Reference Short Takes

Part of the six-volume "Ecosystem" series, this newly revised edition by Allaby (Dangerous Weather) presents the latest research pertaining to temperate forests' biodiversity, soil quality, climate cycles, sustaining food chains, and geographical history. With great importance placed on conservation, the book carefully considers such subjects as drought, deforestation, acid rain, and disease. All of the facts and figures and most of the text have been revised for this edition; recommended for public and high school libraries.

Arnold (The Maverick State) defines the significant politico-military figures, organizations, and regions that have been engaged in conflict since Africa's post-World War II liberation from European imperialism. The cross-referenced A-to-Z entries are highly detailed and objective. A perfect companion to Arnold's previous survey, Africa: A Modern History, and to Taisier M. Ali and Robert O. Matthew's Civil War in Africa: Roots and Resolutions; recommended as an update to the 1999 first edition for collections supporting research in modern African history and peace and conflict studies.

Organized as a college-level text and including study questions, exercises, and case studies, this impressive update to the 1998 second edition incorporates the most recent advances in biochemical and physiological research and revises the chapters on vitamins A, C, E, and K; folate; and quasivitamins. To reinforce comprehension, Combs (The Role of Selenium in Nutrition) wisely begins each chapter with an overview, a set of objectives, and a term list. An extensive source list closes each segment. Recommended for all medical and nutrition science collections.

Editor Ford (Women and Politics: The Pursuit of Equality) brings together some 500 signed essay-style entries by 51 American scholars. Organized alphabetically, subjects include notable contemporary and historical figures, legal cases, political conventions, organizations, general-term definitions, and complex issues like reproductive rights and the glass ceiling. A series of valuable appendixes offers relevant statistical data and a chronology of landmark political events, and 21 primary-source documents are reproduced at the book's end. An updated complement to Laura van Assendelft and Jeffrey D. Schultz's 1999 Encyclopedia of Women in American Politics.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization Freedom House, cofounded in 1941 by Eleanor Roosevelt, has been annually publishing this survey on global political rights and civil liberties since 1972. Here, 29 international researchers have contributed to the country profiles, which are organized alphabetically and each run three to five pages long. Each profile provides a brief national history, current political tolerances, factions, and activities. An enlightening preface by Freedom House's research director forecasts democracy's prospects on each continent. For all international politics collections.

Written in 12 essay-style chapters, this impressive reference provides keen insights into the Indus Valley's many mysteries and traces the culture's developmental trajectory. Beginning with the Holocene period, chapters explore the economic, social, and material concerns of Indus civilization. Significant highlights include a multipage assessment of the inscrutable Indus script and a segment devoted to theories explaining the culture's collapse. McIntosh (Eyewitness: Archeology) offers astonishing detail and incorporates contemporary research methods like botanical analyses. Highly recommended for archaeological studies collections.

Revised to include terms from three newly recognized Shakespearean plays, this guide by Yale Drama School graduate Shewmaker (International Bartender's Guide) illuminates Shakespeare's more arcane Elizabethan expressions and their intentionally playful treatment. It also attempts to facilitate a conventional understanding of multiple linguistic interpretations and unstandardized spellings. In total, the book defines approximately 17,000 words, some 2000 of which are new to this edition. A new, vital 12-page essay elucidates Shakespeare's wordplay and other period conventions that impact comprehension. Highly recommended for English literature collections.

This meticulously researched set uncovers the purposefully secretive network of figures, families, routes, events, and concepts related to slave liberation. Snodgrass (Encyclopedia of Southern Literature) includes detailed passage maps and several valuable appendixes, a 120-year chronology, condensed genealogical histories of participating families, specific passenger data, and a list of Canadian and American conductors. The more than 1500 A-to-Z entries each span between several paragraphs and, in the case of broader concepts, several pages in length. For American and African American history collection.