Offers brief summaries of utopian novels, discusses concepts related to utopias and dystopias, and offers profiles of utopian writers.

Depictions of the American west in literature, art and film perpetuate romantic stereotypes of the pioneers the gold-crazed 49er, the intrepid sodbuster. While ennobling the woodsman, the farmwife and the lawman, this tunnel vision of American history has shortchanged the whaler, the assayer, the innkeeper and the inventor. The westward advance of the trailblazers created demand for a gamut of unsung adventurers surveyors, financiers, politicians, surgeons, entertainers, grocers and midwives who built communities and businesses in the wilderness amid clashes with Indians, epidemics, floods,...

While there are books about folk dances from individual countries or regions, there isn't a single comprehensive book on folk dances across the globe. This illustrated compendium offers the student, teacher, choreographer, historian, media critic, ethnographer, and general reader an overview of the evolution and social and religious significance of folk dance. The Encyclopedia of World Folk Dance focuses on the uniqueness of kinetic performance and its contribution to the study and appreciation of rhythmic expression around the globe. Following a chronology of momentous events dating from...

Surveying the life, work and accolades of Irish playwright Brian Friel, this literary companion investigates his personal and professional relationships and his literary topics and themes, such as belonging, violence, patriarchy and hypocrisy. Character summaries describe his most significant figures, particularly St. Columba, the victims of Derry's Bloody Sunday, and Hugh O'Neill, the Lord of Tyrone. Entries analyze Friel's style in detail, from his column in the Irish Times and his short fiction in the New Yorker to his most recent plays, Philadelphia, Here I Come ,...

Less celebrated than their male counterparts, women have been vital contributors to the arts. Works by women of the colonial era represent treasured accomplishments of American culture and still impress us today, centuries after their creation. The breadth of creative expression is as impressive as the women themselves. In American Colonial Women and Their Art: A Chronological Encyclopedia, Mary Ellen Snodgrass follows the history of creative expression from the early 1600s to the late 1700s. Drawing upon primary sources--such as letters, diaries, travel notes, and journals--this timeline...

In its expanded second edition, this chronology examines the effects of epidemic illness and death on human culture from 2700 BCE to 2017. Entries summarize incidents of contagion across the globe, including symptoms, treatment, prevention and demographics, as well as biographical information on notable people who identified and battled disease. Citations from personal and public documents are provided, along with maps, comparative charts of types of infection, and estimated populations affected by each epidemic.

Surveys the major titles and themes of America's top adventure writer for tweens. Entries cover the Brian and Tucket series and analyse the significance of alcoholism, coming of age, survival, war, and slavery to such bestsellers as Nightjohn, Soldier's Heart, Woods Runner, and Hatchet.

This is a chronology of creative contributions made by women dating from the 1790s to 1900. Among the arts covered in this volume are quilting, beadwork, dancing, diaries and memoirs, folk music, landscaping, sculpture, theatrics, etc. Entries are cross-referenced and include further readings drawn from an exhaustive bibliography of sources.