The focus of this historical dictionary is the deepening US military and political involvement in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia during the decades from 1945 to 1975. . . . The style is clear and readable, and articles are accompanied by helpful references to books for further reading. . . . Selective rather than comprehensive, this work will be especially useful for students and general readers and is recommended for academic and public library reference collections. "Choice"

This historical Dictionary of the Vietnam War is designed to provide a ready reference tool for students and...

Historian James. S. Olson has prepared a comprehensive, annotated bibliography of the history of cancer. The emphasis of this work is not so much on the medical aspects of cancer as it is on the historical documentation of the disease: its etiology, pathology, epidemiology, forms and manifestations, and the men and women who have distinguished themselves in the study and treatment of the disease.

The book opens with a section devoted to the historical background of our knowledge of cancer and important medical/nonmedical personalities. The next section deals with the etiology of...

At a juncture in history when much interest and attention is focused on Central and South American political, ecological, social, and environmental concerns, this dictionary fills a major gap in reference materials relating to Amerindian tribes. This one-volume reference collects important information about the current status of the indigenous peoples of Central and South America and offers a chronology of the conquest of the Amerindian tribes; a list of tribes by country; and an extensive bibliography of surviving American Indian groups. Historical as well as contemporary descriptions of...

On October 12, 1992, five hundred years will have passed since Christopher Columbus made landfall on San Salvador. His voyage across the Atlantic Ocean set in motion a series of unprecedented social, political, economic, and cultural forces that changed the entire world. "The Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Empire" looks at the process by which Spain extended its influence across the globe. It provides more than 1,200 brief descriptive essays covering colonies, individuals, political institutions, legislation, treaties, conferences, wars, revolutions, technologies, social and...

Financial news today is front-page news. Americans are showered daily with stories about the stock market, the savings and loan scandal, banking catastrophes, trade imbalances, government deficits, inflation, international financial crises, unemployment, poverty, urban plight, junk bonds, and taxes. This book provides a handy reference for those who want to locate information about issues and events in American economic history.

The volume includes concise essays on more than 1,200 topics. Numerous entries provide biographies of prominent businessmen and businesswomen, union...

This is a scholarly assessment of broad-ranging research on the Vietnam War over the last seventeen years by the editor of the prize-winning Dictionary of the Vietnam War. James Olson and his contributors offer fascinating insights as they evaluate the significant literature, films, and TV programs, offering different perspectives on the historical background; strategy and conduct of the war; the perspectives of Americans, the Indochinese, women, minorities, and veterans; the impact of the war on the homefront; and major problems and issues in the aftermath of the war.

This one-volume...

In 1991, the centrifugal forces of ethnic nationalism destroyed the Soviet Union. Religious and ethnic issues will be the defining principles of political life in East Europe, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia for the next decade. Yet when most Americans and Europeans read, for instance, of the Ossetians and Ingush, they have no idea who these peoples are or why they are fighting. This volume will provide a ready reference for students, researchers, and librarians who are trying to sort out the political and social struggles in that part of the world. Focusing on ethnolinguistic groups...

Recent historical events have made it quite clear that the world is in for a long-term continuation of ethnic rivalries that have been going on for centuries. The short-term hegemony of the European empires, the Soviet Union, and the United States may have temporarily subdued some of those conflicts, but older identities are now reasserting themselves. The most complicated, diverse ethnic setting is in Africa, where several thousand languages still provide powerful identities to as many ethnic groups. "The Peoples of Africa" provides a brief description of the more than 1,800 individual...

Few eras in U.S. history have begun with more optimistic promise and ended in more pessimistic despair than the 1960s. When JFK became president in 1960, the U.S. was the hope of the world. Ten years later American power abroad seemed wasted in the jungles of Indochina, and critics at home cast doubt on whether the U.S. was really the land of the free and the home of the brave. This book takes an encyclopedic look at the decade--at the individuals who shaped the era, the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement, the women's movement, and the youth rebellion. It covers the political,...