Reference works

For Southeast Asia, the Vietnam War altered forever the history, topography, people, economy, and politics of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), Cambodia, and Laos.

Almost all of us know French literature, even if we don't know French, because it is probably the second largest and certainly the most translated into English.

Burkina Faso, known as Upper Volta until its independence from France in 1960, and locally called the "e;land of the upright people,"e; is a medium-sized land-locked country with no less than six neighbors, some of which periodically get into trouble.

While the earliest evidence of organized running can be traced back to Egypt in 3800 BCE, the modern sport of track and field evolved from rural games and church and folk festivals, and rules were drawn up in the final quarter of the 19th century in those advanced societies where enough people had the leisure time to indulge their fancies.

On March 21, 1990, Sam Nujoma was sworn in as the first president of independent Namibia.

This reference seeks to identify and briefly annotate a wide range of subjects relating to English musical culture, largely from the early 15th century through 1958, dates that reflect the coalescence of an identifiable English style in the early Renaissance and the death of the iconic Ralph Vaughan Williams in the mid-20th century.

Lesotho is rather different from most other African countries.

Colombia is the fourth largest country in South America and one of the continent's most populous nations.

From legends like Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller to successful present-day playwrights like Neil LaBute, Tony Kushner, and David Mamet, some of the most important names in the history of theater are from the past 80 years.

Opera has been around ever since the late 16th century, and it is still going strong in the sense that operas are performed around the world at present, and known by infinitely more persons than just those who attend performances.

The Republic of the Sudan was long the largest country in Africa and, according to the general consensus, also one of the least successful in many ways.

Taiwan was able to solidly build and sustain a film industry only after locally-produced Mandarin films secured markets in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia during the 1960s and 1970s.

The crime film genre consists of detective films, gangster films, suspense thrillers, film noir, and caper films and is produced throughout the world.

British Intelligence is the oldest, most experienced organization of its kind in the world, the unseen hand behind so many world events, and glamorized by James Bond.

Jazz is a music formed from a combination of influences.

Methodism is growing, both in numbers and influence, according to the World Methodist Council there are 78 Methodist, Wesleyan, and related Uniting and United churches representing over 80 million people in more than 130 nations.

Historical Dictionary of U.

The Historical Dictionary of Japan to 1945 spans the entire period from the earliest evidence of human habitation in Japan through to the end of the Pacific War.

When it was founded back in 1944 no one could possibly have foreseen how the World Bank - known more formally as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) - would flourish.

Although relatively small, the northern countries of Scandinavia have made a disproportionately large contribution to world cinema.

Boxing is one of the oldest sports in the world, reaching back to the Ancient Greeks, although it has become popular only in the past century or so.

The Historical Dictionary of Inter-American Organizations covers the changing world of inter-American and international organizations that have played an important role in bilateral and multilateral efforts to solve a wide range of problems that have confronted the nations of the Western Hemisphere.

The WHO's history spans a period of over six decades, with particular emphasis on the past twenty years.

Origins and Development of Musical Instruments describes the creation, use, and development of musical instruments from the Old Stone Age to the present day.

The crusades were among the longest and most bitter wars in human history and consisted of no less than seven major expeditions from Western Europe from the late 11th to the early 14th centuries for the purpose of wresting Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the control of the Muslims.

Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Beginnings covers the history of theater as well as the literature of America from 1538 to 1880.

Although it lies far back, running roughly from about 1600 to 1750, the Baroque period is far from forgotten and Baroque music is played widely today as well, exercising numerous musicians and attracting rather substantial audiences.

Although the venue Off Broadway has long been the birthplace of innovative and popular musicals, there have been few studies of these influential works.

Since 1841, 200 Jewish men and women have served in the United States Congress.

The Removal of the Five Tribes from what is now the Southeastern part of the United States to the area that would become the state of Oklahoma is a topic widely researched and studied.

The Golden Age of American Musical Theatre: 1943-1965 provides synopses, cast and production credits, song titles, and other pertinent information for over 180 musicals from Oklahoma!

Covering 60 years of materials, this bibliography cites translations, studies, and other writings, which represent Iraq's national literature, including recent works of numerous Iraqi writers living in Western exile.

The standard location tool for full-length plays published in collections and anthologies in England and the United States since the beginning of the 20th century, Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections has undergone seven previous editions, the latest in 1988, covering 1900 through 1985.

Pete Seeger is one of the most recorded artists in American history, and his recording catalog tells us not just the story of his career but the story of our culture and its political and social history.

Calvinism is named after 16th century Reformer, John Calvin whose overall theology is contained in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559).

The Chinese imperial examination system is unique in traditional Chinese society with origins dating back 1,300 years, and has had a far-reaching impact not only on contemporary Chinese society, but also on government systems of other countries around the world.

Unlike traditional music, film music sources are often difficult to locate and do not follow the patterns that researchers are trained to identify.

Vietnam became part of French Indochina in 1887 and did not regain its independence again until after the Vietnam War.

For Israel-more so than for any other state-an effective Intelligence Community has been a matter of life and death.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was one of the first Modern philosophers, and as such, one of the most significant.

The literature of Scandinavia is amazingly rich and varied, consisting of the works produced by the countries of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, and stretching from the ancient Norse Sagas to the present day.

Aesthetics is not a "e;factual"e; discipline; there are no aesthetic facts.

The Australian Aborigines first arrived on the continent at least 60,000 years ago.

Neoclassicism refers to the revival of classical art and architecture beginning in Europe in the 1750s and lasting until around 1830, with late Neoclassicism lingering through the 1870s.

The Chinese Communist Party, as the political leader of the world's largest country and second largest economy, plays an undeniably important role in global politics.

William Jefferson Clinton's legacy remains a matter of significant contention among historians, political scientists, and pundits even after a decade of time to reflect.

Not so long ago hardly anything was said of the Lesbian Liberation Movement and the Gay Liberation Movement, indeed, the terms gay and lesbian were not even used if some other expression could be found.

Cote d'Ivoire remains one of the most intriguing countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The term "e;French theater"e; evokes most immediately the glories of the classical period and the peculiarities of the Theater of the Absurd.

The Korean War has often been regarded as a forgotten war, although that is certainly unfair.