Marriage Customs of the World [2 volumes]
Marriage Customs of the World [2 volumes]

Author: George P. Monger

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2013-04-09

Total Pages: 1282

ISBN-13:

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This book presents a comprehensive overview of global courtship and marriage customs, from ancient history to contemporary society, demonstrating the vast differences as well as the similarities across all of human culture. This second edition of Marriage Customs of the World examines historical context, social significance, and current trends and controversies of matrimony in the Western world as well as other cultures. Apart from detailing the ceremonies from specific countries, the book identifies specific elements of the wedding event and discusses them in a comparative manner, showcasing the similarities across cultures. The new content in this work includes additional information on courtship and how future spouses are found in other cultures; marriage in art, cinema, theater, and poetry; wedding bands; forced marriages and shotgun weddings; New Year's weddings; legislation regarding marriage; and engagement practices. Entries carried over from the first edition have been revised and updated as well. With its broad scope and consideration of contemporary issues alongside historical information, this work will be ideal for high school and undergraduate students; scholars of anthropology, social studies, and history; and general readers.

Celebrating Life Customs around the World [3 volumes]
Celebrating Life Customs around the World [3 volumes]

Author: Victoria R. Williams

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2016-11-21

Total Pages: 1137

ISBN-13:

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This book documents hundreds of customs and traditions practiced in countries outside of the United States, showcasing the diversity of birth, coming-of-age, and death celebrations worldwide. From the beginning of our lives to the end, all of humanity celebrates life's milestones through traditions and unique customs. In the United States, we have specific events like baby showers, rites of passage such as Bat and Bar Mitzvahs and "sweet 16" birthday parties, and sober end-of-life traditions like obituaries and funeral services that honor those who have died. But what kinds of customs and traditions are practiced in other countries? How do people in other cultures welcome babies, prepare to enter into adulthood, and commemorate the end of the lives of loved ones? This three-volume encyclopedia covers more than 300 birth, life, and death customs, with the books' content organized chronologically by life stage. Volume 1 focuses on birth and childhood customs, Volume 2 documents adolescent and early-adulthood customs, and Volume 3 looks at aging and death customs. The entries in the first volume examine pre-birth traditions, such as baby showers and other gift-giving events, and post-birth customs, such as naming ceremonies, child-rearing practices, and traditions performed to ward off evil or promote good health. The second volume contains information about rites of passage as children become adults, including indigenous initiations, marriage customs, and religious ceremonies. The final volume concludes with coverage on customs associated with aging and death, such as retirement celebrations, elaborate funeral processions, and the creation of fantasy coffins. The set features beautiful color inserts that illustrate examples of celebrations and ceremonies and includes an appendix of excerpts from primary documents that include legislation on government-accepted names, wedding vows, and maternity/paternity leave regulations.

Food and World Culture [2 volumes]
Food and World Culture [2 volumes]

Author: Linda S. Watts

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2022-08-23

Total Pages: 810

ISBN-13:

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This book uses food as a lens through which to explore important matters of society and culture. In exploring why and how people eat around the globe, the text focuses on issues of health, conflict, struggle, contest, inequality, and power. Whether because of its necessity, pleasure, or ubiquity, the world of food (and its lore) proves endlessly fascinating to most people. The story of food is a narrative filled with both human striving and human suffering. However, many of today's diners are only dimly aware of the human price exacted for that comforting distance from the lived-world realities of food justice struggles. With attention to food issues ranging from local farming practices to global supply chains, this book examines how food’s history and geography remain inextricably linked to sociopolitical experiences of trauma connected with globalization, such as colonization, conquest, enslavement, and oppression. The main text is structured alphabetically around a set of 70 ingredients, from almonds to yeast. Each ingredient's story is accompanied by recipes. Along with the food profiles, the encyclopedia features sidebars. These are short discussions of topics of interest related to food, including automats, diners, victory gardens, and food at world’s fairs. This project also brings a social justice perspective to its content—weighing debates concerning food access, equity, insecurity, and politics.

All Things Medieval [2 volumes]
All Things Medieval [2 volumes]

Author: Ruth A. Johnston

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2011-08-15

Total Pages: 812

ISBN-13: 031336463X

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This insightful survey of the "things" of medieval Europe allows modern readers to understand what they looked like, what they were made of, how they were created, and how they were used. All Things Medieval: An Encyclopedia of the Medieval World covers the widest definition of "medieval Europe" possible, not by covering history in the traditional, textbook manner of listing wars, leaders, and significant historic events, but by presenting detailed alphabetical entries that describe the artifacts of medieval Europe. By examining the hidden material culture and by presenting information about topics that few books cover—pottery, locks and keys, shoes, weaving looms, barrels, toys, pets, ink, kitchen utensils, and much more—readers get invaluable insights into the nature of life during that time period and area. The heartland European regions such as England, France, Italy, and Germany are covered extensively, and information regarding the objects of regions such as Byzantium, Muslim Spain, and Scandinavia are also included. For each topic of material culture, the entry considers the full scope of the medieval period—roughly 500–1450—to give the reader a historical perspective of related traditions or inventions and describes the craftsmen and tools that produced it.

Europe [2 volumes]
Europe [2 volumes]

Author: Thomas M. Wilson

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2023-11-30

Total Pages: 1487

ISBN-13:

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This two-volume encyclopedia profiles the contemporary culture and society of every country in Europe. Each country receives a chapter encompassing such topics as religion, lifestyle and leisure, standard of living, cuisine, gender roles, relationships, dress, music, visual arts, and architecture. This authoritative and comprehensive encyclopedia provides readers with richly detailed entries on the 45 nations that comprise modern Europe. Each country profile looks at elements of contemporary life related to family and work, including popular pastimes, customs, beliefs, and attitudes. Students can make cross-cultural comparisons-for instance, a student could compare social customs in Denmark with those in Norway, compare Greece's cuisine with that of Italy, and contrast the architecture of Paris with Amsterdam and Barcelona. Culture and society are changing in each region and nation of Europe due to many political and economic forces, both inside and outside of each nation's borders. This encyclopedia considers many of the transformations connected to globalization, as well as traditions that still hold strong, to provide a complete assessment of the processes that make European societies and cultures distinctive.

The World of Antebellum America [2 volumes]
The World of Antebellum America [2 volumes]

Author: Alexandra Kindell

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2018-09-20

Total Pages: 1083

ISBN-13: 1440837112

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This set provides insight into the lives of ordinary Americans free and enslaved, in farms and cities, in the North and the South, who lived during the years of 1815 to 1860. Throughout the Antebellum Era resonated the theme of change: migration, urban growth, the economy, and the growing divide between North and South all led to great changes to which Americans had to respond. By gathering the important aspects of antebellum Americans' lives into an encyclopedia, The World of Antebellum America provides readers with the opportunity to understand how people across America lived and worked, what politics meant to them, and how they shaped or were shaped by economics. Entries on simple topics such as bread and biscuits explore workers' need for calories, the role of agriculture, and gendered divisions of labor, while entries on more complex topics, such as aging and death, disclose Americans' feelings about life itself. Collectively, the entries pull the reader into the lives of ordinary Americans, while section introductions tie together the entries and provide an overarching narrative that primes readers to understand key concepts about antebellum America before delving into Americans' lives in detail.

Feminist Writings from Ancient Times to the Modern World [2 volumes]
Feminist Writings from Ancient Times to the Modern World [2 volumes]

Author: Tiffany K. Wayne

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2011-10-17

Total Pages: 805

ISBN-13: 0313345813

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Collecting more than 200 sources in the global history of feminism, this anthology supplies an insightful record of the resistance to patriarchy throughout human history and around the world. From writings by Enheduana in ancient Mesopotamia (2350 BCE) to the present-day manifesto of the Association of Women for Action and Research in Singapore, Feminist Writings from Ancient Times to the Modern World: A Global Sourcebook and History excerpts more than 200 feminist primary source documents from Africa to the Americas to Australia. Serving to depict "feminism" as much broader—and older—than simply the modern struggle for political rights and equality, this two-volume work provides a more comprehensive and varied record of women's resistance cross-culturally and throughout history. The author's goal is to showcase a wide range of writers, thinkers, and organizations in order to document how resistance to patriarchy has been at the center of social, political, and intellectual history since the infancy of human civilization. This work addresses feminist ideas expressed privately through poetry, letters, and autobiographies, as well as the public and political aspects of women's rights movements.

All Things in the Bible [2 volumes]
All Things in the Bible [2 volumes]

Author: Nancy M. Tischler

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2006-04-30

Total Pages: 803

ISBN-13: 0313014256

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The Bible is the central text of Western civilization, and an understanding of it is vital to the study of world history and culture. In addition, more and more high school and college students are studying the Bible as literature. Monumental in scope and written especially for high school students and general readers, this encyclopedia surveys the material culture, customs, and beliefs of the biblical world. Included are more than 200 alphabetically arranged entries on the tools, animals, foods, habits, laws, professions, and peoples of the Bible. Each entry provides definitions; scriptural references; etymological, historical, and archaeolgical information; and, when possible, a discussion of the relevance of the topic to modern readers. Entries include cross-references and cite works for further reading, and the encyclopedia is generously illustrated. The Bible is the central text of Western civilization, and an understanding of it is vital to the study of world history and culture. In addition, more and more high school students and undergraduates are studying the Bible as literature. Monumental in scope and written especially for high school students and general readers, this encyclopedia surveys the material culture, customs, and beliefs of the biblical world through more than 200 alphabetically arranged entries on the tools, animals, foods, habits, laws, professions, and peoples of the Bible. Each entry provides definitions; scriptural references; etymological, historical, and archaeological information; and, when possible, a discussion of the relevance of the topic to modern readers. The encyclopedia covers the peoples who were a part of biblical life: the Essenes and Pharisees, the scribes and priests, the neighbors and enemies, and the great powers that enslaved them. In addition, it explains many of the major events in Israel's history, the accepted concept of cosmology and weather, and the common understanding of many details from the Creation to Armageddon.