Product Description
Who are the most influential military figures of all time?In The Macmillan Dictionary of Military Biography you will find over 500 of the leaders and soldiers who helped shape human history.From around 3500 B.C. (roughly the beginning of recorded history) to the present, nothing has been more costly in money, resources, effort, pain and life than war, and here you will find the stories of the men (and one woman, Joan of Arc) whose actions influenced the lives of those around them.Learn more about great rulers like Henry II, perhaps the greatest king of England, who warred successfully against France, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.Learn more about great strategists such as the 1st Duke of Marlborough and his victory at Blenheim, or Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, whose handling of the attack at Gallipoli helped him to later overthrow the Ottoman Empire.And with the books American focus, find out more about some of the great military figures of Americas history, from Joseph Brants role in the French and Indian Wars to Omar Bradleys successful innovations in World War II.Each entry includes with a concise statement of the subjects significance to military history, biographical and military overviews, and an essay that presents a miniature portrait of the subjects character and weighs his significance in history.This series of military biographies illuminates the many conflicts that have influenced ancient and modern history, and provides an invaluable and entertaining resource for military enthusiasts and historians alike. ... Read more

Product Description
This dictionary covers figures of historical, literary or religious significance who flourished at any time between 1730 and 1860, and were associated with the Evangelical Movement in the English-speaking world. It provides a comprehensive source of information on figures related to a significant period of Christian history in the West, which is also organically related to that world-wide expansion which has transformed the church in the 20th century. The book shows that in North America, evangelicalism was the dominant religious influence during this period. In Britain, evangelicalism was important both within and outside the Church of England, and outside the religious world altogether, and was in some ways responsible for some of the dominant characteristics of British society, particularly in the Victorian period. It draws together interest in the movement and its branches on the part of historians and social scientists, as well as theologians, church historians and many concerned Christians.The period of 1730-1860 is designed to focus on the middle of the 18th to the middle of the 19th century when there was a reasonably coherent historical phenomenon which can be called the Evangelical Movement. The "English-speaking world" includes Great Britain and all of Ireland, and Britain's colonial holdings: the American colonies (and subsequently the United States), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the African and West Indian territories and British India. Some non-native English-speakers will be included if they had strong connections with, or exercised notable influence on evangelicalism (such as the Moravian, Count Zinzendorf). The movement touched a variety of people of vastly different background, outlook, church connection, presuppositions and prejudice.Between the dates selected, there is a stream of Christian life in the English-speaking world which displays certain distinctive features which mark it off from the rest of the landscape: the intensification of the Christian life associated with a deep sense of personal guilt and an overwhelming sense of forgiveness through Christ; the application of preaching to conversion and transformation rather than to "duty"; the growing conviction of the universal application of the Christian message (with its inevitable outcome in the missionary movement); the moral radicalism which sprang from a sense of personal accountability; and the new pattern of church relations which produced both ecumenicity and schism, as well as an enlarged conception of ministry and a burgeoning of that organ which the Evangelicals transformed, the voluntary society. Given the multiformity of the movement, the dictionary includes among the evangelicals people who would not have recognized each other as such - Armenians and Calvinists, Churchmen and Dissenters, "Old Lights" and "New Lights".It includes not only figures of the large Churches, but also representatives of small and often forgotten movements which undoubtedly derive from the same main stream as Edwards and Whitefield and the Wesleys: Sandemanians and Walkerites, and members of the Teetotal Methodist Connexion. The dictionary consists of approximately 3500 entries, and represents contributions of over 300 international historians. ... Read more

Product Description
This authoritative biographical dictionary covers the lives and the claim to fame of 1,750 famous men and women who by deed or thought have set their mark on our century. Entries include a sketch of the family background and education of the subject, followed by a description of the events that have brought them to fame or infamy, and a summary of their achievements or misdemeanors. ... Read more

Product Description
Volume 14 of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, the second of four volumes to deal with the 1940-1980 period, records the lives of Australians whom many of us will remember from the recent past. It reflects the changes and constants in Australia's demographic composition and social values in the years of World War II and its aftermath. A range of biographies illuminates large themes in Australia's recent history, themes such as immigration, accelerating industrialism, urbanization and suburbanization, war, material progress, increasing cultural maturity, conservative and radical politics, conflict and harmony, and the loss of isolation and innocence.It also reveals something of the greatness and the littleness of which human beings are capable. ... Read more

Product Description
From Abraham to Saul Bellow, from Moses Maimonides to Woody Allen, from the Baal Shem Tov to Albert Einstein, this comprehensive dictionary of Jewish biographies provides a first point of entry into the fascinating richness of the Jewish heritage. Modelled on the highly acclaimed Dictionary of Christian Biography (Continuum 2001) and with the advice of leading Jewish scholars, the Dictionary of Jewish Biography provides a rapid reference to those Jewish men and women who have, over the last four thousand years, contributed to the life of the Jewish people and the history of the Jewish religion. This dictionary will prove essential for general readers interested in the evolution of Judaism from ancient times to the present day, a perfect study aid for students and teachers. Designed as an accessible reference tool, this volume is an indispensable guide for anyone interested in the history of the Jewish people - the uninitiated will become initiated; the curious will become informed; the informed will now have a handy reference tool. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Capsule biographies do not tell us enough
The idea of this work is to give capsule biographies of a large number of Jews from all different areas of human endeavor. This is in itself admirable, but the length of the entries, usually a few brief lines, makes them into telegraphic bits of information, without any element of story.
Thus 'The Dictionary of Jewish Biography' ed. by Geoffrey Wigoder is if far from perfect, nonetheless still more useful than this present volume. ... Read more

Product Description
Newly revised and updated, Merriam-Webster's Biographical Dictionary provides essential information about important people from throughout history and around the world. This comprehensive reference is one of the most extensive collections of biographies ever presented in a single volume--from Michelangelo to Richard Nixon, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao to Theidore Geisel.Amazon.com Review
Weighing in at a hefty 1,170 pages, this addictive referencevolume supplies brief lives of more than 30,000 men andwomen--the famous, the not-so-famous, and the downright obscure. Coverage of thenon-English speaking world is particularly comprehensive. And thanksto the helpful pronunciation guidelines, names like DomitiusAhenobarbus and Abu al-Faraj alIsbahani will soon roll trippingly fromthe reader's tongue. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Buyer beware: not worth the money, and you'll look foolish
The producers of this book think only surnames matter.Examples:

1. How do you pronounce the "Vita" of "Vita Sackville-West"?Uh, is it "VEE-tuh" or "VIE-tuh"?Who cares?Let's just tell the buyer how to pronounce "sackville" and "west", in case that's not obvious (?).

2. How do you pronounce the "Childe" of the painter "Childe Hassam"?Who cares?Might be like "child" or might be like "chilled" -- too much trouble for us to research it, and any idiot must know how it's pronounced, huh?So let's just show the "hassem"-sounding part, and let the buyer guess about the given name.

Even when only the surname is in question, they can get it wrong.Example,

3. How do you pronounce the last name of the artist Charles Demuth?M-W says de-MOOTH (rhymes with "the Truth").But the Demuth Foundation tells me "The Demuth family appears to have pronounced their last name de-MOOTH (similar to the German).Charles Demuth appears to have taken some artistic liberties with that pronounciation.The artist pronounced his last name DEE-muth after about 1915."In other words, let's ignore the way he pronounced his name during his prolific years from age 32 to his death at 52, and show the pronunciation he used before he had his first solo exhibit in 1914.

Buyer beware.If you go by this book's pronunciations (or lack thereof), you might look as dumb as it does.

This biographical dictionary is simply the best!
Merriam Webster's Biographical Dictionary is an excellent source of information on more or less important dead persons (yes, only someone who has already died can qualify for an entry!). It covers all fields of human activities - politicians, rulers, writers, inventors etc. Even a small Slovenian nation has its representatives in this comprehensive volume (e.g. composer Jacobus Gallus, poet France Preseren, writer Ivan Cankar, politician Anton Korosec), though, unfortunately, the real nationality of two very important Slovenes who lived in Austria (physicist Josef Stefan and Nobel laureate Fritz Pregl) haven't been revealed.

It's not surprising that in such comprehensive and informative book (it has circa 30,000 entries!) there are some mistakes (e.g. wrongly spelled first and even last names like in the cases of Viet Stoss - correctly spelled first name is Veit - and B. J. Feijoo y Montenogro - correctly spelled last name is Feijoo y Montenegro), and overlooked important persons (e.g. famous Welsh novelist and playwright Richard Llewellyn, who died in 1983, doesn't have an entry!)

However, it's still definitely one of the most authoritative biographical dictionaries available (it's simply the best, just like its twin brother Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary is in its field - see my review there!), and is worth every single penny or cent. I use it pretty often and hardly wait for a new edition with new entries and, of course, some necessary corrections (some of them contributed by me).

FILLS THE BILL
This dictionary has over 30,000 entries with preferred pronounciation.I particularly wanted an American publisher so I would have more American entries.The material is detailed enough to begin referencing.The print is adequately sized--just barely(approx. 8 pt. headings and 6 pt. entries).It is easy to use, though I would have liked a thumb-guide.It's a very good price.I am quite satsified with my purchase.

A note on the choice of entries.A biographical dictionary does not contain living entries.For that sort of information you need a Who's Who type of publication that has constant updates.It is usually a very expensive purchase, and the buyer has to be meticulous to be certain he is getting the "type" of persons in which he is interested.In this day and age of 15-minute celebrity, to include everyone anyone has ever heard of would take a constantly shifting entire library.

As good as it gets
If the browser in Jacksonville had read the preface, he or she would have discovered that the dictionary does not cover living persons. So as estimable as Mr Crystal, et al, surely are, they aren't as yet eligible forinclusion. That aside, the book is as accurate as any reasonable personcould need it to be and as complete as it can be without becoming unwieldy.And the price is excellent.

SCOPE OF BOOK IS LIMITED TO DECEASED PERSONS
The editor decided to not to include any living persons in this reference book for their stated reason, "it is impossible to keep it up to date." But since the stated purpose of the book (on its jacket) is "to introduce you to the world's best known and most important people," how can we leave out such people as Bill Gates or Bill Clinton?If you were looking for current facts about them, you would check newspapers, magazines or the internet.But it would be nice to think of any famous person and find something about them in one reference work. A person would likely refer to this book when they have read about a person in another book, a newspaper or magazine article, or heard about some person in a TV show, movie or conversation, and wanted to check the facts or find out more. Many of the personalities you would most want to know more about are persons living today- movie and sports stars, TV personalities, people in the news. The book would be far more useful for its typical user if it did not limit itself to deceased persons ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

"Chief Cornerstone to the Christian Library"
This comprehensive one of a kind dictionary covers the span of six centuries, and penetrates into the marrow of the priciple influences of Christianity; whether they be pope or caesar, christian or pagan, orthodox or heretic this impressive volume handles nearly every detail necessary to impart an image of the individual and the indelible impact they made upon the pervasive expanse of Christian history. The facts are straight-foward, and bias is placed only when the information is in need of discretion, not distortion...highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
The Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Philosophers provides detailed accounts of the careers, works, thought and critical reception of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century.

International in scope, with over 1000 entries, the Dictionary is alphabetically arranged, and features the lives and work of major figures alongside lesser-known but influential thinkers.

The articles are identically structured, making it easy to compare and contrast information, with a critical exposition of intellectual development and impact for each entry. The main body of each entry is preceded by a biographical section providing details of nationality, higher education, main appointments, philosophical style and areas of scholarly interest. A bibliographical section covers the philosopher's major writings and also secondary and critical literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Duped
Was led to believe in the details about the book that it was clean and in good condition.After paging through it I discovered several places where the book has handwritten underlining in red and black, handwritten brackets, and writing in the margins. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Marking the centenary of the first publication of a now-classic volume, this thoroughly revised and updated edition continues the tradition of excellence offering over 17,500 profiles of notable achievers. With more than 3,000 completely new entries, the Chambers Biographical Dictionary provides expanded coverage of contemporary figures including a wide range of luminaries such as Nadine Gordimer, Alan Greenspan, Wayne Gretzky.Still notable for its global and historical perspective - from Alexander the Great to Nelson Mandela - this new book covers an ever broader spectrum of human achievement including the arts, science and technology, popular entertainment, sports, religion, the media, politics and business.Each fascinating biography includes the historical and social context. Amore attractive and readable volume than ever, each also entry now features a convenient at-a-glance summary under the name, while particularly important and influential people are highlighted in special boxed entries. Fully indexed with alphabetical and subject indexes.The Chambers Biographical Dictionary remains an essential reference for the general reader as well as writers, journalists and researchers. ... Read more

Product Description
Surrealism was a broad movement, which attracted many adherents. It was organized and quite strictly disciplined, at least until the death of its leader, AndrZ Breton, in 1966. As a consequence, its membership was in a constant state of flux: persons were constantly being admitted and excluded, and often the latter continued to regard themselves as Surrealists. The wide-ranging nature of the Surrealist movement was spread over many countries and many different art forms, including painting, sculpture, cinema, photography, music, theater, and literature, most notably poetry.The Historical Dictionary of Surrealism relates the history of this movement through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 600 cross-referenced dictionary entries on persons, circles, and groups who participated in the movement; a global entry on some of the journals and reviews they produced; and a sampling of major works of art, cinema, and literature. ... Read more

Product Description
This is far more than a dry hagiographical account of the lives of saints. This entertaining and authoritative dictionary breathes life into its subjects and is as browsable as it is informative. Critically acclaimed in its many editions, the dictionary is now reissued into the rebranded best-selling Oxford Paperback Reference series. The entries are concise accounts of the lives, cults, and artistic associations of over 1,400 saints, from the famous to the obscure, the rich to the poor, and the academic to the uneducated. From all walks of life and from all periods of history, the wide varieties of personalities and achievements of the canonized are reflected. Featuring maps of pilgrimage sights in Europe and fully updated appendices, this remains the standard reference paperback in its field. Recently-added saints include the Martyrs of Korea, Vietnam, and the Spanish Civil War, Andrew of Crete, and Emily Rodat, a female hermit of the 7th century. There are also more Scottish and Irish saints, and ancient Welsh saints; more European saints from all centuries, as well as more saints from Eastern Europe; more recently canonized saints and female saints from the USA.Amazon.com Review
More than 1,300 saints are profiled in this most readable,extensive, and enlightening of references. Curious about the saintyou're named after? Attending a feast day for a saint you never heardof? Want an obscure saint to include in your historical novel? Ormerely desirous of the kind of feet-up-by-the-fire perusal that only awell-written reference text can provide? David Farmer's compilation ofsaints includes all English saints; all saints of whom there is or wasa notable cult; important saints from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, andthe rest of Europe; and recently canonized saints. Arrangedalphabetically, the dictionary starts with Abbo of Fleury, ends withZosimus of Syracuse, and includes Pelagia of Antioch, Crispina ofTagora, Cunegund the empress, and a wide assortment of other martyrs,popes, spiritual seers, and those, such as Crispin of Viterbo, whowere canonized simply for their humble lives and Christianfaith. There's also a wonderful appendix of the principal patronagesof saints--telling, for example, who's the patron saint of healthydogs (Hubert) and mad dogs (Sithney), plus an index of the mainiconographical emblems of saints, another of places, and a calendar offeast days. --Stephanie Gold ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Wonderfully useful for Church calendars and bulletins
If you are not a Catholic (and even if you are, for many people), the question may be 'Why do I want or need this book?' To the Protestants of the world, I say that if you look at the list of 'Festivals and Commemorations', even for the oldest of the denominations, such as the Anglicans and Lutherans, you will see a lot of gaps.

So, if you are constructing bulletins or any kind of dated reverential materials, there are many days where you have no one about whom to speak. That is where I use this book to fill in so many days which the reformers have left blank. The material is useful even for those 'big names' such as Ambrose, Augustine, Clement, Jerome, Aquinas, and Occam, which both the Catholics and Protestants revere.

This comes in handy when you cycle around to a second year, and you don't want to use the same stuff you used last year. To this end, I have yet to find any day of the year where this book did not fill a gap left by the Lutheran calendar of commemorations. And, it is simply useful and enlightening to know about so many of these lesser figures such as Papylus, Agathonice, and Carpus, who were martyred in Asia Minor (170 CE) for refusing to honor the Roman emperor as a god. It is truly amazing to see how much we do know about some of these very early figures, and this book is pretty careful in separating historical fact from legend, but the legends are good to know as well.

An exellent, balanced, . . .
. . . reasoned, and readable presentation of many, many of the saints of the Church, with particular emphasis on those saints important in the British Isles.

Other reviewers have pointed out the balanced nature of the author's presentation, balancing known fact, pious tradition, legend and just plain superstition with scholarship and tact.I have to completely concur.I was also particularly impressed with the primary source material used and referenced, so that the interested reader can dig more deeply into those particular lives of interest (and perhaps come to conclusions different from those of the author!)The introduction, giving a brief background of the "history" of the making of saints was also helpful.

Very highly recommended.

Indispensable for the Casual Anglo-Saxonist
Other reviewers have cogently noted Farmer's English bias in his otherwise witty and eminently readable accounts of Saints' lives, but I might add that this fills a necessary niche in a crowded field. English and Welsh saints are lacking in many major references of this kind, and Farmer, publishing under the appropriate Oxford imprint, provides a welcome reprieve from this omission.

Endlessly fascinating
This book is an interesting and engrossing catalogue of saints, primarily from the British Isles. Far from exhibiting the "bias" of which other reviewers accuse it, that focus on British/Irish saints was the_intent_of the book. Although the major saints of the universal Church are included, this book fills a vacuum by concentrating on the saints of the British Isles, the majority of which are obscure and of purely local interest and devotion. In the lives of these forgotten saints, Mr. Farmer has dug deeply through the layers of history to give us a fascinating snapshot of British piety and devotion since the earliest times. Although the tone of this book is scholarly rather than devotional, and some of the early legends and beliefs tend to amuse rather than edify, on the whole the lives of these saints cannot but inspire the faithful.

The Oxford Dictionary of Saints
A must for anyone who wishes to sort fact from fiction! ... Read more

Product Description
Do you approve of censoring the works of great writers? Some might contend that to bowdlerize a great writer's work would be to diminish its overall quality. Others, like Thomas Bowdler, whose eraser danced over every Shakespeare play, would argue that all modest people should be able to read a great work without blushing. For attacking the classics, Mr. Bowdler has been immortalized as the world's best-known, self-appointed literary censor. And because of his efforts the term bowdlerize has become eponymous with his name. Alternatively, the word bikini--defined as a two- piece bathing suit for women--has been a linguistic mystery since 1947 when these suits were first seen on the beaches of the French Riviera, a year after the United States began testing atom bombs on the Bikini atoll of the Marshall Islands. Some shocked people said that the impact of the scanty swimsuit on male beach loungers was like the devastating effect of the atomic bomb. Whoosh! A simpler and more credible notion is that the daring swimsuits resembled the attire worn by women on the Bikini atoll.

Created about a century ago, the term eponym is itself a coinage from two Greek words, epi, "on" or "upon," and onama, "a name." But its broadened meaning, as dictionaries set it out, refers to a word derived from a proper name. For instance, Salisbury steak--a popular diner menu item created from common hamburger and dressed up with brown gravy to make it more appealing--is named for James H. Salisbury, an English physician who promoted a diet of ground beef.

A Dictionary of Eponyms explores the origins of hundreds of these everyday words from Argyle socks to zeppelins. Written in an entertaining and anecdotal style, and with a foreword by Edwin Newman, the book includes a brief biography of the individual whose name became associated with an item or concept as well as information on how and when the name entered the language.

If you've ever wondered just where terms like cardigan sweater, pamphlet, and robot come from, Morton Freeman does more than simply define them--he brings them to life. ... Read more