Alphabetically arranged entries, ranging in length from a paragraph to several pages, describe the important people, food, native animals, politics, history, and culture of Polynesia, which is made up of more than a dozen countries, including American Samoa, French Polynesia, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Tonga. The book includes a four-page list of acronyms, an extensive chronology, and appendices with the names of Polynesian islands and lists of political rulers of the various states through history. Author Craig (emeritus, history, Alaska Pacific U.) has created several other dictionaries on Oceania, Polynesian mythology, and Hawaii. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.
The term Polynesia refers to a cultural and geographical area in the Pacific Ocean, bound by what is commonly referred to as the Polynesian Triangle, which consists of Hawai'i in the north, New Zealand in the southwest, and Easter Island in the southeast. Thousands of islands are scattered throughout this area, most of which are currently included in one of the modern island states of American Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Hawai'i, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tokelau, Tuvalu, and Wallis and Futuna. The third edition of the Historical Dictionary of Polynesia greatly expands on the previous editions through a chronology, an introductory essay, an expansive bibliography, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, events, places, organizations, and other aspects of Polynesian history from the earliest times to the present. Appendixes of the major islands and atolls within Polynesia, the rulers and administrators of the 13 major island states, and basic demographic information of those states are also included.
The South Seas, as this region used to be called, conjured up images of adventure, belles and savages, romance and fabulous fortunes, but the long voyages of discovery and exploration of the vast Pacific Ocean were really an exercise in amazing logistics, navigation, hard grit, shipwreck and pure luck. The motivations were scientific and geographic, but at the same time nationalistic and materialistic. A series on global exploration and discovery would not be complete without this book by Quanchi and Robson. It is ambitious and informative and includes the familiar names of Laperouse, Bougainville, Cook and Dampier, as well as the intriguing stories of the Bounty Mutiny, scurvy, and the mysterious Northwest Passage, Terra Australis Ignotia and Davis Land. There are entries on first contacts, ships, navigational instruments, mapping, and botany. The scene is carefully set in the introduction, the chronology spans several centuries, and the extensive bibliography offers a guide to further reading. There are more than just dry facts in this book. It has a whiff of salt air, the clash of empires, cross-cultural beach encounters and personal adventure.
Seventh-day Adventism was born as a radical millenarian sect in nineteenth-century America. It has since spread across the world, achieving far more success in Latin America, Africa, and Asia than in its native land. In what seems a paradox, Adventist expectation of Christ’s imminent return has led the denomination to develop extensive educational, publishing, and health systems. Increasingly established within a variety of societies, Adventism over time has modified its views on many issues and accommodated itself to the “delay” of the Second Advent. In the process, it has become a multicultural religion that nonetheless reflects the dominant influence of its American origins. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Seventh-Day Adventists covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 600 cross-referenced entries on key people, cinema, politics and government, sports, and critics of Ellen White. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Seventh-day Adventism.
Organized labor is about the collective efforts of employees to improve their economic, social, and political position. It can be studied from many different points of view—historical, economic, sociological, or legal—but it is fundamentally about the struggle for human rights and social justice. As a rule, organized labor has tried to make the world a fairer place. Even though it has only ever covered a minority of employees in most countries, its effects on their political, economic, and social systems have been generally positive. History shows that when organized labor is repressed, the whole society suffers and is made less just. The Historical Dictionary of Organized Labor looks at the history of organized labor to see where it came from and where it has been. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, a glossary of terms, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 cross-referenced entries on most countries, international as well as national labor organizations, major labor unions, leaders, and other aspects of organized labor such as changes in the composition of its membership. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about organized labor.
As its name implies, the Reformed tradition grew out of the 16th century Protestant Reformation. The Reformed churches consider themselves to be the Catholic Church reformed. The movement originated in the reform efforts of Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531) of Zurich and John Calvin (1509-1564) of Geneva. Although the Reformed movement was dependent upon many Protestant leaders, it was Calvin's tireless work as a writer, preacher, teacher, and social and ecclesiastical reformer that provided a substantial body of literature and an ethos from which the Reformed tradition grew. Today, the Reformed churches are a multicultural, multiethnic, and multinational phenomenon. Historical Dictionary of the Reformed Churches, Third Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 1,000 cross-referenced entries on leaders, personalities, events, facts, movements, and beliefs of the Reformed churches. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about reformed churches.
From the start of its existence organized labor has been the voice of workers to improve their economic, social, and political positions. Beginning with small and very often illegal groups of involved workers it grew to the million member organizations that now exist around the globe. It is studied from many different perspectives – historical, economic, sociological, and legal – but it fundamentally involves the struggle for workers’ rights, human rights and social justice. In an often hostile environment, organized labor has tried to make the world a fairer place. Even though it has only ever covered a minority of employees in most countries, its effects on their political, economic, and social systems have been generally positive. Despite growing repression of organized labor in recent years, membership numbers are still growing for the benefit of all employees, including the non-members. Historical Dictionary of Organized Labor: Fourth Edition makes the history of this important feature of life easily accessible. The reader is guided through a chronology, an introductory essay, 600 entries on the subject, appendixes with statistical material, and an extensive bibliography including Internet sites. This book gives a thorough introduction into past and present for historians, economists, sociologists, journalists, activists, labor union leaders, and anyone interested in the development of this important issue.
The Olympic Movement began with the Ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Greece on the Peloponnesus peninsula at Olympia, Greece. It is not clear why the Greeks instituted this quadrennial celebration in the form of an athletic festival. The recorded history of the Ancient Olympic Games begins in 776 B.C., although it is suspected that the Games had been held for several centuries by that time. The Games were conducted as religious celebrations in honor of the god Zeus, and it is known that Olympia was a shrine to Zeus from about 1000 B.C. In modern time The Olympic Movement attempts to bring all the nations of the world together in a series of multisport festivals, the Olympic Games, seeking to use sport as a means to promote internationalism and peace. This fifth edition of Historical Dictionary of The Olympic Movement covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1000 cross-referenced entries on the history, philosophy, and politics of the Olympics, major organizations, the various sports, the participating countries, and especially the athletes. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about The Olympic Movement.
The history of biological weapons (BW), chemical weapons (CW), and nuclear weapons is complicated. It can be disturbing, tragic, and occasionally encouraging. It is rarely amusing, although the names selected for certain weapons suggest a casualness toward the consequences of their use: Atomic Annie, Blue Peacock, Dew of Death, Fat Man, Flying cow, George, Gilda, Helen of Bikini, Hurricane, Katie, Little Boy, Lulu, Mike, Red Beard, Sewer Pipe, Squirt. Use of BW and CW in warfare has produced mixed results in terms of effecting the outcome of a battle or campaign; despite this mixed record, both weapon types have attracted intense interest and strong advocacy for further use. The sole experience with use of nuclear weapons in warfare is viewed as hastening surrender by Japan, created competition among nations to develop more such weapons, and influenced efforts to ban any use or even stockpiling of such weapons. Each of these three weapon types has its own peculiar history, as recounted in this dictionary. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries onterms related to NBC warfare, ranging from basic descriptions of substances used to details on incidents and episodes where NBC weapons were used, historical events, persons important to NBC warfare, countries where such weapons have been developed or used, and international treaties and treaty-related organizations.
A small and extremely poor Islamic country, Yemen is located on the edge of the Arab world in the southernmost corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It was the product of the unification of the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in May 1990. The location of the two Yemens on the world's busiest sea-lane at the southern end of the Red Sea where Asia almost meets Africa gave them strategic significance from the start of the age of imperialism through the Cold War. More vital today is the fact that Yemen shares a long border with oil-rich Saudi Arabia and is a key to efforts both to spread and to end global revolutionary Islam and its use of terror. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Yemen has been thoroughly updated and greatly expanded. Through its list of acronyms and abbreviations, a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 800 cross-referenced dictionary entries, greater attention has been given to foreign affairs, economic institutions and policies, social issues, religion, and politics.
