, providing a riveting new way to understand twenty-first-century China and a personal look at the changes that have taken place since the Reform and Opening Up era started in 1979. One hundred key individuals from this period were selected by an international group of experts, and the stories were written by more than 70 authors in 14 countries. The authors map the paths taken by these individuals-some rocky, some meandering, some fateful-and in telling their stories give contemporary Chinese history a human face. The editors have included – with the advice of myriad experts around the world – not only the life stories of politicians and government officials, who play a crucial role in the development of the country, but the stories of cultural figures including film directors, activists, writers, and entrepreneurs from the mainland China, Hong Kong, and also from Taiwan.

The "Greater China" that comes through in this volume has diverse ideas and identities. It is often contradictory, sometimes fractious, and always full of creative human complexity. Some of the lives rendered here are heroic. Some are tragic, and many are inspirational. Some figures come in for trenchant criticism, and others are celebrated with a sense of wonder and awe. Like previous volumes of the Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography, this volume includes a range of appendices, including a pronunciation guide, a bibliography, and a timeline of key events.

The work features a range of appendices, including a timeline of key events, a pronunciation guide, a bibliography, lists of rulers and other prominent people, and other supplemental materials for students of Chinese history and culture.

A comprehensive and accessible survey of the whole of Celtic mythology, legend, saga, and folklore. It covers the people, themes, concepts, places, and creatures of Celtic mythology, from both ancient and modern traditions, in 4,000 entries ranging from brief definitions to short essays.

Over 350 entries

This new dictionary provides clear and authoritative definitions of terms within the fast-growing field of African Politics. It includes coverage of elections, parties, judiciaries, popular protest, gender relations, the politics of development, and Africa’s international relations as well as major events and figures within African Politics. Entries range from Afrocentrism and the Bandung Conference to ‘Rhodes must fall’ and Sino–African relations and include key terms of particular relevance to Africa such as neopatrimonialism, queue voting, and post-conflict power-sharing. The dictionary also showcases the remarkably vibrant and insightful political language used in Africa, including a range of vernacular terms that are essential for a deep understanding of local political realities.

Written by a world-leading expert on the political science of Africa, this dictionary is an essential guide for both undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as academics, journalists, and researchers working on African politics.

“Another volume for every local historian's bookshelf” - Local Historian

This revised edition of the Dictionary of British Place-Names includes over 17,000 engaging and informative entries, tracing the development of the featured place-names from earliest times to the present day. Included place-names range from the familiar to the obscure, among them 'Beer', 'Findlater', 'Broadbottom', and 'Great Snoring'. The A to Z entries are complemented by a detailed introductory essay discussing the chronology and development of English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish place-names, as well as an extensive bibliography, maps of Britain showing old and new boundaries, and a glossary of common elements in place-names.

Both accessible and up to date, this dictionary is an ideal companion for anybody travelling around the British Isles, as well as for researchers and students with an interest in toponomy, local history, cartography, and lexicography.

Over 325 entries

The huge organism called the Indian economy, with its complexities, diversities, and paradoxes, is both fascinating and puzzling. The Oxford Companion to Economics in India (2007) brought together expertise on each slender aspect of the economy. Taking forward the huge popularity of its predecessor, The New Oxford Companion to Economics in India has not only substantially revised and updated many of the original entries but also includes several new entries on emerging areas. The New OCEI focuses on India’s role as a global player in the highly volatile financial scenario—the great global recession, the sub-prime crisis, and the revival of G-20 in which India has found itself taking an active role. The New OCEI contextualizes these events and the accompanying policy changes while providing a rich portrait of a dynamic and resilient economy. It is also a ‘who’s who’ of economists on India.

Culled from the collective wisdom of distinguished contributors, including economists, policymakers, and corporate chiefs, the New OCEI is a definitive scholarly reference that will serve the needs of academics, policymakers, journalists, and corporates, as well as all those interested in understanding the unique Indian experience.

The Encyclopedia of Africa presents the most up-to-date and thorough reference in world history, politics, and culture on this region of ever-growing importance. Its core is comprised of entries focusing on African history and culture from 2005’s acclaimed five-volume Africana—nearly two-thirds of these 1,300 entries have been updated, revised, and expanded to reflect the most recent scholarship.

The articles cover prominent individuals, events, trends, places, political movements, art forms, business and trade, religions, ethnic groups, organizations, and countries throughout Africa. In-depth articles examine contemporary nations of sub-Saharan Africa, ethnic groups from various regions of Africa, and European colonial powers. Two hundred illustrations and demographic sidebars further guide and inform research.

Over 9,000 entries

The Grove Dictionary of American Music, second edition is the largest, most comprehensive reference publication on American Music. Twenty-five years ago, the four volumes of the first edition of the dictionary initiated a great expansion in American music scholarship. This second edition reflects the growth in scholarship the first edition initiated. At eight volumes, it provides greatly expanded coverage, particularly in the areas of popular music, cities and regions, musical theater, opera, concert music, and music technology, as well as the musical traditions of many ethnic and cultural groups.

The articles of the dictionary range from small definitions of dance styles and musical terms to mid-length biographies of important performers, composers and music patrons, to longer examinations of larger subjects such as the history of jazz, musical instruments, music education in the United States, and the American history of the orchestra.

The dictionary's articles are supplemented by over 400 images and 140 musical examples and other materials. An abbreviations list, list of contributors, and tips on the use of the dictionary make navigation easy. With well-researched, informative articles by 1500 authors, including most of the top scholars in the field, The Grove Dictionary of American Music is accessible to scholars, academic specialists, and the general public.

Over 240 entries

This invaluable A–Z provides a wealth of up-to-date information on every country in the world, including dependent territories. Each entry provides a brief history of the country and outlines its political, economic, and social issues. A quick-reference fact box provides comparative information on land area, people, language, religion, life expectancy, GDP, and gender equality and environmental performance. Invaluable supplementary material includes detailed indicator tables showing income and poverty, health and population, and a list of international organizations, such as the EU and the African Union, with essential information about these groupings.

This accessible guide is an ideal reference for students and teachers of geography, politics, economics, and world history at all levels, as well as anyone wanting access to reliable information on any country of the world.

This online edition was reviewed and selectively updated by the original author in 2011.

Covering all aspects of mythology, this Companion includes essays on the world's major mythological traditions (Greek, Native American, Indian, Japanese, Sumerian, Egyptian), along with retellings of better-known myths, and entries on mythological types, motifs, and figures (such as the Descent to the Underworld, the Hero, Creation, Odysseus, Spider Woman, and Inanna), and related subjects (such as fairly tales and legends). The Companion locates myth firmly in our lives today by exploring language patterns, psychology, religion, politics, art, and gender attitudes.

Over 1,400 entries

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, originally published in September 2004, covers the significant events, inventions, and social movements that have shaped the way Americans view, prepare, and consume food and drink. Entries range across historical periods and the trends that characterize them, from the extravagant feasts of the Gilded Age to the diet fads of the nineties. This thoroughly updated new edition captures the shifting American perspective on food and ensures that this title is both the most authoritative and the most current reference work on American cuisine.

The second edition of the Encyclopedia reflects the many changes in American food consciousness during the twenty-first century. Once a niche market, food television has become ubiquitous, as are websites devoted to all sorts of regional cuisines. New health consciousness has spawned obesity taxes, transfat and calorie-count laws, the slow food movement, and locavorism. Ethnic foods and the fusion of these have led to new crazes for such cuisines as Southwestern sushi and Filipino hamburgers. These timely trends and topics have been incorporated into the new edition of the Encyclopedia, adding one volume and over 300 new entries on these and other subjects such as food science and nutrition, molecular gastronomy, genetically-modified foods, food controversies, regional foods, the volatile nature of food prices, and food traditions of major American cities. Entries from the Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, also edited by Andy Smith, have been added, as have a substantial number of biographies of culinary personalities. All bibliographies and non-historical entries have been revisited for updating.

Publishing in print in February 2009, this encyclopedia presents students, researchers, political analysts, journalists, and common readers with accurate, comprehensive, and balanced scholarship on all aspects of the world's fastest-growing religion and the areas it affects: society, politics, economics, everyday life, culture, and thought. A six-volume print work now conveniently offered digitally, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World is a major revision and massive expansion of the 1995 Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World. In addition to covering Islamic societies in the modern world from the eighteenth century to the present, as Modern Islamic World did, it adds a depth of historical background going back to the pre- Islamic era. It also covers the full geographical extent of Islam by focusing not only on the countries in which Islam is dominant, but also on regions in which Muslims live as minorities, such as Europe and the Americas. As with the original Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, the articles take a broad, comparative, and multidisciplinary approach in dealing with issues that span across a multitude of countries and centuries. And, with nearly 300 images and 40 maps, the Encyclopedia is visually stunning.

A quick reference guide to national flags

This title now includes over 775 maps, with locator, physical and political maps for each country, over 120 island maps, state maps for North America, Canada, and Mexico, and more than 100 city maps.

Since Plato first coined the term 'mythologia', mythology has come to hold greater significance and power as a crucial element of civilization as a whole. Written by a leading scholar of ancient civilizations, A Dictionary of World Mythology presents the powerful gods of Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia, the more mystical deities of Buddhist and Hindu India, and the stern spirits of the African and American continents. Drawing upon hundreds of myths from around the globe, it not only reveals the vast differences in these civilizations, but also demonstrates the unity of mankind in its fundamental need for explanations of the unknown.