Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Popular Cutlure (6 Volume Set) » (6 Volume Set)

Discover popular funk musicians in Nigeria, and the Senegalese performers who use a rich mix of hip-hop, reggae, and techno to sing about village life and women's rights. Find out about Belgium's long tradition of comics and graphic novels. Learn about Iran's plans, amidst all of its problems with the West, to encourage tourism. Uncover the story behind manga magazines (or comic books), which sell upwards of several million copies every week in Japan. The wealth of information inside the Encyclopedia of World Popular Culture is sure to surprise even the most seasoned pop culture aficionado. Focusing on the cultural distinctiveness and diversity of the modern world, this six-volume reference is designed to meet the needs of today's multicultural classrooms and libraries. Thematic organization makes studying a broad range of topics-ranging from film and folk art to foods and fashions-ideal for students of American history and culture. Appealing to a wide range of audiences, the Encyclopedia gives readers quick access to the most intriguing countries of the world, all while offering critical insight into the influence of regional pop culture on contemporary societies over the past century.

Each engaging volume in the six-volume set features in-depth chapters covering every crucial aspect of popular culture, including: -Architecture -Art -Dance -Fashion & Appearance -Film -Food & Foodways -Games, Toys, and Pastimes -Literature -Love, Sex, & Marriage -Music -Periodicals -Radio & Television -Sports and Recreation -Theater & Performance -Transportation & Travel Beyond reflecting the tastes and attitudes of the people, popular culture gives students a lens through which to understand a culture's customs, value system, and core beliefs. Interested in how a Danish cartoon can spark a fury of protests across Muslim world, why some high schools in the U.S. are testing all athletes for performance-enhancing drugs, or why India's recent decision to ban smoking on television and films has Bollywood fuming? No subject is off limits in this unique resource. Each volume provides an introduction to the region's popular culture in a broad context and a general bibliography. Other useful features include a comprehensive resource guide of print, electronic, and organization sources for each chapter; a full subject index; and numerous color illustrations that richly document current popular life and culture around the globe. Volumes include: Volume 1 North America (U.S. and Canada) Volume 2 Latin America (Central America, South America and the Caribbean) Volume 3 Europe (British Isles, Western and Eastern Europe) Volume 4 North Africa and the Middle East Volume 5 Sub-Saharan Africa Volume 6 Asia and Pacific Oceania (including Australia, New Zealand, etc.)

VOYA

Each volume in this set covers a different part of the world: North America, Latin America, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia and Pacific Oceana. Each is comprised of lengthy, thirty- to forty-page overview articles on various areas of popular culture, including art, architecture, film, food, music, games, and sports. The volume editors and contributors are mainly academics who are specialists in their fields. The articles are necessarily hit and miss (how can one cover a hundred years of American film in just a few pages?), but each is followed by a good resource guide, listing print sources, Web sites, and organizations that offer more information. In addition, there is a general bibliography, specific to each volume. The books are primarily text. Each article contains a few sidebars; the piece on Asian food, for example, includes a sidebar on MSG, one on the rise of coffee drinking in Asia, and another on the Korean royal cuisine. The center of each volume contains a few pages of color photos. This set will not be the ultimate source for any popular culture report, but it is a good starting place and will be useful for middle school and high school researchers. Reviewer: Sarah Flowers