Up-to-date, well-documented, comprehensive coverage of cults, sects, and world religions, from the historical to the contemporary INCLUDES • Well-known groups and world religions, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Islam, and Baha’i • Groups with a significant North American influence, including Santeria, Rastafarians, Haitian Voodo, white supremacy groups, Wicca, and Satanism REVISED, UPDATED, AND EXPANDED TO INCLUDE NEW ENTRIES AND NEW INFORMATION • Updated information on Islam and its global impact • New entries: the Branch Davidians, Native American religions, Heaven’s Gate, Aum Supreme Truth, the Boston Movement, the Masonic Lodge, and many others • Developments in the world of cults and the occult Encyclopedic Dictionary of Cults, Sects, and World Religions is arguably the most significant reference book on the subject to be published. Formerly titled Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions, and the Occult, it provides reliable information on the history and beliefs of nearly every form of religion active today. This extensively revised edition includes new topics, updated information, and a brand-new format for a clearer, more organized approach. The authors evaluate the beliefs and practices of each group from the perspective of the Bible and the historic creeds of the Christian church. You’ll also find group histories, numerous illustrations, charts, current statistics, websites, bibliographies, and other useful information.

A comprehensive reference that includes a useful English-Latin law glossary and an extensive bibliography (centered on English-language publications) that covers all of the dictionary's topics. A formidable research tool. Originally published: Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, [1953] (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society; New Series, Volume 43, Part 2, 1953). [ii], 333-808 pp. "This dictionary is intended to meet the needs of the student with little or no knowledge of Roman law or indeed of Latin. It seeks to provide a brief picture of Roman legal institutions and sources as a sort of first introduction to them. A very large number of brief-usually very brief-entries provide explanations of Roman legal terms, civil and criminal, and summary accounts of the sources. This is a formidable task to undertake single-handed, and Dr. Berger is to be congratulated on the great learning and thoroughness with which he has carried it through. ... The work ends with a remarkable general bibliography listing some fifteen hundred works under headings ranging from the main divisions of the law to 'Christianity and Roman Law' and 'Roman law in non-juristic sources.' This last is particularly valuable."--BARRY NICHOLAS 44 Journal of Roman Studies 160 (1954) "The publication of Mr. Adolf Berger's encyclopedic dictionary of Roman law is a very important accomplishment in the recent history of American legal scholarship. The American legal world owes him homage for putting at its disposal the scholarship of twentieth-century European Romanism, or indicating the entrances thereto." --MITCHELL FRANKLIN 28 Tulane Law Review 412 (1953-1954)

Examine women’s contributions to film—in front of the camera and behind it! An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930 is an A-to-Z reference guide (illustrated with over 150 hard-to-find photographs!) that dispels the myth that men dominated the film industry during its formative years. Denise Lowe, author of Women and American Television: An Encyclopedia, presents a rich collection that profiles many of the women who were crucial to the development of cinema as an industry—and as an art form. Whether working behind the scenes as producers or publicists, behind the cameras as writers, directors, or editors, or in front of the lens as flappers, vamps, or serial queens, hundreds of women made profound and lasting contributions to the evolution of the motion picture production. An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930 gives you immediate access to the histories of many of the women who pioneered the early days of cinema—on screen and off. The book chronicles the well-known figures of the era, such as Alice Guy, Mary Pickford, and Francis Marion but gives equal billing to those who worked in anonymity as the industry moved from the silent era into the age of sound. Their individual stories of professional success and failure, artistic struggle and strife, and personal triumph and tragedy fill in the plot points missing from the complete saga of Hollywood’s beginnings. Pioneers of the motion picture business found in An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films include: Dorothy Arnzer, the first woman to join the Directors Guild of America and the only female director to make a successful transition from silent films to sound Jane Murfin, playwright and screenwriter who became supervisor of motion pictures at RKO Studios Gene Gauntier, the actress and scenarist whose adaptation of Ben Hur for the Kalem Film Company led to a landmark copyright infringement case Theda Bara, whose on-screen popularity virtually built Fox Studios before typecasting and overexposure destroyed her career Madame Sul-Te-Wan, née Nellie Conley, the first African-American actor or actress to sign a film contract and be a featured performer Dorothy Davenport, who parlayed the publicity surrounding her actor-husband’s drug-related death into a career as a producer of social reform melodramas Lois Weber, a street-corner evangelist who became one of the best-known and highest-paid directors in Hollywood Lina Basquette, the “Screen Tragedy Girl” who married and divorced studio mogul Sam Warner, led The Hollywood Aristocrats Orchestra, claimed to have been a spy for the American Office of Strategic Services during World War II, and became a renowned dog expert in her later years and many more! An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930 also includes comprehensive appendices of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, the silent stars remembered in the Graumann Chinese Theater Forecourt of the Stars and those immortalized on the Hollywood Walk of Stars. The book is invaluable as a resource for researchers, librarians, academics working in film, popular culture, and women’s history, and to anyone interested either professionally or casually in the early days of Hollywood and the motion picture industry.

V.1. A.N. v.2. O.Z. Apendices and indexes.

Curious about the chains that bound Fenriswulf in Norse mythology? Or the hut of Baba Yaga, the infamous witch of Russian folklore? Containing more than one thousand detailed entries on the magical and mythical items from the different folklore, legends, and religions the world over, this encyclopedia is the first of its kind. From Abadi, the named stone in Roman mythology to Zul-Hajam, one of the four swords said to belong to the prophet Mohammed, each item is described in as much detail as the original source material provided, including information on its origin, who was its wielder, and the extent of its magical abilities. The text also includes a comprehensive cross-reference system and an extensive bibliography to aid researchers.