Magill Bibliographies – serie

The materials represented in this bibliography are a selective sample of the best and most basic works in the history of science. They reflect the varied interests and approaches of historians of science in the twentieth century, primarily since 1950.

This bibliography is intended to be accessible to readers who are not specialists in science. As an introduction to the nuclear arms race, some key experiments in the history of nuclear physics will be reviewed here to provide general background for understanding the technology of bomb development. A chronology follows this introduction.

This bibliography is annotated to serve readers in their search for the right source for American theatre history. Descriptions of each entry include the contents of the book, the style, the range (both generically and chronologically), and the presence or absence of critical apparatus and illustration. By browsing through the entries, the reader can get an idea of what kind of material is available and can pursue a distinct line of inquiry through a section's offerings.

The Romantic movement introduced into our culture many beliefs, particularly about the nature of the individual and the nature and purpose of art, that are basic to the modern sensibility. This relatively brief period produced some of the most influential and widely read poets in the long history of English literature: Keats, Shelley, Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and the artist-poet Blake. These six major figures and eight of their contemporaries are the subject of this annotated bibliography of secondary literature (bibliographies are included as well as critical studies).

This volume is the first bibliography to be published on the broad subject of cycles in humans and nature. The importance of cycles as a model for understanding the world is as old as the Bible and other ancient records of past civilizations. The modern investigation of diverse fields of study has resulted in the concept of cycles once again gaining center stage as an interdisciplinary model for reaching a better understanding of the nature of our universe. Major categories of cycles covered in this bibliography are: Astrophysics, Atmospheric Science, Biology, Botany, Geoscience, Medicine, Social Science, Zoology, and Interdisciplinary. Over 600 sources of information on thousands of cycles are carefully reviewed to enable the reader maximum access to the most substansive evidence for cycles in each field. A balance of general readings as well as more technical articles is maintained throughout the bibliography. An introduction provides an overview of the broad spectrum of information on cycles, indicating those areas of controversy as well as of agreement. The claims of cycles in social unrest, economics, and climatology are noted, as well as the more well-known cycles in biology, physiology, and medicine. The volume has an extensive table of contents to facilitate the location of many subcategories of cycles. An extensive index also enables the location of citations for specific researchers and for numerous subjects.

What many critics call the third wave of the Southern Renaissance has produced a number of impressive women writers, notably in the novel and short story genres. The contemporary Southern women writers selected for inclusion range from those who are well-established, for example, Gail Godwin, Shirley Ann Grau, Lee Smith, and Alice Walker, to those, such as Jill McCorkle and Sylvia Wilkinson, whose reputations are still being built. In twenty-eight chapters, each devoted to a specific writer, the authors of this book list, summarize, and evaluate relevant books and essays, as well as significant reviews and interviews, and, in some cases, useful newspaper stories. In a separate section, over ninety critical works of major importance in women's studies and in the study of Southern literature are similarly noted. Christopher J. Canfield's introduction explains the authors' rationale and includes additional bibliographical suggestions. Written in clear, non-technical language, this book is an important tool for students of contemporary literature.

Physics and astronomy are favorite topics among the general public as the popularity of Stephen W. Hawking's A Brief History of Time indicates. Popular works on physics and astronomy that entertain as they translate scientific principles, discoveries, and theories into common language are a main reason why these sciences remain favorite topics. Popular Physics and Astronomy provides general readers with an essential resource to this growing and important body of literature, many of which have been written by the leading lights of these disciplines. The 895 books, articles, and nonprint media are divided by subject and include chapters devoted to the history of physics, basic principles, books for children and young adults, and audiovisual presentations. Each entry contains annotations that describe the general level of mathematics used in the book, the writer's qualifications, the presence of visual aids, and evaluative comments.

This work provides a review essay of social movement theory from the end of World War II to the mid-1990's, focusing primarily on the United States, with some attention to European scholarship as well. The authors identify three distinct paradigm shifts in the field of social movements. The first period, occurring in the 1940's and 1950's, was characterized by negativity toward social movements, and a tendency to explain them in terms of social psychology. During the second period of the 1960's, social movement theories tended to stress movements as positive, rational undertakings to change structural conditions. During the final period of study, from the 1970s to the 1990s, a fragmentation of movement structure appeared, and thus, the authors theorize, this period could be labeled one of deconstruction. A more detailed look at the individual social and political movements involved in each of these periods is also provided, including: pro-democracy, human rights, and civil rights; environmentalism; religious movements (especially Christian and Islamic); feminism and women's movements; gay and lesbian movements; conservatives and the New Right; the Left, Nazis, Fascists, neo-Nazis, and ethno-racism; and nationalism and ethno-nationalism.

Because science has assumed an ever larger role in culture, scientists have become public figures, role models, and even heroes. Accordingly, scientific biography has grown steadily in popularity. Biographies of Scientists provides more than 500 sources of information on scientists for young and adult general readers and for scholars. These sources explain scientists' accomplishments in the context of the personal and career developments that made those accomplishments possible. Among the sources are encyclopedias, periodicals, and individual biographies and autobiographies of researchers in astronomy and cosmology, chemistry, earth sciences, life sciences, mathematics, medical sciences, and physics. An introduction traces the general history and themes of scientific biography, and each entry in the bibliography includes an annotation that discusses and evaluates the biographical source and indicates the most suitable readership for it. The bibliography concludes with indexes of authors, scientists who are the subjects of biographies, and scientific topics.

Theories of Myth, a companion to the author's World Mythology: An Annotated Guide to Collections and Anthologies (Scarecrow Press and Salem Press, 1996), has been written to serve the needs of college undergraduates, high school students, and general readers approaching the study of myth for the first time. Whereas the earlier volume describes the plethora of anthologies, collections, and general introductions to myth from around the world, Theories of Myth lists the most important English-language studies of myth theory, which attempt to answer the questions: What is "myth?" How does it function in human society, and how is it to be interpreted? Here the reader will find the most significant theoretical studies of traditional stories, legends, tales and sagas from around the world, which attempt to address such questions from a variety of perspectives. Includes an author/editor index and a subject index.