Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2016 -

This timely three-volume set is the latest addition to a growing genre of encyclopedias in English (since Oxford's 1974African Encyclopedia) that canvass the continent of Africa from multiple disciplinary perspectives. In their introduction, editors Falola and Jean-Jacques (both, Univ. of Texas at Austin) observe that "popular, and even academic, treatments of Africa often leave much to be desired," and so they provide a necessary and useful background discussion of the continent's history. Organization is alphabetical by nation, and each of the 54 lengthy entries (often illustrated with black-and-white photographs) is structured to "offer the uninitiated a window into the cultural world of Africa." In addition to providing basic geographic data and describing population makeup and ethnicity, type of government, and the religious identity of the inhabitants, these well-written articles cover social customs, literature and oral traditions, art, music, foods, styles of dress, employment, and gender roles, among other topics. The selections of further readings that conclude each essay (most dated only to 2014) cite relevant works published within the countries themselves, alongside print and online resources from western Europe, the US, and international agencies. The encyclopedia's contributors--the majority of whom are affiliated with US academic institutions, and among them many Africans or those receiving their training in Africa--are predominantly historians but also include art historians, anthropologists, linguists, geographers, or scholars in the range of other disciplines making up African studies. The set nicely amplifies sociocultural treatments in the Africa volume that is part of the now 20-year-oldEncyclopedia of World Cultures (CH, Nov'96, 34-1275), or another Human Relations Area Files-produced encyclopedia,Countries and Their Cultures (CH, Jan'02, 39-2545).Summing Up: Highly recommended. All libraries. All levels.

This groundbreaking, evolving reference work massively expands the body of available information--using significant source materials in all regional languages--on the lives and achievements of people of African descent and those individuals who significantly impacted the African diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean from colonial to contemporary times. Previous comparable reference works included only a small number of people of African descent or were limited by linguistic and cultural constraints. The dictionary's some 2,000 detailed articles in six volumes profile persons who have never been covered in an English-language work before and feature extensive bibliographies of print and online references. Articles are written by an international group of diaspora scholars in fields ranging from literature and the arts to education, science, business, and medicine. The preface and introductions offer a thoughtful consideration of the relative absence of Africans and their biographies from historical awareness and educational discourse, and the editors supply statistics on the scope of the slave trade to the region and provide a thoughtful survey of the strengths of the volumes' contents. The final volume sorts individuals by their birthplaces or the locations with which they were primarily associated, the fields in which they are recognized, and periods of activity. Future new material will be added by Oxford's African American Studies Center via theOxford Reference (CH, Mar'15, 52-3390) platform.Summing Up: Essential. All libraries/levels.

After two editions written by the late Robert J. Mundt, Daddieh (Miami Univ. Of Ohio) takes on the task with this third edition. The author expands the work by several hundred pages and many more entries, and includes an extensive chronology, subject-based bibliography, and a thorough introduction to assist the reader in contextualizing the material. In addition to the precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial history of Cote d'Ivoire, this revision covers the country's long struggle with political and civil strife following the death of Felix Houphouet-Boigny in 1993, who ruled the nation for more than three decades after independence. Thoroughly detailed, well-written, and insightful entries treat the political and social upheaval and the consequences resulting from various coups and civil wars, as well as attempts at peace, Ivoirian reconciliation, and economic stabilization. Occasionally, new editions of the publisher's "Historical Dictionaries" series can be skipped; not this one. It is a significant update that features information on the important individuals, places, organizations, and events during the most turbulent period in the nation's history.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All libraries. All levels.

Historian Gigantino (Univ. of Arkansas) has assembled an array of primary sources relating to the debate surrounding secession in Arkansas, including speeches, private letters, government documents, broadsides, memoirs, and newspaper excerpts. These resources, drawn from across the state and covering the years 1859-61, highlight the diversity of opinion on secession in Arkansas--a border state where slavery and its wealthy defenders were concentrated in lowland areas, while its highland areas tended to oppose leaving the Union (as exemplified by one Benton County broadside that raised the specter of only slave-owners being allowed to vote in the proposed Confederacy). The editor does an excellent job of letting these sources speak for themselves about the evolving motivations behind secession. A robust defense of slavery dominated the public debate from the beginning, with the resolutions of the first secession convention focusing entirely on that "peculiar institution," but Fort Sumter provided the real catalyst for Arkansas to leave the Union. With renewed public interest in the causes of Southern secession, this illuminating book will certainly find an audience among those interested in an honest accounting of the past, and in letting long-departed voices speak as to their own motivations.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty/researchers; professionals/practitioners; general readers.

This brilliant compilation treats the "other" Kentucky--those people, stories, and institutions largely missing from mainstream histories. It features biographical sketches written by more than 150 contributors of individuals notable and unknown, civil rights leaders, politicians, and artists. Some essayists are themselves educators or university professors, but the majority are graduate students who worked diligently on the project, mining obscure facts in local publications. The result is a fascinating book with more than 1,000 entries covering the 1700s to the present. The work is unique in its scope and the detail in which it chronicles black lives in one of the oldest states in the US. This encyclopedia began in the 1930s as a "daily fact sheet" of contributions of Kentucky's African American citizens, compiled for her students by schoolteacher Alice Dunnigan. The contributions were eventually published in theLouisville Defender, and much later as a book titledThe Fascinating Story of Black Kentuckians: Their Heritage and Traditions (1982). Entries range from several paragraphs to several pages; each has a bibliography and a short phrase following the title that explains its importance. Numerous illustrations include rare photographs, drawings, and maps--many previously unpublished or unseen outside of their locales. The collection has been thoughtfully edited and will prove useful for those interested in regional history.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.