Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2006

1,244 substantially annotated entries, organized by topic and international in scope. Offers a much needed entry point into the world of movies and television shows for media librarians, faculty, students, neophyte filmmakers, and fans everywhere.

From Hollywood movie stars' involvement in the Church of Scientology to the political and human rights issues surrounding the practice of Falun Gong in China, new religious movements have become more prominent in today's society. No longer only an area of study in sociology, new religious movements has grown as a distinct and important.phpect of religious studies. The Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements brings together in one resource coverage of new religious movements all over the world. This comprehensive A-Z reference examines the people, movements, concepts, and ideologies of new religious movements including entries on Neo-Paganism, the Unification Church, exit counseling, Hamas, Santeria, Reformed Church in Japan, Theosophical Society, yoga, and many more.

Since 1967, the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, described by Booklist as ``the best and most comprehensive English-language reference source for philosophy,'' has been the cornerstone of the philosophy reference shelf. Lauded for its clear and accessible presentation of wide-ranging philosophical subjects, the Encyclopedia has earned its place as a first-stop resource for general readers, students and educators. A Supplement to the first 2 was released to critical acclaim in 1996. A new and updated 2 of this multivolume set - the first comprehensive new 2 in almost 40 years - has been compiled under the close guidance of a 20-member board of scholars headed by Donald Borchert (Ohio University). Containing material from hundreds of highly distinguished contributors representing the world's top universities and institutions, the new 2 has a truly global perspective. It contains more than 2,100 entries - including more than 450 new articles. Among the many topics covered are African, Islamic, Jewish, Russian, Chinese, and Buddhist philosophies; bioethics and biomedical ethics; art and aesthetics; epistemology; metaphysics; peace and war; social and political philosophy; the Holocaust; feminist thought; and much more. Additionally, the second 2 also features 1,000 biographical entries on major figures in philosophical thought throughout history.

Founded in 1976 at the inception of the media arts movement, the Video Data Bank is the leading resource in the United States for videotapes by and about contemporary artists. The collections include seminal works that, seen as a whole, describe the development of video as an art form originating in the late 1960s and continuing to the present. The first printed catalog of the Video Data Bank's complete holdings, Feedback offers readers essays on the history of media arts, the Video Data Bank, video activism, experimental performance art, and the On Art and Artists Collection. It includes 325 frame grabs and stills from some of the collection's most important pieces and outlines the styles and directions taken by artists throughout the entire history of video art. An indispensable guide and reference for artists, students, teachers, and collectors, Feedback is an essential book for any film and video bookshelf.

While other works cover individual ethnic literary traditions, this encyclopedia is the first to offer a comprehensive introduction to the spectacularly diverse range of ethnic American writing. Included are more than 1100 alphabetically arranged entries by more than 300 scholars. While most of the entries are biographical, others cover genres, ethnic stereotypes, seminal works, significant places, major historical events, key pieces of legislation, and various other topics that are part of the context of multiethnic America literature. While some of the writers profiled have international reputations, others are emerging artists. The encyclopedia is accessible to students and general readers, and numerous illustrations enhance its appeal to a broad audience.

Covering a wide span of history, this set includes volumes on Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Each volume touches on issues such as the right to life, the rights of women, punishment for crimes, war and peace, slavery, violence, and other topics related to human rights. They provide primary sources to document the history of thought on the subject within each religion. Biographical sketches and annotated bibliographies offer excellent resources for further study. Together these volumes provide a comprehensive and unique approach to major religious views on human rights.

The Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions combines, for the first time in any language, state-of-the-field theoretical and critical discussions with concrete resources students and scholars need to conduct research on Japanese religions. Even seasoned scholars typically approach their research in an unsystematic manner, becoming familiar with a particular area of inquiry while remaining largely unaware of what exists in the rest of the field. This inefficient method hinders particularly less-experienced researchers and circumscribes their lines of inquiry. The Nanzan Guide provides both beginners and specialists with a reference that will serve as a basic introduction to Japanese religions and allow them to conduct research more proficiently and in greater depth. Overlapping and thought-provoking chapters, written by leading specialists, offer a variety of perspectives on the complicated and multifaceted field of Japanese religions. The essays are divided into four sections: religious traditions (Japanese religions in general, Shinto, Buddhism, folk religion, new religions, Christianity); the history of Japanese religions (ancient, classical, medieval, early modern, modern, contemporary); major themes (symbolism, ritual and the arts, literature and scripture, state and religion, geography and environment, intellectual history, gender); and "practical" essays (finding references and using libraries, working with archive collections, conducting fieldwork). A chronology of religion in Japanese history is also provided.

From folk ballads to film scripts, this new encyclopedia covers the entire history of British literature from the seventh century to the present.

Puritans: black-coated, grim, prim, prudish witch chasers. Some of that common characterization is correct; much is not. This comprehensive treatment of Puritans and Puritanism sorts fact from fiction, and presents the broadest picture ever of the Puritan movement, a driving force in the founding of America and a continuing influence on American and British norms.

The films of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman are renowned for their largely spare and stark aesthetic, an existential framework, and plots driven by a fascination with death and the moral torments of the human soul. Birgitta Steene offers here in Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide an essential and unparalleled resource on the life and work of Bergman. Plumbing the depths of these trademark Bergman themes, Steene traces as well the indelible mark he left on world cinema through his other cinematographic work and writings. Over the decades, Bergman's stature and image have evolved in fascinating ways--an iconoclast of the 1950s, a bourgeois traditionalist of the 1960s, and an icon in the 1980s. This exhaustive compendium considers each phase of his career, exploring his deep and vast oeuvre in all its controversy and complexity, and analyzes his intriguing and unique motifs such as his efforts to expose dead conventions and his portrayals of Woman as the archetype of humanity. As well as providing a detailed account of Bergman's life and chronicling his career as a filmmaker and theater director, including his work for television, Steene offers transcripts of some of the numerous interviews and conversations she conducted with Bergman. Writings by and about Bergman and a detailed chronological survey of his film and theatrical work completes this eminently readable and thoroughly researched volume. A wide-ranging and groundbreaking work of film history, Ingmar Bergman is the definitive reference for scholars of the Scandinavian master.