Social sciences

57 long form entries

The 2024 Almanac of American Politics marks the 51st edition for this political reference icon. The Almanac of American Politics continues to be the gold standard of accessible political information, relied on by everyone involved, invested, or interested in politics in the United States of America. Highly regarded for its in-depth analysis and comprehensive profiles of every congressional district, state, governor and member of Congress, The Almanac is the tool readers need to better understand the context of the people and perspectives shaping the issues that matter to readers. The 2024 edition includes:

• Brand new profiles of every member of Congress and every governor.

• New in-depth narrative descriptions of ALL 50 states and 435 House districts and how they have been changed by redistricting.

• New profiles of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris by Lou Peck.

• New essays featuring political analyses of co-author Charlie Cook and founding author Michael Barone.

• Analysis of the 2022 elections for Senate, House, and governor races, and how those results shape the public policy debates in Congress and the nation.

• A breakdown of the votes cast for President in 2020 for all states and districts (updated to account for new congressional districts), including primaries.

• Campaign finance data for all Senators and House members—plus their challengers--in the most recent election, including all-new listings of the “outside money” spent in those contests.

• Analysis of voter turnout in each state and new congressional districts for the 2020 presidential elections.

• More than 60 brand new state and congressional district maps, the key votes cast by members of the House and Senate, interest group ratings, and more.

• “Almanac Vote Ratings” on congressional members.

• Lists of Statewide Elected Officials.

• Updated voter registration data.

• Vital statistics on Congress data tables.

• Updated demographic information for every state and district, including information from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, with new categories of economic, occupational, social, and geographic data.

• Census data featuring updated veteran status data, healthcare data including the rate of insured vs. uninsured in each congressional district, and new public assistance data.

• Essential reference and contact information.

This critically acclaimed biographical dictionary of American economists offers in-depth biographies of the most important economic figures in American history from the seventeenth century to the present day. All of the major schools of American economic thought are represented, from the Constitutional school to the Keynesian school, and the dictionary includes in-depth coverage of the many overlooked women who have influenced economic thought in America. Individually, the entries capture important contributions to the development of economic thought in America; collectively, they encapsulate the rich diversity of that thought and the influences that have been at play on America economic thinking over four centuries. The Biographical Dictionary of American Economists is an essential reference source for anyone interested in the history of economics and American intellectual history.

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.

800 entries

With its coverage of environmental issues, global economics, online communications, and the latest political developments, this Encyclopedia is truly a 21st-century work. While including many articles about China's earliest history - going back more than 5,000 years - the Encyclopedia is focused on the events, concepts, and people that matter today. The authors of its 800 accessibly written and lavishly illustrated articles, which range from 600 to 6,000 words, are scholars at major Chinese and Western universities and research institutes.

887 entries

In this seminal work, experts from around the world provide authoritative coverage of the growing body of knowledge about ways to restore the planet. Focused on solutions, this interdisciplinary publication draws from the natural, physical, and social sciences to bring readers an unprecedented array of 887 articles from over 900 contributors from 53 countries on environmental law and ethics, green business practices, regional sustainability issues, and resource and ecosystem management.

There is no shortage of information about environmental problems and no dearth of people calling themselves experts on sustainability. In fact, there is all too much information, and strident voices with opposing claims and frightening predictions. This encyclopedia solves the problem of information overload with concise overviews from experts on an array of sustainability-related topics. The reader will find solid research data, thorough analyses, and jargon-free discussion, effectively transforming a fast-developing research domain.

300 entries

This renowned encyclopedia provides comprehensive coverage of the culture, history, and business of sports around the world. The third edition brings the study of sports into the 21st century by integrating Berkshire's past work on women's sports and extreme sports into a complete sporting library. It includes over 300 updated and new articles on sports management and marketing, branding, sponsorship, doping scandals, sporting goods, extreme and fantasy sports, and technology, as well as on environmental and economic issues. Every sport imaginable is covered, and articles focus on the history, evolution, and future of sports around the world, and offer readers a solid understanding of why sports are played the way they are and what they mean to society.

‘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.

This wide-ranging Dictionary brings together in-depth biography essays on over six hundred individuals. It also includes coverage of individuals who are not normally thought of as economists but who nonetheless made penetrating and original contributions, including writers such as H. G. Wells, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Henry Fielding and Charles Dickens; astronomers and mathematicians such as Isaac Newton, Edmund Halley and Isaac Barrow; the chess grandmaster Augustus Mongredien; the mountaineer Albert Mummery; the inventor of the machine gun, George Puckle; and many others from the fields of medicine, religion, politics, banking, science, agriculture and the East India Company employees. Writers on issues such as population, poverty, socialism, monetarism, finance and banking and many other fields are included, in one of the most comprehensive biographical surveys of the field yet undertaken.

Individually, the entries capture important and often overlooked contributions to the development of economic thought in Britain; collectively, they encapsulate the rich diversity of that thought and the influences that have been at play on British economic thinking over nine centuries.

Contributors are leading international scholars in economics and economic history and members of the editorial advisory board include Geoffrey Harcourt, Peter Groenewegen, Forrest Capie, Roger Backhouse, E.H. Lloyd, Noel Thompson, Tony Brewer, Geoffrey Gilbert, Keith Tribe, Leslie Clarkson, and Walter Eltis.

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 1,700 entries

Written by a leading team of political scientists, this dictionary embraces the multi-disciplinary spectrum of political theory including political thinkers, history, institutions, theories, and schools of thought, as well as notable current affairs that have shaped attitudes to politics.

Fully updated for its fourth edition, it has had its coverage of international relations heavily revised and expanded, reflected in its title change, and it includes a wealth of new material in areas such as international institutions, peace building, human security, security studies, global governance, and open economy politics.

The dictionary is international in its coverage and will prove invaluable to students and academics studying politics and related disciplines, as well as politicians, journalists, and the general reader seeking clarification of political terms.

This dictionary explores the history, meanings, and origin of place names around the world. It covers continents, countries, regions, islands, bays, capes, cities, towns, deserts, lakes, mountains, and rivers, giving the name in the local language as well as key historical facts associated with many place names.

The sixth edition includes final recognition of the name Myanmar in place of Burma. Some amendments reflect changes in spelling and romanization systems. Furthermore, official recognition is being given to the greater use of indigenous names.

In addition to the entries themselves, the dictionary includes a glossary of foreign word elements which appear in place names and their meaning, as well as a list of personalities and leaders who have influenced the naming of places around the world.

Over 3,900 entries

This best-selling dictionary contains entries on all aspects of accounting, including financial accounting, financial reporting, management accounting, taxation, auditing, corporate finance, and accounting bodies and institutions. Its international coverage includes important terms from the UK, US, Australia, India, and Asia-Pacific.

New entries reflect the latest developments in the accounting profession, e.g. Accounting Council, European Financial Stability Mechanism, and General Anti-Abuse Rule. Existing entries have been updated to cover the latest developments, most notably the Financial Reporting Standard Applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, which sets out new rules in areas such as goodwill, hedge accounting, and fair value accounting. There is increased coverage of topics such as corporate governance, accounting ethics, accounting scandals, and major firms and professional bodies.

This dictionary is essential for students and professionals in accounting and finance, and an ideal source of reference for anyone seeking a clear guide to the often-confusing world of accountancy terms.

This collection of fascinating, mysterious, and revealing tales captures the immense sweep and diversity of African mythology. The stories touch on virtually every aspect of belief: gods and goddesses, epic heroes and divine tricksters, along with epics of the world's origins, the struggle between the human and the divine, and much more. Entries cover the entire continent, from the mouth of the Nile to the Cape of Good Hope.

Here, for example, is the tale of Abu Zayd (from the Bani Hilal of Tunisia), an epic hero who battles a jinni; and here too is a myth of how the moon and the toad created the first man and woman, from the Soko of Congo. Each story is told, and information provided about the respective belief system, the main characters, and related stories or variants.

This magnificent collection not only provides hundreds of fascinating myths, but also recaptures their cultural contexts, in which story and storyteller, tradition and performance, all merge.

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.

Over 2,000 entries

This new dictionary covers both agriculture and land management, including animals and crops, farm machinery and systems, estate management, forestry and woodland, the environment, and rural recreation. It addresses the increasing overlap between agricultural sectors and the demands of the management of rural land and property.

Offering authoritative and up-to-date information on subjects ranging from soil management and renewable energy to land law, tourism, types of trees and crops, and organizations, policies, and legislation, it is an invaluable guide to agricultural terminology and a must-have for students of agriculture and land management, as well as for professionals in the agricultural and land-management sectors. Entries are complemented by illustrations and tables, including types of trees, crops, and soils, as well as of farm animals and diseases.

Meet the supreme Gautama Buddha, the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesa, and Chang O, the Lunar Toad who is Chinese goddess of the Moon. Journey to the sacred Cambodian ruins of Angkor and golden Mount Meru, home of the Hindu gods. Discover myths like the Stone and the Banana and the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, and explore archetypal themes such as the hero quest, sacrifice, and descent to the underworld.

This dictionary features stories of revered deities, sacred places, key events and epics, with many recurring themes and traditions. Entries address the key mythologies of the regions we now call India, China, Tibet, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Japan, and broad overviews of specific cultures and their mythic traditions round out the coverage.

“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.