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September 2009 Update
New Content
The latest update to Oxford Reference Online has a wealth of new content, including four new titles, expanding our breadth and depth of coverage to include the science behind health foods, the history, literature, and politics of the Romantic movement, creation myths from many cultures around the world, and in-depth fundamentals of all major areas of the law, with The Oxford Book of Health Foods, The Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age, A Dictionary of Creation Myths, and The New Oxford Companion to Law. We also have three new editions packed to the brim with trustworthy and fascinating information, including two of our flagship reference titles in their latest and most up-to-date incarnations – the world-renowned and highly respected Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, and The Oxford Companion to English Literature.
New editions now available are:
strong>New Biographical Linking
New with this release are hundreds of new biographical links, including links from entries in Oxford Reference Online to entries in Who's Who and Who Was Who, plus new links to entries in Oxford Art Online and Oxford Music Online*, in addition to many more links between entries in Oxford Reference Online itself!
*if you also subscribe to these products
Premium Collection
NEW TITLES
The New Oxford Companion to Law, edited by Peter Crane and Joanne Conaghan
First edition
Over 1,700 entries
For any reader needing a concise yet expert explanation of a subject in law The New Oxford Companion to Law is the ideal reference work. Providing greater depth than can be found in legal dictionaries but always accessible to the non-specialist, entries in the Companion cover all areas of law and legal systems and are extensively cross-referenced for ease of navigation.
The Companion draws upon the expertise of over 700 scholars and practitioners, offering the widest possible range of perspectives on legal topics. Consisting in over 1,700 alphabetically arranged entries, the Companion features: the fundamentals of all the major areas of law such as criminal law, social security law, human rights law, family and employment law, education law, international and EU law; the role and workings of legal institutions such as parliaments, courts, law schools, and international bodies such as the EU and the UN; leading cases, famous trials and distinguished lawyers, past and present; and major events in legal history and major debates in legal theory.
Peter Crane has been Professor of Law at the Australian National University since 1997. For 20 years before that, he taught law at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
Joanne Conaghan studied law at Oxford. She is currently a Professor of Law at the University of Kent at Canterbury, having previously taught at the Universities of Exeter and San Diego.
The Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age, edited by Iain McCalman
‘An outstanding work of reference’ – THES
In this innovative reference book the Romantic Age is surveyed across all aspects of British culture, rather than in literary or artistic terms alone. The Companion's two-part structure presents forty-two essays on major topics, by leading international experts, cross-referenced to an extensive alphabetical section covering all the principal figures, events, and movements in the broad culture of the period. Aimed at students and general readers as well as scholars, the essays constitute an accessible, pluralistic, and modern social history of the epoch. The alphabetical entries can either be used alongside the essays, for deeper information on specific subjects, or as a free-standing reference tool. The volume as a whole embraces both high and low culture, and explores its subject across the whole breadth of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
The book's multi-disciplinary approach treats Romanticism both in aesthetic terms– its meaning for painting, music, design, architecture, and above all literature–and as a historical epoch of 'revolutionary' transformations which ushered in modern democratic and industrialized society, such as the notable achievements of Wedgwood, Pierce Egan, and Mary Shelley, amongst many others. The Companion revitalizes canonical Romantic figures in the context of the historical events, political and linguistic debates, commercial pressures, and plebeian subcultures of their day, as well as bringing back into historical focus individuals and events whose impact has often been muffled or forgotten.
Iain McCalman is Director of the Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, Canberra.
The Oxford Book of Health Foods, by J. G. Vaughan and P. A. Judd
First editon
Over 120 entries
The Oxford Book of Health Foods is a comprehensive, up-to-date, and scientifically based guide to a variety of foods associated with good health. From fruits, herbs, and grains to vitamins, minerals, and dietary supplements, this resource offers not only the claims associated with each food, but also the scientific truths behind these claims. The book begins with an account of modern concepts of human nutrition, followed by a series of over one hundred entries on individual health foods and dietary supplements. Each entry provides full information on the food's origins, a thorough description, the claims and myths associated with it, and the scientific evidence to support – or refute — these claims. A straightforward and authoritative reference, The Oxford Book of Health Foods is an essential handbook for all who are interested in general health and nutrition.
J. G. Vaughan is Emeritus Professor of Food Sciences, King's College, London and is co-author of The New Oxford Book of Food Plants.
Dr. P. A. Judd is Principal Lecturer, Faculty of Health, University of Central Lancashire.
A Dictionary of Creation Myths, by David Adams Leeming and Margaret Adams Leeming
First editon
Covering thousands of years of intricate creation tales, A Dictionary of Creation Myths is the first and most comprehensive work devoted to creation myths from cultures throughout the world. This around-the-world tour provides quick access to information on the beliefs (both exotic and ordinary) of ancient civilizations from Sumeria and Babylonia to Egypt, Greece, and ancient Rome, from India and China to Japan and Indonesia, as well as the rich mythological history of Native Americans, the indigenous peoples of Australia, and many other cultures. Alongside these ancient beliefs are more modern explanations, such as Darwin's theory of evolution and the big bang theory.
Each entry identifies the culture associated with the myth, and each myth is retold in clear, eloquent prose, with extensive cross-referencing to guide readers to other entries. Throughout, the authors share insightful analyses of the surprisingly intricate relationship of certain myths across cultures, regions, and time. A Dictionary of Creation Myths is essential for anyone who was ever interested in how the world was created, where we came from, or why we are here at all, and in how different cultures have attempted to answer these questions throughout the ages.
David Adams Leeming is Professor of English and Comparative Literature (Emeritus) at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. He is the author of many books, including The World of Myth.
Margaret Adams Leeming is in a doctoral program in religious studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
NEW EDITIONS
The Oxford Companion to English Literature, edited by Dinah Birch
Over73,000 entries
‘No guide could come more classic than The Oxford Companion to English Literature ... the literary reference source of first resort’ – The Times
The Oxford Companion to English Literature is long established as the leading reference resource for students, teachers, scholars, and general readers of English literature. It provides unrivalled coverage of all aspects of the literary world – from writers, their works, and the historical and cultural context in which they wrote, to critics, literary theory, and allusions.
We are very proud to present the seventh edition of the >Companion, which has been thoroughly revised and updated to meet the needs and concerns of today's students and general readers. Over 1,000 new entries have been added, ranging from new writers – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Patrick Marber, David Mitchell, Arundhati Roy – to increased coverage of writers and literary movements from around the world. Coverage of American literature has been substantially increased, with new entries on writers such as Cormac McCarthy and Amy Tan and on movements and publications.
The Companion has always been a quick and dependable source of reference for students, and the new edition confirms its pre-eminent position as the A-Z resource of first choice. All entries have been reviewed, and details of new works, biographies, and criticism have been brought right up to date. So also has coverage of the themes, approaches and concepts encountered by students today, from terms to articles on literary theory and theorists. There is increased coverage of contextual topics, including film and television, music, and art. Cross-referencing has been thoroughly updated, with stronger linking from writers to thematic and conceptual entries.
Meanwhile coverage of popular genres such as children's literature, science fiction, biography, reportage, crime fiction, fantasy, and travel literature has been increased substantially, with new entries on writers from Philip Pullman to Anne Frank and from Anais Nin to Douglas Adams.
The seventh edition of this classic Companion – now under the editorship of Dinah Birch, assisted by a team of 28 distinguished associate editors, and over 150 contributors – ensures that it retains its status as the most authoritative, informative, and accessible guide to literature available.
Dinah Birch Dinah Birch is Professor of English Literature at Liverpool University. She was previously a fellow at Trinity College, Oxford. She writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and London Review of Books, and contributes to arts programmes on radio and television.
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, edited by Elizabeth Knowles
Seventh edition
Over 20,000 entries
‘When a thing has been said and well said, have no scruple: take it and copy it’ – Anatole France
We are very excited to present a major new edition of the most authoritative dictionary of quotations available, bringing you the wit and wisdom of past and present – from the ancients of East and West to the global village of the 21st century. Find that half-remembered line in a browser's paradise of over 20,000 quotations for all occasions, comprehensively indexed for ready reference. Whether you lean towards the words of Jane Austen: 'Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure', or the advice of Paris Hilton: 'Dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in', the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations provides the ultimate answer to the questions 'Who said that? (and when, and why)'.
Drawing on Oxford's unrivalled dictionary research programme and unique language monitoring, almost 1,000 new quotations have been added to this seventh edition from over 500 authors, from Mary Wollstonecraft and Sarah Palin to Herman Hesse and William Hazlitt. These include classic quotations from established names for which new evidence of current usage has been found, such as 'The worth of a soul cannot be told' (the African writer and former slave Olaudah Equiano) and 'Work first – love next' (American writer and feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman), as well as earlier quotations used by well-known literary authors from around the English-speaking world, e.g. the maxim of Confucius for a ruler, 'If you desire what is good, the people will be good' (quoted by Thoreau), and the view of the Phrygian Stoic philosopher Epictetus that 'Not things, but opinions about things, trouble men' (cited by Laurence Sterne).
Nearly seventy years since the Dictionary was first published it remains as relevant as ever, both as a vital reference resource for quotations past and the present, and as the ideal volume to provide pure browsing pleasure.
‘Every home should have a copy’ – Sunday Telegraph
Elizabeth Knowles is a historical lexicographer who worked on the 4th edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1993), and was Editor of the 5th and 6th editions of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1999, 2004).
The Oxford Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art, by Ian Chilvers and John Glaves-Smith
Second edition
Over 2,000 entries
This unique and authoritative reference work contains around 2,000 clear and concise entries on all aspects of modern and contemporary art. Its impressive range of terms includes movements, styles, techniques, artists, critics, dealers, schools, and galleries. There are biographical entries for artists worldwide from the beginning of the 20th century through to today's globalized art world, from household names to a host of lesser known figures. There is information on public collections and publicly sited works, and in-depth entries for key topics such as Cubism, abstract art, and Conceptual art.
Formerly the Dictionary of Twentieth Century Art, the text has been completely revised and updated for this major new edition. Over 300 entries have been added and it now contains entries on photography in modern art as well as the new media such as installation and Performance which are such a crucial element of the contemporary scene. With emphasis on recent art and artists, for example Ai Weiwei, Tracey Emin, and Damien Hirst, it has an exceptionally strong coverage of art from the 1960s onwards, which makes it ideal for contemporary art enthusiasts. All-in-all, this dictionary is a fascinating and thorough guide for anyone with an interest in modern and contemporary culture, amateur or professional.
Ian Chilvers is editor of The Oxford Dictionary of Art.
John Glaves-Smith has twenty five years of experience as a lecturer at Staffordshire University and Rochdale College of Art.
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