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From the pharaohs to Frantz Fanon, Dictionary of African Biography provides a comprehensive overview of the lives of the men and women who shaped Africa’s history. Unprecedented in scale, DAB covers the whole continent from Tunisia to South Africa, from Sierra Leone to Somalia. It also encompasses the full scope of history from Queen Hatsheput of Egypt (1490–1468 BCE) and Hannibal, the military commander and strategist of Carthage (243–183 BCE), to Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (1909–1972), Miriam Makeba, and Nelson Mandela of South Africa (b. 1918). Subjects are drawn from all walks of life, including philosophers, politicians, activists, entertainers, scholars, poets, scientists, religious figures, kings, and everyday people.

A joint effort between Oxford University Press and the renowned American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), this comprehensive work analyzes the archaeological and linguistic data that pertain to the broad cultural milieu of the ancient Near East, the crossroads of three of the world's most influential religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ranging from prehistoric times up to the early centuries of the rise of Islam, the work covers the civilizations of Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Iran, Arabia, Cyprus, Egypt, and the coastal regions of North and East Africa.

With 1,100 entries written by 560 contributors from more than two dozen countries, the scope of the encyclopedia is wide and provides a full range of perspectives and approaches to archaeological endeavors. Articles span from Bahrain to Libraries and Archives to Ziggurats and offer cultural, historical, and religious perspectives to a wide range of topics of interest to both scholars and lay people.

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.

2006 ALA/RUSA Outstanding Reference Source

2005Booklist Editor's Choice

2005 Choice Outstanding Academic Title

The second edition of Black Women in America, edited by Darlene Clark Hine, provides expanded coverage of the achievements and contributions of African American women.

Winner of the Dartmouth Medal for Outstanding Reference Publication of 1994, the first edition of Black Women in America broke new ground—pulling together for the first time all of the research in this vast but underrepresented field to provide one of the strongest building blocks of Black Women’s Studies. Hailed by Eric Foner of Columbia University as “one of those publishing events which changes the way we look at a field,” it simultaneously filled a void in the literature and sparked new research and concepts regarding African American women in history. Since the first edition was published, a new generation of American black women has flourished, demanding this landmark reference be brought up to date. Women such as Venus and Serena Williams, Condoleezza Rice, Carol Moseley Braun, Ruth Simmons, and Ann Fudge have become household names for their remarkable contributions to sports, politics, academia, and business. In nearly 600 entries, Black Women in America celebrates the remarkable achievements of black women throughout history, highlights their ongoing contributions in America today, and represents the new research the first edition helped to generate.

‘Provides a global approach to the world of the book and is, in every way, a monumental achievement’ – CHOICE

The Oxford Companion to the Book is a unique work of reference, covering the book, broadly conceived, throughout the world from ancient to modern times. It includes traditional subjects such as bibliography, palaeography, the history of printing, editorial theory and practice, textual criticism, book collecting, and libraries, but it also engages with newer disciplines such as the history of the book and the electronic book. It pays particular attention to how different societies shape books and how books shape societies.

The work includes a substantial series of introductory essays alongside an A-Z section of over 5,000 entries, all linked by thorough cross-referencing and served by a classified index of entries.

The essays provide histories of the subject ranging from writing systems, the ancient and the medieval book, through central aspects of book production, to editorial theory and textual criticism, the economics of print, and the sacred book, as well as 29 surveys of the history of the book around the world, including the Muslim world, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa (these can be found under ‘Essay’).

The entries cover every aspect of this exceptionally rich and diverse subject, ranging from brief definitions and biographical entries to more extensive treatments. The text is illustrated throughout with reproductions, diagrams, and examples of various typographical features.

The Companion is the only reference book of its kind in the field, and has been written by 400 of the world’s best scholars in bibliography and book history.

1991 Reference Reviews Best Specialist Reference Work

1992 Choice Outstanding Academic Book

With more than 5,000 entries by an international group of eminent historians, this is the standard research tool on 1,100 years of Byzantine history. Exhaustive in its coverage, entries on patriarchy and emperors coexist with entries on surgery, musical instruments, and the baking of bread, bringing to life this vastly important culture and empire, from the 4th century to the 15th.

From Toussaint L’Ouverture to Pelé, the Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography will provide a comprehensive overview of the lives of Caribbeans and Afro-Latin Americans who are historically significant. The project will be unprecedented in scale, covering the entire Caribbean, and the Afro-descended populations throughout Latin America, including people who spoke and wrote Creole, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. It will also encompass the full scope of history, with entries on figures from the first forced slave migrations in the sixteenth centuries, to entries on living persons such as the Haitian musician and politician Wyclef Jean and the Cuban author and poet Nancy Morejón. Individuals will be drawn from all walks of life including philosophers, politicians, activists, entertainers, scholars, poets, scientists, religious figures, kings, and everyday people whose lives have contributed to the history of the Caribbean and Latin America.

‘Concise, current information … highly recommended’ – Choice, the magazine of the American Library Association

Over 2,800 entries

This authoritative dictionary provides informative and analytical entries on the most important people, organizations, events, movements, and ideas that have shaped the world we live in. Covering the period from 1900 to the present day, this fully revised and updated new edition presents a global perspective on recent history, with a wide range of new entries from Tony Abbott, the European migration crisis, and ISIS to Narendra Modi, Hassan Rouhani, and UKIP. All existing entries have been brought up to date. Handy tables include lists of office-holders for countries and organizations and winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.

This comprehensive reference resource will be invaluable to students of history, politics, and international relations as well as to journalists, policymakers, and general readers interested in the modern world.

Over 4,000 entries

This wide-ranging dictionary contains a wealth of information on all aspects of history, from prehistory right up to the present day. Accessible, clear, and concise entries include biographies of key figures in world history (living and dead), separate entries for every country in the world (summarising key historical events), and in-depth entries on religious and political movements, international organizations, and major conflicts and events and their after-effects.

For this new edition, existing entries have been revised and updated to reflect the very latest global events including changes in leadership, wars, political situations, and the statistical information given for each country (population counts, currency, languages, religions). New entries have been included for key figures who have recently come to prominence, and world events.

The dictionary also contains twenty-five detailed maps linked to key historical events and topics. Also included are over 200 country maps.

Encyclopedic in scope, this ambitious A to Z provides an excellent overview of world history both for students and anyone with an interest in the subject.

More than 800 entries

This much-loved work was produced under the auspices of the Library of Congress, and published by the US Government Printing Office during World War II. Its contributors comprise the founders of the profession of Chinese history research and its teaching in the United States. The 2016 Berkshire edition contains the original biographical sketches as well as its extensive front and back matter. The Wade-Giles transliteration has been converted to modern pinyin and the book includes a pinyin / Wade-Giles conversion table and an up-to-date bibliography. The introduction is by Professor Pamela K. Crossley, who digitized part of the original publication, and who touches upon the historical context of this publication as well as its continuing importance for modern readers and researchers.

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.

This remarkable work traces the transition from the Reconstruction Era to the age of Jim Crow, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, and the ascendant influence of African Americans on the American cultural landscape. With coverage up to and including the 2008 election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, the Encyclopedia contains approximately 1,200 fully cross-referenced entries all signed by leading scholars and experts, offering the most reliable and extensive treatment to be found on African American history in this era.

It is impossible to understand America without understanding the history of African Americans. In nearly seven hundred entries, the Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895 documents the full range of the African American experience during that period—from the arrival of the first slave ship to the death of Frederick Douglass—and shows how all aspects of American culture, history, and national identity have been profoundly influenced by the experience of African Americans. This landmark achievement, originally published in three volumes, is now available for the first time as an easily-searched, quick access e-book.

The Encyclopedia covers an extraordinary range of subjects. Major topics such as “Abolitionism,” “Black Nationalism,” the “Dred Scott case,” “Reconstruction,” “Slave Rebellions and Insurrections,” the “Underground Railroad,” and “Voting Rights” are given the in-depth treatment one would expect. But the encyclopedia also contains hundreds of fascinating entries on less obvious subjects, such as the “Black Seafarers,” “Buffalo Soldiers,” the “Catholic Church and African Americans,” “New York African Free Schools,” the “Secret Six,” and much more. In addition, the Encyclopedia offers brief biographies of important African Americans—as well as white Americans who have played a significant role in African American history—from Crispus Attucks and John Brown to Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass, Sarah Grimke, Nat Turner, Phillis Wheatley, and many others.

All of the Encyclopedia's entries are accessibly written and free of jargon and technical terms. Selective bibliographies and cross-references accompanying each article direct readers to related entries within the Encyclopedia and to primary sources and scholarly works beyond it. A chronology of major events and nearly 300 black and white illustrations enhance the work's usefulness.

2003 Booklist Editors' Choice

2003 Library Journal Best Reference Source

2004 Library Journal Starred Review

2004 Choice Outstanding Academic Title

700 entries

Covering the “long” Enlightenment, from the rise of Descartes' disciples in 1670 to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1815, these 700 articles by leading scholars range from discussions of mercantilism and democracy to the battlefield to the dissemination of ideas in salons and coffeehouses. Breaking conventional geographical boundaries, coverage includes not only Western Europe but also North America, Brazil, and Iberian, Russian, Jewish, and Eastern European cultures.

A collaborative work of over 600 scholars from more than forty countries, the Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages provides 3,000 concise and detailed articles on all aspects of the period from the fifth to the fifteenth century. It explores art, architecture, religion, law, science, language, philosophy, and theology, as well as cultural, religious, intellectual, social and political history. With a focus on focus on Europe and Christendom, the Encyclopedia also covers the rise of Islam and people of other cultures with whom Europeans came into contact.

Over 2,030 entries

The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture offers unparalleled coverage of all aspects of art and architecture from Medieval Western Europe, from the 6th century to the early 16th century. Drawing upon the expansive scholarship in the celebrated Grove Dictionary of Art and adding hundreds of new entries on topics not previously covered, as well as fully updated and expanded entries and bibliographies, The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture offers students, researchers, and the general public a reliable, up-to-date, and convenient resource covering this field of major importance in the development of Western history and international art and architecture.

The Encyclopedia offers scholarly material on Medieval art in more than 2,030 intelligent, well-written, and informative articles, each of which is followed by a bibliography to support further research. These include a mixture of shorter, more factual articles and larger, multi-section articles tracing the development of the arts in major regions. There are articles on all subject areas in Medieval art including biographies of major artists, architects and patrons; countries, cities, and sites; cultures and styles (Anglo-Saxon art, Carolingian art, Coptic art, Early Christian art, Romanesque, Gothic, Insular art, Lombard art, Merovingian art, Ottonian art, and Viking art); ivories, books and illuminated manuscripts, metalwork, architecture, painting, tapestries, sculpture, mosaics, reliquaries, and more.

Part of the acclaimed Grove Art family of encyclopedias, The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture is lavishly illustrated with nearly 470 black-and-white images and 170 color plates.

This authoritative and accessible guide to the British monarchy spans the Romano-British rulers of 55 BC to the present day House of Windsor. Generously illustrated with maps, photos, paintings, and genealogies, it contains a wealth of information on the rulers of Britain, including their policies, personalities, key dates, and legacies. Feature articles throughout the guide provide in-depth information on key royal topics, including Coronations, Regalia, the Tower of London, and - new to this edition - Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral.

Revised and updated to include recent events, such as the second marriage of Prince Charles, this new edition also contains a topical introductory article (under ‘Preface’) on the changing role of the monarchy. There is also a useful glossary and a list of recommended further reading.

Invaluable for students and teachers of British history, and ideal for anyone with an interest in the monarchy of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages is an essential new reference work covering all key aspects of European history, society, and culture from 500 to 1500 A.D., as well as the Byzantine Empire, Islamic dynasties, and Asiatic peoples of the era. It is designed both for medievalists, who need a detailed and reliable reference tool, and for students and general readers seeking an accessible guide to the period. Over 800 scholars have assembled thousands of comprehensive entries, lavishly supplemented by hundreds of illustrations and dozens of maps.

The Dictionary provides balanced coverage of both the whole geographical extent of the European Middle Ages (including Germany and Austria, Spain and Portugal, the Low Countries, and Central and Eastern Europe, amongst many others), and of numerous major topics, from art and architecture, medicine, and law, to archaeology, ecclesiastical history, and languages and literature.

Through its fluent global coverage, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World provides information about major world developments from 1750 to the present, with close attention to social, economic, cultural, and political topics.

The Encyclopedia contains articles on world events; countries; organizations; regions; ethnic groups; and themes such as social history, demography, family life, politics, economics, religion, thought, education, science and technology, and culture. It offers coverage of standard geographic and ethnic units—such as Scandinavia, Korea, or the Gypsies—in the modern period. Significant institutions such as the International Red Cross and the League of Nations are treated at length. Comprehensive coverage enables readers to broaden their research outside a particular time or region and to explore topics within the context of modern world history.

With eight volumes containing over 2,000 A-Z entries, the Encyclopedia benefits from the vast outpouring of work on world history in the modern period and on related area-studies. Informative articles by an array of leading scholars offer an unprecedented breadth of information relating to the modern world. Each article includes an up-to-date bibliography to help interested readers take their research further. In addition, the text is complemented by 700 images and 50 maps, making the Encyclopedia a powerful resource for scholars and students alike.