More than half a century after the birth of rock, the musical genre that began as a rebellious underground phenomenon is now acknowledged as America's-and the world's-most popular and influential musical medium, as well as the soundtrack to several generations' worth of history. From Ray Charles to Joni Mitchell to Nirvana, rock music has been an undeniable force in both reflecting and shaping our cultural landscape. Icons of Rock offers a vivid overview of rock's pervasive role in contemporary society by profiling the lives and work of the music's most legendary artists. Most rock histories, by virtue of their all-encompassing scope, are unable to cover the lives and work of individual artists in depth, or to place those artists in a broader context. This two-volume set, by contrast, provides extensive biographies of the 24 greatest rock n' rollers of all time, examining their influences, innovations, and impact in a critical and historical perspective. Entries inside this unique reference explore the issues, trends, and movements that defined the cultural and social climate of the artists' music. Sidebars spotlight the many iconic elements associated with rock, such as rock festivals, protest songs, and the British Invasion. Providing a wealth of information on the icons, culture, and mythology of America's most beloved music, this biographical encyclopedia will serve as an invaluable resource for students and music fans alike.

The American West is rich in lore, cultural roots, and iconic images. The subject of countless movies, books, and songs, in many ways it embodies the American spirit. This lively two-volume set presents the stories of some of the most influential and representative Western icons—those that have captured the nation's imagination since the early days of westward exploration and that continue to do so within the environmental and technological frontier that is the modern West. This accessible treatment of the untamed enterprise of the 'Old West'—including cowboys, wild west shows, and gun battles—and the continued entrepreneurial imagination of the paradisical 'New West'—including environmentalists and the incorporation of national parks—elevates the reader's understanding of oft-romanticized subjcts and the conflicts and cultural changes that made them icons. Narrative entries include: ; Chief Joseph ; George Armstrong Custer ; Gold Rush ; Winchester Model 1873 ; Frederic Remington ; John Muir ; Las Vegas ; Bill Gates ; Disneyland ; Yellowstone National Park ; Sierra Club With vibrant photos and descriptive sidebars, this comprehensive set is a must-have for students of American history and culture.

What turns a building into an icon? What is it about some structures that makes their history and legend even more important than their original intended use, making them a part of American, and world, popular culture? Twenty four buildings and structures, including the Brooklyn Bridge, the White House, the Hotel del Coronado, and the Washington Monument are presented here, along with their roles in fiction, film, music, and the imagination of people worldwide. Approximately twenty five images are included in the set, along with sidebars featuring additional structures.

Horror and the supernatural have fascinated people for centuries, and many of the most central figures appear over and over again. These figures have gained iconic status and continue to hold sway over popular culture and the modern imagination. This book offers extended entries on 24 of the most enduring and significant figures of horror and the supernatural, including The Sea Creature, The Witch, The Alien, The Vampire, The Werewolf, The Sorcerer, The Ghost, The Siren, The Mummy, The Devil, and The Zombie. Each entry is written by a leading authority on the subject and discusses the topic's essential features and lasting influence, from the classical epics of Homer to the novels of Stephen King. Entries cite sources for further reading, and the Encyclopedia closes with a selected, general bibliography. Entries include illustrations, sidebars of interesting information, and excerpts from key texts. Horror and the supernatural have fascinated people for centuries, with many of the most central figures appearing over and over again across time and cultures. These figures have starred in the world's most widely read literary works, most popular films, and most captivating television series. Because of their popularity and influence, they have attained iconic status and a special place in the popular imagination. This book overviews 24 of the most significant icons of horror and the supernatural.

Drawn from a mosaic of influences, including folk, gospel, and blues, R&B represents both everything that came before and nothing that was heard before. This is the music that bridged the gap between audiences and helped, at the very height of racism in America, to dismantle racial barriers. So much of today's music is derived directly from the highly influential and critically important sounds of R&B that without it we would have never known the classic soul of the late '50s and '60s, the glory days of the genre. Similarly, rock n' roll as seen through the eyes of Bill Haley and Elvis Presley would have never evolved without the foundation laid by their R&B predecessors. Through substantial entries on the chief architects and innovators, Icons of R&B and Soul offers a vibrant overview of the music's impact in American culture and how it reflected contemporary society's politics, trends, and social issues. Numerous sidebars highlight Motown, prominent record labels, hit songs, related singers and songwriters, key events, and significant aspects of the music industry. Also included is a list of important print and Web resources, as well as a list of selected recordings. An essential reference for high school and public libraries, this encyclopedia will help students explore the historical and cultural framework of R&B and soul music through the musicians who have come to define the genre. Among the featured: -Ray Charles -Little Richard -Fats Domino & New Orleans R&B -Ruth Brown -Sam Cooke -Etta James -James Brown -Aretha Franklin -The Supremes -Otis Redding -Ike & Tina Turner -Curtis Mayfield -Berry Gordy -Stevie Wonder -Marvin Gaye -Smokey Robinson -The Temptations -Prince

The Blues Encyclopedia is the first full-length authoritative Encyclopedia on the Blues as a musical form. While other books have collected biographies of blues performers, none have taken a scholarly approach. A to Z in format, this Encyclopedia covers not only the performers, but also musical styles, regions, record labels and cultural aspects of the blues, including race and gender issues. Special attention is paid to discographies and bibliographies.

Relating Events in Narrative, Volume 2: Typological and Contextual Perspectives edited by Sven Strömqvist and Ludo Verhoeven, is the much anticipated follow-up volume to Ruth Berman and Dan Slobin's successful "frog-story studies" book, Relating Events in Narrative: A Crosslinguistic Developmental Study (1994). Working closely with Ruth Berman and Dan Slobin, the new editors have brought together a wide range of scholars who, inspired by the 1994 book, have all used Mercer Mayer's Frog, Where Are You? as a basis for their research. The new book, which is divided into two parts, features a broad linguistic and cultural diversity. Contributions focusing on crosslinguistic perspectives make up the first part of the book. This part is concluded by Dan Slobin with an analysis and overview discussion of factors of linguistic typology in frog-story research. The second part offers a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives, all dealing with contextual variation of narrative construction in a wide sense: variation across medium/modality (speech, writing, signing), genre variation (the specific frog story narrative compared to other genres), frog story narrations from the perspective of theory of mind, and from the perspective of bilingualism and second language acquisition. Several of the contributions to the new book manuscript also deal with developmental perspectives, but, in distinction to the 1994 book, that is not the only focused issue. The second part is initiated by Ruth Berman with an analysis of the role of context in developing narrative abilities. The new book represents a rich overview and illustration of recent advances in theoretical and methodological approaches to the crosslinguistic study of narrative discourse. A red thread throughout the book is that crosslinguistic variation is not merely a matter of variation in form, but also in content and aspects of cognition. A recurrent perspective on language and thought is that of Dan Slobin's theory of "thinking for speaking," an approach to cognitive consequences of linguistic diversity. The book ends with an epilogue by Herbert Clark, "Variations on a Ranarian Theme."

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE GOTHIC “Well written and interesting [it is] a testament to the breadth and depth of knowledge about its central subject among the more than 130 contributing writers, and also among the three editors, each of whom is a significant figure in the field of gothic studies … A reference work that’s firmly rooted in and actively devoted to expressing the current state of academic scholarship about its area.” New York Journal of Books “A substantial achievement.” Reference Reviews Comprehensive and wide-ranging, The Encyclopedia of the Gothic brings together over 200 newly-commissioned essays by leading scholars writing on all aspects of the Gothic as it is currently taught and researched, along with challenging insights into the development of the genre and its impact on contemporary culture. The A-Z entries provide comprehensive coverage of relevant authors, national traditions, critical developments, and notable texts that continue to define, shape, and inform the genre. The volume’s approach is truly interdisciplinary, with essays by specialist international contributors whose expertise extends beyond Gothic literature to film, music, drama, art, and architecture. From Angels and American Gothic to Wilde and Witchcraft, The Encyclopedia of the Gothic is the definitive reference guide to all aspects of this strange and wondrous genre. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Literature is a comprehensive, scholarly, authoritative, and critical overview of literature and theory comprising individual titles covering key literary genres, periods, and sub-disciplines. Available both in print and online, this groundbreaking resource provides students, teachers, and researchers with cutting-edge scholarship in literature and literary studies.