mcilvaine.p65 Selected Reference Books of 2001–2002 151 151 Selected Reference Books of 2001–2002 Eileen McIlvaine Eileen McIlvaine is Head of Reference in Butler Library at Columbia University; e-mail: mcilvain@columbia.edu. Although it appears under a byline, this list is a project of the reference depart- ments of Columbia University Libraries, and notes are signed with the initials of one of the following staff members: Barbara Sykes-Austin, Avery Library; James L. Coen, Business and Economics Library; Mary Cargill, Robert H. Scott, Junko Stuveras, Butler Library; Fadi H. Dagher, Lehman Library; Karen Green, Ancient & Medieval History and Religion Librarian. This article follows the pattern set by the semiannual series initiated by the late Constance M. Winchell more than sixty years ago and contin- ued by Eugene Sheehy. Because the purpose of the list is to present a selection of recent scholarly and general reference works, it does not pretend to be either well balanced or comprehensive. A brief roundup of new editions of standard works is provided at the end of the articles. Code numbers (such as DC86) have been used to refer to titles in the Guide to Reference Books, 11th ed. (Chicago: ALA, 1996). National Bibliography Svodnyi katalog russkoi knigi, 1801–1825. 5 vols. (Projected) [Moskva]: Rossiiskaia biblioteka, izdatel’stvo “Pashkov dom,” 2000. (ISBN 5-7510-0162-1). LCCN 2002-484486. An important advance in Russian bibli- ography is the project currently under way to provide a comprehensive record of publishing in the 19th and early 20th centuries, paralleling the coverage that has long existed for the output of the 18th century in Opisanie izdanii grazhdanskoi pechati, 1708-ianvar ’ 1725 (Moskva- Leningrad, 1955. AA789) and Svodnyi katalog russkoi knigi grazhdanskoi pechati XVIII v. 1725–1800 (Moskva, 1962–1975. AA791). The undertaking represents a collaborative effort by seven of the country’s most important libraries: the Russian State Library in Moscow, the Russian National Library in St. Peters- burg, the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian State Public History Library, the libraries of Moscow and St. Petersburg universities, and the library of the Russian State Archive of Early Docu- ments. Their compilation of a union cata- log aims at the creation of two citation databases, one covering books and seri- als published between 1801 and 1825, and the other, books published between 1826 and 1917, as well as the print publication of the material contained in those data- bases. The first volume in the series cover- ing the periodical publications of the 1801–1825 period appeared in 1997. The volume under review here is the first of five projected volumes dealing with books published during that same period. The decision to divide the nineteenth cen- tury in this way was motivated in part by the continuing predominance of hand- press techniques in the earlier period, with the special bibliographic require- ments imposed by that medium, as well as by the distinctive historic characteris- tics of that period, which corresponds to the reign of Tsar Alexander I. 152 College & Research Libraries March 2003 The aim of the project is to provide as complete as possible a record of books published in Russian, both inside and outside Russia, during that period, with full bibliographic descriptions sufficient to identify all versions of specific works, but also to document the history and de- velopment of publishing itself. The principles of selection and descrip- tion continue and further develop those employed for the earlier union catalog of Russian materials. With a few special ex- ceptions, only works of more than five pages in length are included, and docu- mentary and official publications without a title page are likewise excluded. Com- plete title page transcription is provided for each publication, along with pagina- tion, format, and size, and a variety of notes, where known or relevant, includ- ing a physical description of individual volumes (in the case of multivolume works); the name of the censor respon- sible for reviewing the work prior to pub- lication, other or related editions; the pres- ence and authorship of any introductions, dedications, etc.; information about illus- trations or engraved title pages; a charac- terization of the content where that is not apparent from the title; occasionally the size of print run, price, and references to reviews; and other information concern- ing that edition, its bibliographic signifi- cance, and its rarity, along with selected notes about the specific copies used for the bibliographic description. An entry typically closes with a list of other bibli- ographies in which the work has been described to date and then a list of the consortium members that hold a copy. (A parallel project is under way to identify libraries not in the consortium that also hold these titles or hold titles not found at one of the seven sponsoring institu- tions, and that information will be added in a supplement to the final volume.) A series of reproductions of title pages and illustrations provides a fuller sense of the character of Russian book publish- ing during this period. The first volume closes with name and geographical in- dexes, as well as a list of illustrations and a bibliography of works cited in the ref- erence apparatus. The final volume of the projected five-part series is slated to in- clude chronologically, name, title, insti- tutional, and publisher indexes (and, one hopes, a cumulated geographical index, even though it is not mentioned by the editors in their description). Clearly, this is an absolutely essential work for any collection dealing with Rus- sian materials or even simply Russian bib- liography, as it will be the standard refer- ence for this material. Libraries also may want to take advantage of the contact in- formation provided at the end of the in- troduction to see about acquiring a copy of the electronic version because it will provide a variety of other possibilities for using and studying this valuable re- source.—R.H.S. Social Sciences Dictionary of the Social Sciences, ed. Craig Calhoun. New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 2002. 563 p. $75 (ISBN 0-19-512371-9). LCCN 00-68151. Oxford’s Dictionary of the Social Sciences is the fruit of an international collective ef- fort of researchers in the social sciences. Craig Calhoun, the editor-in-chief, is president of the Social Science Research Council in New York and a professor of sociology and history at New York Uni- versity. He is author of numerous publi- cations, including the textbook Sociology (7th ed. 1997) and Neither Gods Nor Emper- ors (1994). His distinguished academic career endows the Dictionary with cred- ibility. Oriented toward the “educated layper- son,” the goal of the dictionary is to miti- gate the division in interpreting the ter- minology, “Clashes of meaning,” among researchers in the social sciences. The Dic- tionary provides some 1,800 unsigned definitions with brief references attached to the entries. It also includes a solid 40- page bibliography. Arranged alphabeti- cally from “ability to pay principle” to “zonal model,” the Dictionary provides succinct definitions of concepts, terminol- ogy, methodologies, theories, among oth- Selected Reference Books of 2001–2002 153 ers, from the social sciences, with thor- ough treatment of economics, political science, and sociology. The entries include attempts to flesh out the associated intel- lectual issues. It also adopts a broader fo- cus and includes close to 275 intellectual biographies of selected major figures whose work has left an indelible imprint on the social sciences disciplines. These disciplines variously span four centuries of growth. The Dictionary does not claim to command the full terminol- ogy of this diverse and hallowed trajec- tory. Rather, the definitions and descrip- tions are based on English-language sources. Some terms in other languages are defined, but only those that have acquired a meaning or are employed in research conducted in English. The Dictionary was not meant to be the ultimate social sciences reference oeuvre. For what it purports to cover, however, it is a welcome addition to the reference collections.—F.H.D. Roberts, Robert North. Ethics in U.S. Gov- ernment: An Encyclopedia of Investiga- tions, Scandals, Reforms, and Legislation. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Pr., 2001. 367p. $69.95 (ISBN 0-313-31198-6). LC 00-061699. This is an alphabetically arranged “ready reference source on political ethics con- troversies, investigations, and public eth- ics reform throughout American history” (p. viii), though the author does stress that he has concentrated on post–World War II scandals. This emphasis, unfortunately, does not do justice to the complexity of the subject, and the beginning under- graduate history students, who appear to be the intended audience, will get a some- what slanted view of the relative impor- tance of specific events in American his- tory. There is, for instance, a brief paragraph on Tammany Hall and almost two pages on Linda Tripp. Many of the articles have brief bibliog- raphies, but again older scandals get a shorter shrift. Susan McDougal merits sev- eral newspaper articles, but the only ad- ditional source for Watergate is Woodward and Bernstein’s All the President’s Men. The alphabetical arrangement also makes getting a coherent picture difficult. There is a brief time line at the beginning of the book, but the first date, 1975, is clearly a misprint for 1775, and this does not inspire confidence. This work might prove useful, but much of the informa- tion is readily available elsewhere.—M.C. Business Taulli, Tom. The Complete M & A Hand- book: The Ultimate Guide to Buying, Sell- ing, Merging, or Valuing a Business for Maximum Return. Roseville, Calif.: Prima Venture, 2002. 432p. $59.95 (ISBN 0-7615-3561-6). LCCN 2001- 055405. The author is an M&A professional, and the goal of the work is to be a compre- hensive guide to a buyer or seller to ef- fect a win-win situation in any deal. Al- though very little business knowledge is assumed on the part of the reader, the author states that even a seasoned pro- fessional can profit from the work. Two opening chapters discuss the issues pertinent to the buyer and the seller sides of any deal focusing not only on the nuts and bolts factors, but also highlighting psychological aspects that may even be operating unconsciously to affect an out- come. The following seven chapters are detailed explorations of the major process components (e.g., due diligence, valuation, negotiations, and regulation). The four fi- nal chapters deal with special cases such as hostile takeovers or going private. Because of its organization and the fact that it is well indexed, it’s an effective ref- erence book. Recommended for academic business libraries and public libraries with a business clientele.—J.L.C. The African-American Studies The African-American Archive: The History of Black Experience through Documents, ed. Kai Wright. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publ., 2001. 805p. $29.98 (ISBN 1-57912-157-8). LCCN 2001- 025541. This “attempt to offer a comprehensive sampling of texts that illustrate Black life 154 College & Research Libraries March 2003 throughout American history” (p. xxiv) is a collection of texts by and about Afri- can Americans spanning the period from the 16th century through early 2001 and provides a potentially useful introductory source. Unfortunately, the items are not thoroughly documented: A newspaper report on the Watts riot gives only the newspaper title, not the date or page; Maxine Waters’ statements in a 2001 Con- gressional Record are cited only by month; excerpts from books give neither pub- lisher, date, nor page. The index, too, re- veals a somewhat sloppy approach be- cause A Raison in the Sun is listed under “a” and A Call to Negro America under “c.” Though students may find useful in- formation in this collection, its lack of documentation means that it cannot be used in a scholarly setting.—M.C. Regester, Charlene B. Black Entertainers in African -American Newspaper Articles. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2002. V 1: An Annotated Bibliography of the Chicago Defender, the Afro-American (Baltimore), the Los Angeles Sentinel and the New York Amsterdam News, 1910–1950. 701p. $115 (ISBN 7-7864-1052-1). LCCN 2001- 044623. In progress. This extremely useful book is a chronol- ogy of newspaper articles, with a subject index, about Blacks in the performing arts, which appeared in four major Black newspapers, which are readily available in microfilm. Volume 2 (no publication date) will index additional titles. The In- troductions say the works list nearly all items about African-American film actors, actresses, entertainers, film companies, theatrical associations, plays, and writers; it does not seem to include many vaude- ville performers. Though the compiler does not say so, the entries appear to have been identified by reading each issue, a tremendous feat. The entries provide the date, the title of the article, the newspaper title (unfortu- nately, these are not italicized so quick identification is a bit difficult), the page number, and a brief summary of the ar- ticle. In the best of all possible worlds, there would be some indication of the length of each article, which would help users weed out brief reports. The chronological arrangement means that the user has to rely on the index, which, unfortunately, is somewhat prob- lematic. Plays and films are listed only under their titles, with no indication of the genre, so that a reader interested in finding reports of Black films would have to know each title. Individual theaters are listed only by name, with no city or state. There are no cross-references from famil- iar nicknames so Bojangles is listed only under Robertson, Bill “Bojangles,” and Stepin Fetchit under Perry, Lincoln “Stepin Fetchit.” There are no subdivi- sions under individual headings, so that someone interested in a specific role of, say, Paul Robeson would have to look at hundreds of entries. As in so many books now, proofreading seems to be a vanish- ing art, so there is both a Trail of Mary Dugan and a Trial of Mary Dugan. But this is still a major achievement and an indispensable addition to any research library. —M.C. Societies after Slavery: A Selected Annotated Bibliography of Printed Sources on Cuba, Brazil, British Colonial Africa, South Af- rica, and the British West Indies, comp. Rebecca J. Scott et al. eds. Pittsburgh: Univ. Pittsburgh, Pr, 2002. 411p. (ISBN 0-4184-8). LCCN 2002-353. The study of a society during and just af- ter emancipation and its transition “raises fundamental questions about worldwide economic changes, international discus- sions of the meaning of free labor, connec- tions between national politics and global ideological currents, the evolution of sys- tems of race relations and the possibilities of constraints confronting former slaves and rural workers” (Pref.). To aid in this scholarship, the compilers selected five areas and identified printed primary sources “that can be found in major re- search libraries or can be accessed through ILL from any university or public library participating in a research consortium.” These primary documents could be par- Selected Reference Books of 2001–2002 155 liamentary papers, congressional hearings, reports of international agencies, mission- ary accounts, memoirs of travelers, or ac- counts of ethnographic studies, and cover from the 18th to the 20th centuries (around 1930). The arrangement is geographical: British West Indies (which occupies about a third of the volume), British Colonial Africa, South Africa, Cuba, Brazil. Under each are chapters for bibliographies and historiographical essays, primary sources, British Parliamentary papers, and second- ary sources. The primary resources are listed al- phabetically, with most having annota- tions; this is followed by an A to Z listing of secondary sources, mostly periodical articles. The information given in each is full and thus will be more obtainable through interlibrary loan. What is lacking, however, is any form of an index. It would be helpful to be able to note the item numbers of any census reports in the bibliography or writings of abolitionists. But, all in all, this will be a useful new reference tool.—E.M. Medieval Studies Lexikon des Mittelalters, CD-ROM Ausgabe; ed. Thomas Meier and Char- lotte Bretscher-Gisiger. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, 2000. €990.90 (ISBN 3-476- 01819-9). LCCN 46-982444. Medievalists have long been fortunate in having a number of full-text digital col- lections of primary source material at their disposal: Brepol’s CETEDOC Library of Christian Latin Texts and Chadwyck- Healey’s Acta sanctorum and Patrologia latina among them. Metzler now broad- ens these digital horizons by introducing a full-text reference work, the Lexikon des Mittelalters (DA150). Edited by Charlotte Bretscher-Gisiger and Thomas Meier of the University of Zurich, the LexMA is a fully searchable version of all 10,000 pages of the 10-tome print edition (nine volumes plus Registerband). Pull-down menus can be used to for- mulate direct searches, but a frame on the left-hand side of the opening screen of- fers numerous browsing options. In ad- dition to the full keyword list, the user can browse personal names, families, dynasties, religious foundations, cities or towns, topics (such as religion, natural sciences, medicine, law, culture, etc.), sub- jects, family trees, illustrations, a full-text index, and the authors of the LexMAs, more than 36,000 articles by an interna- tional roster of more than 100 scholars. When the desired article has been located, a tool bar provides one-click access to a selected bibliography, the article’s print source, and a guide to the Abkürzungen of these heavily abbreviated entries, as well as the ability to cycle forward or backward through the alphabetically ar- ranged articles. Choosing an article that is part of a larger hierarchy triggers a new frame at the bottom of the screen, which then lays out the entire hierarchy. Choos- ing “Augustinus,” for example, generates an outline listing all possible occurrences of Augustinus, from the Church Father (further subdivided by his life, works, reception in the Middle Ages, and iconog- raphy) to the fifteenth-century Roman theologian. Hyperlinked keywords within each article provide easy access to related information so that, though each entry is relatively short and manageable, it opens up a wide array of topics for fur- ther study. The LexMA CD-ROM edition provides obvious advantages over the print version by virtue of its full-text searching capa- bility. The range of its subject matter also distinguishes it from similar print re- sources such as the Dictionary of the Middle Ages (DA148), the Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages (Cambridge, 2000. 2v.) or even the New Catholic Encyclopedia (BC401). The digital format allows the user to go di- rectly from an article about the Angevin dynasty to a genealogical table display- ing the full dynastic pedigree. The LexMA does not restrict itself to the Christian West either; it includes a wide range of material on the Arab and Jewish worlds as well. This being said, the interface is not par- ticularly intuitive and will be completely 156 College & Research Libraries March 2003 opaque to those without strong German- language skills. What’s more, although it’s $1000+ price will likely exclude the individual purchaser, institutions should be aware that the CD-ROM is not networkable. Much like a print work, this is a single-user resource. Despite this, graduate students and faculty in all as- pects of Mediaevistik will find the LexMA invaluable.—K.G. Cinema Studies Kinoslovar’. Sankt-Peterburg: SEANS, 2001. 3 vols. (Noveishaia istoriia otechestvennogo kino 1986-2000, chi. 1). ISBN 5-901586-01-8 Students of Russian film, culture, and society should be very pleased by this new three-volume biographical encyclo- pedia, the first half of a larger history of Russian cinema between 1986 and 2000. The period covered is admittedly a short one, but certainly a very significant one in terms of the sweeping changes in poli- tics, society, and culture that it has wit- nessed. Information sources such as this, which can help us begin to take stock of those changes, are therefore most wel- come. The range of coverage is very impres- sive. The reader is provided in the main body of the encyclopedia with approxi- mately 500 biographies of directors, ac- tors, producers, screenwriters, cinematog- raphers, composers, critics, and film his- torians. Each entry contains a wealth of infor- mation presented in a regularized fash- ion that lends itself to a comparative ap- proach to the material. A photograph of the individual and an outline summary of his or her career, including education, institutional affiliations, any theatrical experience, prizes and honors, and a list of films (generally selective for the period prior to 1986, but usually comprehensive for the period 1986 to 2000) are accompa- nied by a brief, but usually substantive, essay characterizing and evaluating that individual’s work that frequently helps to place that individual’s career in the broader context of post-Communist Rus- sia. An extensive bibliography of relevant works published since 1986 appears at the conclusion of each. (In the case of indi- viduals who may not have been the pri- mary subject of a book or article, the bib- liography includes references to works describing aspects of particular films that can nonetheless shed light on their work, for instance, in discussions of cinematog- raphy or set design.) A further sense of the work of the better-known individu- als is supplied by groups of photographs from selected films interspersed at regu- lar intervals throughout the text. (Much of the material here dates from before 1986.) Appendices at the end of volume three cover approximately 100 sound editors and artists and some 50 other individu- als in various fields who were not in- cluded in the main text. All of these en- tries include the same basic career out- line but have no interpretative essay or bibliography. Access to the content is enhanced by indexes of personal names and film titles at the end of the work. The latter index might have been improved slightly by an indication of the entry that referred to the film’s director, where one might expect to find some fuller characterization of the film itself. This is an outstanding work, abso- lutely essential for any collection provid- ing coverage of Russian film or culture. It is a title that individual scholars and aficionados will likewise want to acquire for their personal libraries.—R.H.S. Art & Architecture Burden, Ernest E. Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture, 2d. rev. ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. 389p. illus. $39.95 (ISBN 0-07-137529-5). LCCN 2001- 034558. When the very first entry in a dictionary is wrong, not once, but twice, it does more than raise both eyebrows: It provokes a reviewer to take a dim view of what fol- lows (pun intended). The jacket descrip- tion claims this work to be “meticulously written, heavily cross-referenced, and Selected Reference Books of 2001–2002 157 unique in the fact that it is a dictionary that can be truly called a visual resource.” None of these claims is true. At the be- ginning of the alphabet, at the very head of the page marked “A,a,” Alvar Aalto’s name is misspelled as “Alto” and his death date is off by two years. Can a user have any confidence in the other bio- graphical entries, however short they may be (Max Abramovitz gets all of two lines)? The cross-references are no more nu- merous or helpful than comparable dic- tionaries, and, as for being “unique” as a visual resource, its half-tone photographs are poorly reproduced and crammed onto each double-columned page in such a way as to present the user with more clut- ter than clarity. Speaking of comparative dictionaries, the reader of this review is referred to the September 1997 edition of the “Selected Reference Books” series (pp. 471–72) for a discussion of the best of them: works by Cyril Harris, Ward Bucher, James Stevens Curl, J. Stewart Stein, and Robert Putnam. In that review, the question was raised as to whether the dictionary un- der discussion “adds anything to an al- ready overcrowded field.” Putting that question again in this case, the answer would have to be no. Despite the numer- ous illustrations, the page layout is such that it is not immediately clear which cap- tion or definition describes which picture. Better pictures of the buildings and their elements are easy to find, and the build- ings and their components being de- scribed are not necessarily presented at their best in a photograph, where the con- text can be confusing. It is no mystery why the best authors, such as Professor Harris, choose line drawings for their il- lustrations for reasons of precision and consistency. If this book had been produced in a larger format, on glossy paper, with a higher resolution for the images, and if some knowledgeable architectural histo- rian (or librarian) had proofread it, this dictionary might have made a more posi- tive impression with its 3,000 illustrations and 4,000 short-entry definitions. It is to be hoped that the effort put into it can be salvaged in a revised edition to bring the content and presentation up to the proper standard.—B.S-A. Glass, Jacqueline. Encyclopaedia of Archi- tectural Technology. Chichester: Wiley- Academy, 2002. 353p. illus. $110 (ISBN 0-471-88559-2). LCCN 2002-280339. This one gets Alvar Aalto right. First page, first entry, dates, too. And more besides. The purpose of this book, as stated by the author in her introduction, is to give read- ers “a grasp of where architectural design meets technology.” It is primarily aimed at students of architecture but can be prof- itably consulted by anyone needing a full description of a building material, the meaning of an acronym, or the role of se- lected major architects and architectural engineers (such as Aalto, and Ando, Arup, Foster, Corb, Nouvel, Kahn, Happold, etc.) who have made lasting contributions to architectural technology and structural engineering). The entries are generally two pages in length, somewhat randomly illustrated, with a definition directly below the entry title. See-also references follow in a graphic arrangement that makes these three elements easy to read, comprehend, and distinguish from the essay that fol- lows. Whether the subject is biographi- cal (and these are relatively few) or on a topic, references for further reading are provided at the end and initialed by one of nine contributors. See references direct the reader from narrower to larger sub- jects, where they are placed in context (e.g., “Thermoplastics, See: Plastics- Types”), where one can find twelve dif- ferent types of plastics described as to their form and constituent parts, as well as the abbreviations by which they are commonly known. There is a definite emphasis on current building techniques and processes, such as air-supported structures, intelligent facades and materials, and sustainability, in addition to the traditional fundamen- tals on foundations, lifecycle costing, sur- 158 College & Research Libraries March 2003 faced finishers, and so on. A classified bibliography appears before the dictio- nary entries, arranged by sections on rec- ommended and general reference books, construction and materials, Mitchell’s building series (a British series published by Longman since the late 1980s), struc- tures, and history and theory. The layout throughout the volume is easy on the eyes, with plenty of white space, small black-and-white photographs that are adequate to illustrate an architect’s style, and a variety of typefaces that work har- moniously together. Although intended for a British audience, this book can be added to any architectural collection with the knowledge that it’s contents are up- to-date, practical, and accurate.—B.S.-A. Kort, Carol, and Liz Sonneborn. A to Z of American Women in the Visual Arts. New York: Facts on File, 2002. 258p. illus. $40 (ISBN 0-8160-4397-3). LCCN 2001-040231. The title under review has been placed by its publisher in two current series: A to Z of Women, an international series on women in the professions; and its Library of American History, a series of encyclope- dias and biographical dictionaries de- voted to historical periods, social and eth- nic groups, law, religion, and labor history in the U.S. The 131 artists selected for this volume were chosen to represent “a panoply of geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds” (Author’s note, p. ix), from the Native American women artists of the precolonial period to the professional art- ists of the present working in all media and crafts, and about whom sufficient bibliographies exist for the readers to do further research. The Introduction is a spirited review of struggling and breakthrough artists, usually little known or even anonymous, producing their lonely, but creative, work while fighting off, first, the Indians, then the British, and always the dominant male establishment, nursing sick husbands and children, battling illness and prejudice. The entries themselves are approximately two to three pages of text in double col- umns with a black-and-white photo- graphic portrait of most of the artists. There are no illustrations of their work. The content is biographical, and the oeuvre is described, but not analyzed. A short list of further readings concludes each entry, with a four-page bibliography of recommended sources, including jour- nals and Web sites devoted to American women’s art. Indexes include entries by medium (e.g., architecture, collage, illus- tration, painting, pottery, textiles, etc), style (e.g., Abstract Expressionism, Ashcan School, Body Art, Pop Art, Surre- alism, etc.), year of birth (from before 1800 to the 1960s), and a general index of names, subjects, and specific works of art, which concludes the volume.—B.S-A Richter, Klaus. Art from Impressionism to the Internet. Munich; New York: Prestel, 2001. 165p. illus. $9.95 (ISBN 3-7913-221-4). LCCN 00-110484. This first volume in the publisher ’s Sightlines series (architecture is scheduled next) is a small, but very convenient, guide to the artistic movements of the modern era, covering approximately the last 125 years of Western art. The first sec- tion, “Concepts and Names from A to Z,” is an alphabetical listing of more than 750 short entries for artist biographies and artistic styles, techniques, and move- ments. The main body of the guide offers con- cise two-page entries for about 60 of the major, and some minor, movements in chronological order, from Impressionism in the 1870s to “The Millennial Scene,” a time to assess the art world in the year 2000. Each entry gives a definition and important features of the movement, highlighted by bullets and boldface names of the major artists of that school. One to three illustrations, mostly in color, are included with a caption describing the qualities of the work that make it repre- sentative of its style. Examples range from New Objectivity, South American Muralism, Tachisme, and New Figuration to the expected chapters on Surrealism, Selected Reference Books of 2001–2002 159 Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, and Conceptual Art. Each entry is pleasantly laid out, with enough white space to avoid clutter in so small a format (the book is only slightly larger than 4”x7”). Distinctions in type- faces among entry text and artists’ names on the left page and captions on the right, supported by the illustrations, make this an appealing presentation. A time line, from the birth of Impres- sionism in 1874 to the sequencing of the human genome in 2000, is a quirky mix of artistic, political, scientific, and com- mercial events. A bibliography and a name index (in extremely small type) complete the volume.—B. S-A. United States History Nisbet, Ada B. British Comment on the United States: A Chronological Bibliogra- phy, 1832–1899. Berkeley: Univ. Cali- fornia Pr., 2001. 516p. University of California Publications. Catalogs and Bibliographies, v.15. $85 (ISBN 0-520- 09811-0). LCCN 00-067622. This is an interesting bibliography de- scribing major books and pamphlets of people who had views about the United States between the years 1832 (the first re- form bill) and 1899 (the end of the era). This is a labor of love by the woman who spoke to the Huntington Library about the topic, “Bibliolunacy in 29 Shoeboxes.” Prof. Nisbet has identified some 3,211 books and pamphlets arranged chrono- logically and then alphabetically by au- thor (or title if the work is anonymous). The main entry is the title when first pub- lished, but there is every effort to locate a copy in Britain and one in the United States. Most of the works are annotated with locations and especially notes to get the reader to the book reviews where some of the most important information can be found. As an example, she cites James Stuart Mills and the fact that he never wrote a book but, rather, his commentary appeared in journals. Of course, one is never satisfied when it comes to indexing. There are very good author (including names in the notes) and title indexes. One wishes for a subject or at the least a topical index.—E.M. New and Interesting Titles The Columbia University Press has begun a series “Columbia Guides to American History and Cultures,” which follows a certain order: first, a group of about 10 essays by historians laying out the issues, followed by a chronology, a glossary, then concluding with a bibliography of pri- mary and secondary sources. Some of the titles are: American Women in the 19th Cen- tury, ed. Catherine Clinton (2000. 331p.); Columbia Guide to the Cold War by Michael Kort (2000. 331p.); Columbia Guide to the 1960s by David Ferber & Beth Bailey (2002. 508p). For the latter book, a review in Choice (Nov 2001:486) by R. Dysan con- cludes, “If other volumes in the series are half as impressive, librarians may want the series on standing order.” The Library of Congress announced that it would discontinue its microfiche series: NUC Books (AA111–), NUC Au- diovisual Material (AA107–), NUC Car- tographic Materials (CL252–), the Music Catalog (BJ82), Library of Congress Sub- ject Headings (AK220), Name Authorities on Microfiche. Because fiche is no longer cost-effective, the last issue on fiche will be December 2002. In its place are search- ing online and, in the case of LCSH, in paper: http://catalog.loc.gov or http:// authorities.loc.gov. The Austrian National Bibliography (Österreichische Bibliographie AA574– AA575) has changed formats. As of Janu- ary 1, 2003, the paper copy will cease and the researcher will find the information Web based (http://www.onb.ac.at) and also in the online catalog of the National Library in Vienna. The compilers feel this will be as easy as is possible to maintain and still provide continuous coverage, 1946–2002. The second edition of Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, ed. Gretchen Bataille and Laurie Lisa (N.Y.: Routledge, 2001. 396p. $85; 1st ed. 1993), offers profiles of 270 Native American women by stressing the important roles 160 College & Research Libraries March 2003 held by the subject, living or dead. Bib- liographic citations end each essay. Espe- cially useful are the appendixes: Primary Areas of Specialization; Decades of Birth; State/Province of Birth; Tribal Affiliation. David Thomson has updated entries and added new ones for the 4th edition of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (N.Y.: Knopf, 2002. 963p. $553; 1st ed., 1975; 3rd ed. 1994. BH287). He included pithy comments for each subject, for ex- ample, for Martin Sheen: “But how strange that an actor should make so many minor films and be the cherished lead in a hit TV series at the same time (West Wing). For three seasons now, Sheen has been our most appealing cur- rent president (and maybe the hardest working)” (p. 803). Or Ben Hecht: “What hurt most was the realization that the writer in movies had everything but power” (p. 386). Maybe baseball isn’t dying. A second edition of the Baseball Filmography 1915– 2001 by Hal Erickson (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2002. 552p. Illus. $45; 1st ed. 1994) has grown to cover more than 100 fictional films. Included in this edition are films with baseball on nonbaseball fields. Each entry has the cast and production, year of release, and a synopsis. A great favorite of general reference books is the Reader’s Encyclopedia of Ameri- can Literature, ed. George Perkins and Phillip Leininger. This edition is entitled HarperCollins Reader ’s Encyclopedia of American Literature, 2d ed., previously published as Benet’s Readers’ Encyclopedia of American Literature (N.Y.: 2001. 1126p. BE431). The arrangement differs and is now built around broad overviews: His- tory of American Literature, Canadian Literature English, Globalization of American Literature, with a list of cross- references to, for example, Humor, Femi- nism, African-American Literature, Sea Fiction, The South. Much has changed in East Central Eu- rope since the first edition of Magosci’s Historical Atlas of East Central Europe (1993. DC56) now called Historical Atlas of Cen- tral Europe (revised and expanded edition. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Pr., 2002. 288p.). Drawn by the University of Toronto Office of Cartography, there are 21 new maps, 41 revised maps, 11 maps for newly independent countries, 11 new chapters, and eight thematic maps covering: twen- tieth-century population changes, ethnolinguistics, distribution, education, Catholic and Orthodox churches. The major aim of Michael Clodfelter ’s Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures 1500–2000 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2002. 856p. $195. 1st ed., 1991. CJ568) is to present a record of casualties of modern warfare in the past five centuries break- ing down the statistics into where, when, and under what circumstances they died or suffered wounds. Cross-checking of the statistics is careful, and the sources are usually governmental or other authorita- tive source. The seven-page bibliography could be most helpful. French Periodicals Indexes Old and New Although France was the home to the first periodical publication in the 17th century, there were no comprehensive French peri- odical indexes comparable to some national periodical indexes in Europe, such as Dansk tidsskrift-index (1915–1978; now Dansk Artikelindeks, 1979–. AD308, AD309) or Wil- son indexes in the United States. The first attempt at indexing or com- piling a collection of tables of contents came in 1888 when Lasteyrie compiled the bibliography of the publications of learned societies in France from their beginnings to 1885, continued 1886–1910 (1918). The subject areas were limited to history and archaeology. Gandilhon continued the task for 1910–1940 (published in 1944–1961). The arrangement is by place name (départment and then town). This is still an excellent source. The list of source jour- nals is also arranged by place name and then by title (DC213). Lasteyrie, Robert de (1849–1921). Bibliographie générale des travaux historiques et archéologiques publiés par les Selected Reference Books of 2001–2002 161 sociétés savantes de la France, dressée sous les auspices du Ministère de l’instruction publique. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1888–1918. 6v. Gandilhon, René. Bibliographie générale des travaux historiques et archéologiques publié par les sociétés savantes de la France, dressée par René Gandilhon sous la direction de Charles Samaran. Periode 1910–1940. Paris: Impr. nationale, 1944–1961. 5v. In addition to archeology and history, lit- erary history and the history of art were served by two special bibliographies of periodical sources: Place, Jean Michel, and André Vasseur. Bibliographie des revues et journaux littéraires des XIXe et XXe siècles. Paris: Ed. de la Chronique des lettres françaises; 1973–1977. 3v. (AD96) Contains descriptions of publications and the tables of contents from 47 literary pe- riodicals covering the period from 1840 to 1930 with an index of cited names. Lebel, Gustave. Bibliographie des revues et périodiques d’art parus en France de 1746 à 1914. Paris: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1951. 1v. (BF46) Periodical articles in French literature are well covered by retrospective and current bibliographies of both French and foreign origins. Thième, Hugo Paul. Bibliographie de la littérature françaises de 1800–1930. Paris: E. Droz, 1933. 3v.; continued 1930–49. 3v. (BE1209). Thième’s author bibliography includes periodical articles from 1800 to 1930. Talvert, Hector. Bibliographie des auteurs modernes de langue française, 1801–1975. Paris: Ed. Chronique des lettres françaises, 1928–1976. (BE1208) Talvert and Place also contain periodical articles on authors. The first volume cov- ers the period from 1801 to 1927. The most recent volume published in 1976 brings the coverage up to 1975. Foreign sources include Cabeen (BE1131) and various bib- liographic publications of the Modern Language Association. There were some attempts at indexing general periodicals such as the Argus des Revues (1911–1914) and the Chroniques des lettres françaises (1923–1925). The first in- dexed some 1000 periodicals. The Chroniques were smaller in scale, index- ing about 48 publications such as Actions françaises, NRF, Mercure de France, and Revue des Deux Mondes. Caron, Pierre. Bibliographie des travaux publiés de 1866 à 1897 sur l’histoire de France depuis 1789. Paris: Cornély, 1912. (DC198). 1898–1932. In historical studies, Caron’s bibliography on French history since 1789 listed pub- lished works from 1866 to 1913. It in- cluded both French and foreign publica- tions, including some 115 periodicals. The bibliography was classed by subject and annotated. Caron and Stein continued fif- teen more years (1920–1935) after the in- terruption by World War I. Then the series of Bulletins signalétiques (1940–. AD254) and the Bibliographie annuelle de l’histoire de France (1953/54 –. DC148) take over the work of indexing scholarly journals. The first online format of the Bulletins appeared in Questel in 1972 as its subfile Francis. It was rather a com- plicated database to work with and in most libraries it remained a tool of librar- ians. The annual history bibliography re- mains the print edition only. History is partially covered in Francis by its sections on art, religion, sociology, and other related disciplines. The data- base indexes major French history jour- nals such as Revue historique and Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine, as well as foreign journals such as the American Historical Review, Journal of Modern History, and the French Historical Studies. The re- incarnation of the humanities and social sciences sections of the Bulletins signalétiques has been available online since the late 1990s as a Eureka database of RLG. This international database takes the role of a French national periodical 162 College & Research Libraries March 2003 index for the disciplines covered. Most entries have abstracts and are searchable by English-language subject headings. General periodicals in France were in- dexed by the French Periodical Index, ed- ited in the U.S. The French-language equivalent of Reader ’s Guide, it covers the years 1973/74– 1995. French Periodical Index . 1973/74–95. Morgantown, W.V.: Ponchie & Co. [etc.], 1973/74–78. Series: Useful ref- erence series (Westwood, Mass.) ISSN 0362-5044. (AD312). The 1973/74 edition had only seven peri- odical titles: L’Express, le Français dans le Monde, le Monde hebdomadaire, le Nouvel observateur, Paris-March, Realités, and Sondages. In 1995, it was indexing 32 pe- riodicals. Another American database service, LexisNexis Academic Universe, includes a small number of French-language news sources: Le Monde, Liberation, Le Figaro, and L’Express, among others. Recently, more and more publications are offering latest issues free online and archival materials by subscription or for a fee per article. The online access to the index to the archives is usually free. A few examples of this type of service are: Le Débat (Gallimard) at http://www.le- debat.gallimard.fr/ (Online issues, 1980–); L’Express at http:// www.lexpress.fr/Express/Archives/ (1993–); Le Nouvel Observateur at http://www.nouvelobs.com/ (1997–). It is necessary to know which publica- tion to search, but these online indexes and the possibility to obtain a desired ar- ticle online are a convenience compa- rable to online banking and shopping.— J.S.