Reference

American Pop: Popular Culture Decade by Decade. 4 vols. Greenwood. 2009. 1552p. ed. by Bob Batchelor. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-313-34410-7. $375. REF

Batchelor (public relations, Sch. of Mass Communications, Univ. of South Florida, Tampa) has written many books about American popular culture, including Literary Cash: Unauthorized Writings Inspired by the Legendary Johnny Cash and The 1900s (also from Greenwood). His latest work continues in that vein, exploring how people, inventions, and events have reflected and changed our culture over the last 100 years (from 1900 to 2008, approximately). Each chapter opens with a brief time line of major events before encompassing a decade through eight defining subject areas: advertising, books, entertainment, fashion, food, music, sports and leisure, and travel. Subject segments perform a comprehensive analysis of people and events that affected that subject for that decade. Entertainment, for example, has coverage that ranges from the beginnings of the nickelodeon in the early 1900s to the development of Internet video on YouTube. Sidebars provide more depth on events, people, or phrases introduced at that time. Black tabs at the edge of the margins identify sections. Each volume comes with a bibliography and a cumulative index. Volume 4 concludes with a bibliography, a chronological cost of various products, and student activities. BOTTOM LINE Depending on when you were born, this set could be a glimpse into history or a reminder of the not-so-distant past. It provides insight into people and events that shaped our cultural heritage. Users should find the set similar to Gale's "American Decades" and "American Eras" series. While academic libraries would probably use the books more, public libraries may also find them valuable. Buy if your budget permits. [Available electronically via Greenwood Digital Collection; consider also Greenwood's Pop Culture Universe database, which recently won the Dartmouth Medal.]—James Langan, Univ. of Pittsburgh Lib. at Johnstown

Pitts-Taylor (sociology, Queens Coll., CUNY) has edited a distinctive and fascinating volume on the history and cultural meaning of the body and its disparate parts. It examines perceptions of the human corpus in world cultures and history and investigates the practices, mores, taboos, and rituals that affect and transform the body in those cultures. Written by sociologists, historians, anthropologists, and other scholars, the encyclopedia covers a wide range of cultures and historical time periods, giving a thorough overview of the place of the body in world history and societies. The signed entries are arranaged alphabetically by body part and include blood, the reproductive system, fat, and the genitals, which are further subdivided into subtopics such as female circumcision, foot binding, tattoos, and castration. There is a comprehensive index, and See also references at the end of some articles help locate subjects within the volumes that do not have their own entries. Each article contains suggestions for further reading, and a comprehensive bibliography for the entire resource is included in Volume 2. The clear writing will accommodate general readers. The entries themselves are evenhanded and steer clear of cultural judgments and bias. BOTTOM LINE Although Greenwood published the Encyclopedia of Body Adornment in 2007, that work focuses more on outward, visible ornament, whereas the Cultural Encyclopedia of the Body presents cultural and historical perspectives on the body and its functions as a whole. Although somewhat pricey, it offers information not easily discovered in other resources and is highly recommended for public and academic libraries. [Available electronically via Greenwood Digital Collection.]—Amanda K. Sprochim, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia

Defining "adventure" as "an event or series of events that happen outside the ordinary course of the protagonist's life, usually accompanied by danger, often by physical action," editor D'Ammassa attempts to limit this book's focus to pure adventure tales as "represented…by the classic novels, series, and writers." Part of the ten-volume "Literary Movements" series (for which D'Ammassa previously edited Encyclopedia of Science Fiction), the work features 154 unsigned, A-to-Z entries on juvenile and adult literature that range in length from two to three pages. Articles on specific works summarize the plot and provide superficial critical analysis, while biographical entries concentrate on the individual's life and work, including brief critical analysis. Title entries cover both classic works (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Wizard of Oz) and modern stories (The Da Vinci Code) but exclude C.S. Lewis's Narnia Chronicles and Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking. Author entries vary from Robert Ludlum to Jules Verne. Although James Bond rates an entry, Carolyn Keene and Nancy Drew are relegated to passing mention. There is a detailed index, and cross-references appear within the articles. However, the bibliography of secondary resources is disappointingly short, and the "Bibliography of Adventure Fiction" could have been more inclusive. BOTTOM LINE Much too superficial for anything more than a tiny high school or public library that cannot afford McGill's more extensive Masterplots and Salem's Survey titles or such Gale Cengage titles as Contemporary Authors and Contemporary Literary Criticism. [Available electronically via Infobase Ebooks.]—Laurie Selwyn, formerly with Grayson Cty. Law Lib., Sherman, TX

This impressive set was designed as a complement to Oxford's Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619–1895 (LJ 6/1/06). The purpose of both sets—as well as Oxford's African American National Biography (AANB)—is to provide a comprehensive view of the wealth of information about and scholarship on African Americans. While there are far more important figures in AANB, this resource, edited by Finkelman (Albany Law Sch.), excels at gathering discussions of similar or related topics by academics under one heading. Under "Desegregation and Integration," for instance, users will find five subentries: an overview and individual entries on desegregation and integration in the armed forces, higher education, public education, and professional athletics. References appear at the end of most articles, in addition to a selective bibliography. Blind entries like "Unions, Labor" tell readers to look under "Organized Labor." A thematic outline, a directory of contributors, an index, and a year-by-year account of important events from 1896 to 2008 round out Volume 5. BOTTOM LINE No similar encyclopedia rivals the wealth and confirmation of African American history found here. In spite of its rather high price, it belongs in all large public libraries and all academic libraries. [The resource is part of the Oxford African American Studies Center online; it is also available electronically via Oxford Digital Reference Shelf and Oxford Reference Online.]—Al Vara, Temple Univ. Lib., Philadelphia

Nelson (education & American studies, Penn State Univ.) presents a work tracing the history of sports in America from the Colonial era through about 2007. Divided by period, the 13 chapters are written by sports experts and begin with an overview of the period before covering the most popular team sports of that time. The chapters range in length from 35 to 45 pages and place sports in historical context, discussing the social and political forces and events that influenced the sports world. Horse racing, billiards, basketball, football, cycling, bowling, sports broadcasting, hockey, golf, baseball, and NASCAR count among the diverse topics. Inserts provide information on important figures, events, and technologies. Only a few black-and-white photos are scattered throughout. Compensating for that drawback are the time line at the beginning of Volume 1, the "Recommended Resources" at the end of each chapter, and the "Resource Guide" at the end of Volume 2, all of which add student appeal. BOTTOM LINE Written for general readers, this set could easily fill a niche in middle school and high school libraries, as well as public libraries, particularly where research on sports history is a popular topic. Nelson's work does not replace general sports encyclopedias, but it makes a nice complement to sports information collections. Recommended for middle school, high school, and public libraries; these libraries might also want a copy for their circulating collections. [Available electronically via Greenwood Digital Collection.]—Rosanne M. Cordell, Indiana Univ. Lib., South Bend

A pioneering collection devoted specifically to the folkways of women, this two-volume set succeeds in amassing the work of academics, folklorists, and others to create a better understanding of the culture of women in North America and throughout the world. The work begins with four broad essays covering the scholarship of folklore by and about women: "Women's Folklore," "Folklore About Women," "Folklore of Subversion," and "Women Folklorists." The bulk of the set contains alphabetically arranged entries on a wide range of subjects, e.g., beauty, humor, material culture, myths, politics, and tradition. Readers will also find more focused entries on topics like the glass ceiling, old wives' tales, jump-rope rhymes, Lilith Fair, and Sunbonnet Sue. Editors Locke (expository writing, Univ. of Oklahoma), Theresa A. Vaughan (chair, humanities & philosophy department, Univ. of Central Oklahoma), and Pauline Greenhill (women's & gender studies, Univ. of Winnipeg) admit to a feminist perspective; the contributors represent the scholarly community of the folklore discipline. BOTTOM LINE Each article is well research and well documented, with bibliographic references that add to the work's value. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries. [Available electronically via Greenwood Digital Collection.]—Eloise Hitchcock, Cumberland Univ. Lib., Lebanon, TN

Edited by Hawley (English, Santa Clara Univ.), along with a ten-member advisory board, this three-volume set provides over 600 entries in an A-to-Z format on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) literature and the arts, associations and organizations, individuals, law and public policy concerns, health and relationships, sexual practices, and more. There is also an alphabetical entry list that acts as an overview of the contents, a guide to related topics, entry bibliographies, and a closing bibliography aid. An extensive index enables users to find the exact location of information if the guide to related topics or alphabetical listing is not adequate, while a set-wide bibliography guides researchers to more resources, both electronic and print. Tracing the history and covering what is occurring today, the work is both historical and current, focusing on LGBTQ life in the United States in all its aspects. Bolded terms in each entry indicate cross-references, although a listing of these at the end of the entry would be clearer for the average user. Each entry is signed by one of the 263 contributing authors (or the editor) and ranges in length from one page to over ten. BOTTOM LINE The writing is simple enough for high school students to comprehend yet academic enough for college students and scholars to reference. The coverage is sufficient for a basic background and understanding of the topic, and additional readings enable the work to be used as a starting point for additional research. Suitable for larger public libraries, academic libraries, and high school libraries. [Available electronically via Greenwood Digital Collection.]—Sara Marcus, Queensborough Community Coll., Bayside, NY