Reference

Forshaw (Rough Guide to Crime Fiction) has assembled a good-sized team of contributors—including some of Britain's leading crime writers—to provide about 475 authoritative entries on British crime writers, magazines, and films, as well as major British fictional detectives such as Holmes and Marple and topics like "thrillers" and "tart noir." The signed entries average about 1200 words in length and include lists of selected works by the authors and their web sites if available. There's only one drawback: granted that crime writers commonly use a variety of pseudonyms, it is regrettable that a decision was made to list only "selected" works of the authors covered and to list so few secondary sources. BOTTOM LINE This is the most comprehensive overview available of British crime writing. While other works provide longer articles and include international authors—two examples come to mind, Scribner's Mystery & Suspense Writers and Gale's massive Dictionary of Literary Biography—their focus isn't contemporary British writing, as is the case here.—Peter Dollard, Mt. Pleasant, MI

A new installment in Facts On File's "Literary Movements" series, this resource contains an annotated listing of writers whose work has caught the attention of the American reader during the past 30 years as defined by sources like the New York Times and Publishers Weekly, with the authors and titles included weighted toward the past 15 years. Hamilton and Jones, both scholars of contemporary American literature, have gathered an accomplished team of contributors to write on the authors and their influential works. Although written for the reader of pop fiction, the 240 entries often include a deeper, more scholarly bent, e.g., the entry for Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary describes parallels with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and its influence on Fielding's popular novel. This makes the work a good jumping-off point for the more serious scholar of popular fiction as well as those seeking something new to read. BOTTOM LINE What distinguishes this A-to-Z from similar bibliographies is its impressive range and currency; most others are less up-to-date and not nearly as broad in scope. A worthy addition to most libraries.—Sarah Sutton, Texas A&M Univ., Corpus Christi, TX

Tucker, editor of several war encyclopedias for ABC-CLIO, lays out a comprehensive overview of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American wars, both of which changed the position of the United States in the world. The first two volumes contain over 600 signed A-to-Z entries that describe the most significant people, battles, events, and geographic locations from the United States and around the world, as well as more general cultural, social, and economic topics. Photographs and other images, such as maps and broadsides, accompany more than half of the entries. The third volume contains 153 primary-source documents from the period. BOTTOM LINE ABC-CLIO is known for high-quality encyclopedias, and this one does not disappoint. It will provide researchers in academic and large public libraries with the context needed for further research.—Ryan Johnson, Univ. of Mississippi, Oxford

With this volume, Hillstrom (The Voting Rights Act of 1965) adds another well-written book to the publisher's "Defining Moments" series, which provides concise information on specific American historical events and divides each book into three distinct parts: narrative, biographies, and primary sources. The narrative section in this volume begins with an overview of events leading to World War II and the eventual attack on Pearl Harbor, concluding with a chapter on the legacy of the attack. The biography section includes information on people who played important roles in the attack, while the primary-sources section features such documents as the U.S. declaration of war against Japan as well as personal memories of the attack, which, although short, provide excellent firsthand accounts. The book also contains a glossary of important people, places, and terms related to the attack and a chronology of events. BOTTOM LINE Like all books in this series, this affordable volume would make a nice addition to a school media center or public library collection.—Diane Fulkerson, Univ. of West Georgia Lib., Carrollton

This first volume in a series published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum comes in two parts, addressing just a small portion of the numerous camps and ghettos that existed between 1933 and 1945. Edited by Holocaust scholar Megargee (Inside Hitler's High Command), with contributions by over 150 scholars, the work is based in part on the successful efforts to open the Bad Arolsen archives in Germany. It features a useful list of maps of the camp systems as well as a reader's guide. Part A contains two sections: the early National Socialist concentration camps and 17 of the camps and subcamps under the SS-Inspectorate of concentration camps/business administration main office. Part B continues Section 2, with 23 additional camps and subcamps, and concludes with Section 3 on Youth Camps. Each section begins with an introduction and then addresses each camp or ghetto in alphabetical order, with subentries on each arranged alphabetically as well. Maps, reproductions, and other illustrations bring to life the topics discussed, while notes and sources serve only to reiterate the scholarly nature of this work. The lack of cross-references is compensated for by the list of abbreviations and the names, places, and organizations and enterprises indexes. BOTTOM LINE Well researched yet accessible enough for high school students, this valuable resource covers an aspect of the Holocaust rarely addressed and never in such detail. A valuable addition to libraries focusing on the Holocaust.—Sara Marcus, Queens Coll., New York

The 13th installment in Scarecrow's "Historical Dictionaries of U.S. Historical Eras" series, this slim volume covers the period of the Gilded Age (1869–1899), first coined by Mark Twain to describe the United States of the day "as a nation with a beautiful, shiny exterior hiding decadent, filthy insides." Featuring 234 entries that range in length from a paragraph to four pages, the work touches on the major themes of the period, covering everything from the unbridled greed of "robber barrons" and political corruption to the rise of the literary scene and the integration of former confederate states into the United States. Upchurch (Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Civil Rights) admits that many people and events have been excluded for the sake of brevity and that this is not an indication of their insignificance; in fact, many were included because they reflect his own academic interest as well as the growing importance of African American studies in U.S. historiography. One quibble: Upchurch states that civil rights icon W.E.B. Du Bois was the first African American to attend Harvard. This distinction actually goes to Richard Greener, though Du Bois was the first African American to attain a Ph.D. from Harvard. BOTTOM LINE The vividly written entries will serve as a good starting point for further research. For more comprehensive coverage of the era, see M.E. Sharpe's three-volume Encyclopedia of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.—Kam W. Teo, Weyburn P.L., Sask

Rosenberg, a geographer and author of the 1999 edition of this publication, is joined for this new edition by Tucci, a software development manager, investment banker, world traveler, lecturer, and author of Traveling Everywhere to present a wealth of geographical information for the general reader. More than 1000 questions and answers grouped by topics and regions of the world are followed by a gazetteer of 195 countries listed in A-to-Z order, including Kosovo. Entries include statistics, geographical, political, and cultural information taken from the CIA World Factbook. Owing to the question-and-answer format, the index becomes the essential ready-reference key to accessing specific information. Otherwise, patrons can just get comfy and enjoy a trivia-fest. BOTTOM LINE Intended for the geographical neophyte, this book is well suited for school libraries and YA collections in public libraries. A similar resource for consideration is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geography (Alpha, 2007. 3d ed.), which includes flags with its country-by-country information.—Edward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Sys., Ft. Pierce, FL

The field of health services research may be new to many readers. This unique encyclopedia defines it as a multidisciplinary field focusing "on the study of accessibility, costs, quality, and outcomes of healthcare." Editor in chief Mullner, an academic who has made substantial contributions to the field, cites three primary reasons why a work of this nature has become necessary: the vast growth in the field of health services research, the complexity of health-care delivery in the United States, and the multidisciplinary nature of the field. The first volume contains a reader's guide to the contents and groups entries by broad topic, including Access to Care, Research Organizations, Policy Issues, Quality and Safety of Care, and Special and Vulnerable Groups. The hundreds of entries, ranging from two to three pages in length, are written by a wide variety of specialists working at both public and private institutions in the United States. All are signed, most contain bibliographies and lists of relevant web sites, and most provide balanced coverage of the topic they cover, often summarizing arguments for and against the practice (the "Direct-to-Consumer Advertising" entry is a good example). BOTTOM LINE Aimed at undergraduate and graduate students, as well as lay audiences seeking nontechnical descriptions of the field, this work equally belongs in public as it does in academic libraries; highly recommended.—Sarah Sutton, Texas A&M Univ. Lib., Corpus Christi

This is an unbiased, evenhanded introductory discussion of 16 food-related subjects—ranging from antioxidants, various diets, and fats to food labeling, genetically modified/engineered foods, and life-enhancing/life-threatening foods. While accurate and current, this title would have been more useful had the authors expanded coverage of such issues as Vitamin D, calcium, and Mad Cow Disease rather than simply updating and reprinting some of the chapters from their 2002 book of the same name. Although there is no indication that this is a second edition of the earlier work, both books have striking similarities when it comes to coverage, format, and organization. The authors have previously collaborated on Controversies in the Practice of Medicine. BOTTOM LINE A few typographical errors aside (e.g., "whine" is used for wine), this is likely to be of interest to high school, public, and junior college libraries that do not already own the 2002 title. Purchase where needed.—Laurie Selwyn, formerly Grayson Cty. Law Lib., Sherman, TX

Organized in dictionary format, with unsigned entries ranging from one paragraph ("Sundowning") to six-pages ("Alzheimer's disease/dementia"), this second edition of a book first published in 2007 covers a wide range of issues related to elder care—from family and caregiving to health, safety, abuse, and crime. Longer entries (there are about 250 in total) include discussions of commonly prescribed medications and caregiving suggestions, while shorter entries provide basic information such as statistics and definitions. Not intended for professionals, the entries provide a basic and occasionally superficial overview of the topic. Only a small percentage includes an additional reading bibliography, while the general bibliography includes one 2008 title and numerous 2006 and 2007 publications. Cross-referencing is also inconsistent. For example, the "Sundowning" entry does not include a See also reference to the "Alzheimer's" entry, yet the "Alzheimer's" entry provides a See also reference to "Sundowning." Kandel (Wright State Univ. of Medicine) is a neurologist and author of numerous medical books; Adamec is a medical writer who has authored several books on addiction and child abuse. BOTTOM LINE The simple, straightforward entries lack sufficient bibliographies to be useful to the elder care professional. However, the volume's accessibility would be appreciated in public, community, and undergraduate libraries catering to introductory-level students and lay readers; purchase where needed.—Laurie Selwyn, formerly Law Librarian, Grayson Cty. Law Lib., Sherman, TX

Social networking can be the answer to many a family researcher's prayers. Not only do social tools and sites encourage the sharing of information, they also facilitate locating relatives and like-minded individuals. Still, many genealogists older than the Jon Stewart crowd are not aware of or hesitate to join the online social fray. Smith, Genealib mailing list administrator and costar of the Genealogy Guys Podcast (www.genealogyguys.com), explains the uses and benefits of social networking in easy-to-follow steps. Written in a conversational tone, the book highlights the individual features of tools like RSS, tagging, message boards, podcasts, blogs, and wikis. He also details the genealogical applications of sites like Flickr, LibraryThing, Facebook, Geni, and Delicious—even encouraging researchers to explore the virtual world of Second Life. Each chapter, copiously illustrated with screenshots, concludes with "assignments" to encourage readers to sample that particular social tool or service. BOTTOM LINE While Brad and Debra Schepp's Online Genealogy Handbook (Sterling, 2008) addresses some aspects of social networking, Smith's book covers many more resources that could benefit genealogists in their quest to connect with relatives and fellow researchers.—Elaine M. Kuhn, Kenton Cty. P.L., Covington, KY