referencebooks

Handbook of Sexuality-Related Measures, 2nd Edition

Edited by Clive M. Davis, William L. Yarber, Robert Bauserman, George Schreer, and Sandra L. Davis

Published by SAGE, 1998

This is an 8.5" by 11" hardbound book running to 589 pages including the index, plus a brief preferatory section.

This book is a compilation of about 200 questionnaires, scales, invetories, interview schedules and other instruments for measuring sexuality-related traits, attitudes, behaviors, and variations. All of the instruments included have been tested for validity and reliability by extensive use in research.

Here are the titles of a sampling of the measures included:

• The Sex Anxiety Inventory
  
• Hurlbert Index of Sexual Assertiveness
  
• Permissiveness of a Nurse's Sexual Attitudes (Brief)
  
• Sexual Irrationality Questionnaire (Brief)
  
• Condom Embarrassment Scale
  
• Styles of Conflict Inventory for Personal Relationships
  
• Sexuality After Spinal Cord Injury Questionnaire
  
• Indicators of a Double Standard and Generational Differences in Sexual Attitudes
  
• The Hyperfemininity Scale
  
• Herpes Knowledge Scale
  
• Power Sharing in Lesbian Partnerships
  
• The Anticipated Sexual Jealousy Scale
  
• The Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale
  
• Token Resistence to Sex Scale
  

Opening the book at random, I'll looking at the entry for The Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI). This two-page entry does not have the instrument itself but simply describes it. The description is very detailed and provides plenty of information for a researcher to decide whether this is the appropriate instrument for his or her study, and gives contact information for the research organization that it can be ordered from. The entry finishes with a list of references to studies where the inventory was used. This entry is a typical one.

This is a very useful book for someone doing research in sexuality and sexual functioning, whether sociological or psychological. It's also interesting reading for someone who's interesting in getting a peek at the way social scientists view sexuality.

Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought

Edited by Christopher John Murray

Published by Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004

This is an 8.5" by 11" hardcover book running to 713 pages including the index and the notes on the contributors, plus a preface, alphabetical and thematic lists of entries, and a chronology.

The preface discusses some of the general features and themes of modern French thought. There is a paragraph on French responses to German philosophers and sociologists; there is a paragraph on French thinkers' reappraisal of Western Enlightenment values and ideas; and a paragraph on French intellectuals' responses to modernity and developments in modern history and society. The preface also makes clear that "French thought" includes the writings of Francophone intellectuals outside of France, naming some important ones.

Here are an important couple of sentences toward the end of the preface:

"Because some recent French writers are notorious for the difficulty of their style, which is usually a way of trying to avoid easy assimilation in the dominant forms of understanding, contributors were asked to pay close attention to clarity of exposition. This is not an attempt, however, to reduce complex, challenging, and far-reaching theories to simple, predigested summaries; concerns about the subtle power of dominant ideologies, and also about the limits of the sayable, are important. The aim, rather, as with any such project, is to encourage both student and lay reader to turn to the works in question and engage directly with the authors' ideas and strategies."

It's good that the editor addressed the question of writing style in that way, but I can't help thinking he's not being completely honest in saying that the aim of the book is to encourage readers to go directly to the original works. He must know that when people use reference books about intellectuals who are notoriously difficult to read, they really do want the authors' difficult ideas reduced to simple, predigested summaries, so that they can come away quickly with something they need. I think he is actually trying to apologize for the book.

The vast majority of the entries are for individual thinkers, but there are also entries for scholarly disciplines, historical subjects, time periods, themes, genres, and intellectual movements and theoretical points of view.

Entries are mostly satisfyingly long and detailed, and very interesting. The prose is definitely clear, and in my opinion doesn't do too much violence to the thinkers' ideas. Some close followers of a particular thinkers' work might find something important to quarrel with, but some other followers would most likely disagree.

This is a useful book for finding out some basic information about the ideas of modern French thinkers.

Encyclopedia of Public Relations

Robert L. Heath, Editor

Published by SAGE, 2005.

This is a two-volume work measuring 8.5" by 11" and running to 1067 pages including the index and nine appendices, plus a preferatory section of 31 pages. The books are printed in larger type, two columns per page.

The preface makes clear from the outset that this work is not so much a reference source for public relations practitioners and those preparing for a public relations career as it is a reference for those interested in critical questions surrounding public relations and its role in society. In fact, the first eleven paragraphs of the preface are concerned with questions about public relations' role and its value, with much attention paid to critics who feel that we would be better off without public relations altogether. The editor takes pains to place himself at the balanced center of the debate, but this "objective" stance is intriguing given that it is in terms of a "debate" that doesn't actually happen; that is, critics of public relations are rarely allowed into discussions with those who practice it or take it for granted. So, essentially, this is a reference work intended for a social science academic context where critics of public relations stand to benefit from factual and detailed information, in one way or another.

For an idea of what is covered, here are the first fifteen article titles in the "S" sequence:

• Sampling
  
• Sandbagging
  
• Scales
  
• Schoonover, Jean
  
• Search engine
  
• Securities and Exchange Commission
  
• Segmentation
  
• Semiotics theory
  
• Situation analysis
  
• Situation ethics
  
• Situational theory of publics
  
• Smith, Rea
  
• Social construction of reality theory
  
• Social exchange theory
  
• Social movement theory
  

Entries range from one to a few pages in length. The writing is academic but not unnecessarily dense. Some knowledge of the social sciences would be a benefit to the reader in understanding the entries on some of the more theoretical topics. The entry on "Impression management theory" goes into a good deal of depth and discusses aspects of dramaturgical theory that many social science students might not encounter elsewhere, and public relations practitioners might never encounter, though they might make use of it in everyday practice.

This is a surprisingly interesting, deep, and critical book about public relations, most useful to social critics and social science researchers, but also of potential interest to public relations practitioners and those entering the field.

An Atlas of Poverty in America: One Nation, Pulling Apart, 1960-2003

By Amy K. Glasmeier

Published by Routledge, 2006

This is a slick, full color coffeetable paperback measuring 12" by 9" (landscape format) and running to 97 pages including the index, plus a preferatory section and a CD-ROM. The pages are thick and slick and the printing is high-quality. The borders in the layout of this book are extremely narrow.

The introductory section of the book discusses in detail, among other things, statistical and conceptual issues involved in data relating to poverty. It is a good thing when a data book that is easy to use includes a discussion of methodology. The data used in the atlas come from "hundreds of publications, groups, and individuals who study the various themes.."

The book is divided into four major section: "Lived Experiences," "History of Poverty," "Distressed Regions," and "History of Poverty Policy." In the "Lived Experiences" section are such sub-sections as "Black Families at Risk," "Black Male Incarceration," "Hard Work and Low Pay Define the Lives of Hispanic Americans," "Elderly," and "Working But Poor." The "History of Poverty" section devotes a few pages to each decade from the 60's to the present. The "Distressed Regions" section focuses on U.S. regions where poverty is extremely widespread (Appalachia, The Mississippi Delta, Indian Reservations, The Border Region, etc.). The section on the history of American poverty policy is the briefest section.

The maps are mostly about 6" by 3.5" in size. They use color effectively to highlight information without distracting from it. The book communicates its information clearly and is easy to use. The methodology behind the information is also given a very sufficient discussion. The combination of those qualities makes it a good reference book for getting a geographic picture of poverty in the U.S.

Violence and the Media: A Reference Handbook

By David Newton

Published by ABC-CLIO in their Contemporary World Issues series, 1996.

This is a 6" by 9" hardcover book running to 254 pages including a glossary and an index, plus a brief preface.

The preface says,

"The purpose of this book is to provide resources with which readers can develop a better understanding of the issue of violence in the mass media. The first chapter is devoted to a general review of the issue, its historical background, and the major questions involved in the debate over violence in the mass media. The second chapter provides a chronology of important events that have taken place over the past two centuries. Chapter 3 contains biographical sketches of some important figures in the long controversy over the place and effects of violence in the mass media. Chapter 4 is composed of important documents such as laws, regulations, court decisions, industry standards, and policy statements relating to the subject of violence in the mass media. Chapter 5 contains a list of organizations interested in and working on the topic of violence in the mass media. Chapter 6 and 7 provide lists, respectively, of print and nonprint resources on the subject of violence in the mass media. Finally, a glossary of important terms used in discussions of this topic follows the last chapter of the book."

The text in this book manages to be highly informative and thought provoking while using a level of English prose that would be accessible to high school students. This makes it really useful in a lot of undergraduate college settings where it's difficult to get students to read anything "hard" or where many of them are underprepared. It seems most useful for public libraries supporting high school homework assignments and college libraries supporting Freshman composition classes. It's a well enough done book performing a necessary function. The other books in this series are also like that.

Taking the Measure of Work: A Guide to Validated Scales for Organizational Research and Diagnosis

By Dail L. Fields

Published by SAGE, 2002.

This is a 7" by 10" hardcover book running to 327 pages including the bibliography and indices, plus an introduction.

The preface is simply a paragraph explaining the need that this book addresses; previously, there did not exist any good compilation of measures and questionnaires to use when interviewing employees to diagnose problems in an organization or otherwise meausure its functioning from the point of view of workers. The problem was encountered by both academic researchers and management consultants. So what this book does is simply compile measures, validated within the standards of sociology research methods, that look at job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job characteristics, job stress, job roles, organizational justice, work-family conflict, person-organization fit, work behaviors and work values. The book is intended for practical use by researchers and management consultants. It is not a bibliographic guide to measures found elsewhere, but an actual source of tools, though citations to the original publications are given.

A typical measure is given in two facing pages. A short paragraph describes the measure, relating the situation of its origin and purpose. Then there is a statement of its reliability, a paragraph on its validity as determined by further experiments (cited), a citation of the source (including original and modified items), a list of items and instructions for the questionnaire, and a brief rundown of modified items and instructions. That's all that's given for each measure, but it is enough for practical purposes and allows the book to include many useful meaures. Here are the titles of some measures found in the book:

• Measure of Ethical Viewpoints
  
• Helping and Voice Behaviors
  
• Organizational Culture Profile
  
• Fairness Perceptions of an Organizational Policy
  
• Job Role Ambiguity
  
• Cross-Culutural Role Conflict, Ambiguity, and Overload
  
• Commute Strain Scale
  
• Frustration with Work
  
• Job Demands and Decision Latitude
  
• Subjective Monotony
  
• Extent of Computer Use
  
• Empowerment at Work Scale
  
• Social Support
  
• Commitment to a Parent Company Versus Local Operation
  
• Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire
  

This is a very useful reference book.

Prostitution: An International Handbook on Trends, Problems, and Policies

Edited by Nanette J. Davis.

Published by Greenwood Press, 1993.

This is a 6" by 9" clothbound book running to 403 pages including a bibliography, name index, subject index, and contributors bios, plus a preface.

Unlike most reference books, this one is the product of extensive original research not published elsewhere. Sixteen scholars, in addition to the editor, contributed articles on prostitution in sixteen different countries. The countries covered are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England & Wales, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Taiwan, The United States, Vietnam, and Yugoslavia (still a country at the time of publication). The book is therefore a strongly multicultural reference work (though Africa and the Middle East are not represented).

Each article covers interdisciplinary angles on prostitution: social and legal definitions; history and trends for each country; social organization of prostitution; theories of prostitution (why people do it and what it means); contemporary status and life-styles of prostitutes; law enforcement; politics; intervention; and social policy.

Though the authors pay attention to varying interpretations of prostitution, including feminist and traditionalist perspectives, none give much credence to libertarian views and all regard prostitution unequivocally as a social problem, owing to its connection to poverty, dependency, vulnerability, inequality, and health issues for the women involved (and though the title doesn't say it, the book is restricted to female prostitution). This would probably make the book somewhat offensive to many self-described "sex workers," who view their line of work as a rational choice and don't see themselves as poor.

Opening the book and putting a finger down randomly, I'm in the chapter on England and Wales, reading the following:

Economic Misery

Overall, the positivist hegemony prevailed when it came to the question of the female offender. But some Marxist-influenced sociologists and economists proposed that prostitution was the result of "infraction," a legal issue, and not "action," a behavioral problem, and studies sought to examine factors external to the individual. Here, prostitution entailed recognizing men's sexual needs and women's economic misery. The common denominator linking all forms of prostitution was the external influence of the role of poverty rather than the stigmatized identity. Even William Acton, the British physician, recognized that the main cause of prostitution was "cruel biting poverty" and the "lowness of the wages paid to workwomen in various trades" (Acton 1857:62). Du Chatalet (1857) similarly regarded prostitution as the outcome of extreme economic need, and, although he recognized that prostitutes "acquired" physical and gynecological problems, he asserted that this was the consequence of prostitution, not the cause."

This section goes on to quote Friedrich Engels on marriage as a form of prostitution, and then continues to look at other theories, including a "neo-positivist perspective on victimology," and a feminist critique. The section I quoted followed a few paragraphs on the "positivist model," which was dominant in England and Wales prior to the influence of Marxism, and "focused on the motivational and behavioral systems of criminals." (I find it fascinating to see how prostitution, which has always had an interesting status as both the first and last frontier of the free market, is typically condemned by capitalist societies, whose systems are based on the same principle.)

This is an interesting and informative book. It has more of a point-of-view than many reference books, but it still gives a reasonably comprehensive treatment of its subject. I think it would be enriched if it somehow incorporated the prostitutes' own viewpoints and perspectives in its presentation of the discourse on prostitution. The book is generally critical of the stigmatization of prostitutes, but the absence of their own voices seems to reinforce that stigmatization.

Key Concepts in Urban Studies

By M. Gottdiener and Leslie Budd.

Published by Sage, 2005.

This is a slender paperback measuring 5.75" by 8.25" and running to 188 pages, plus a brief introduction. There is no index.

The book is arranged as a small encyclopedia of the field of urban studies, or studies of the urban condition. For a sense of what this includes, here is a list of the first fifteen entries in the book:

• The Chicago School
  
• The City
  
• Community
  
• Counties, Places, MSAs and Other Census Definitions
  
• De-territorialization and Re-territorialization
  
• Education and Reproduction of Labor
  
• Environmental Concerns
  
• Feminine Space
  
• Fiscal Crisis
  
• Gentrification
  
• Ghetto and Racial Segregation
  
• Global Cities
  
• Globalization
  
• Homelessness
  
• Housing
  

The longest of the articles listed here is the one on Housing, at just over seven pages including the references. The shortest are around two pages long.

Each of these brief articles provides a sketch-like introduction to a sociologically-oriented concept having to do with cities. The writing is clear and communicates concepts without the use of jargon and without requiring much background knowledge.

The book does have an ideology, which is that of modern sociology informed by critical theory, though it seems to vary according to what concept is being discussed (for example, the entries on femine and masculine space are informed by feminist theory). The section on "Postmodern and Modern Urbanism" openly declares the authors' hostility to postmodernist trends in urban studies, and is interestingly frank in its judgments.

This is a nice little book, very informative and easily digestible; good for someone wanting a quick introduction to concepts in urban studies.

Professional Ethics and Insignia, 2nd Edition

Edited by John P. Stierman, Kathleen E. Joswick, Jeanne Koekkoek Stierman, and Roderick L. Sharpe.

Published by Scarecrow, 2000.

This is a 9" by 11" clothbound book running to 445 pages including an index of professions, plus a foreword and a preface.

The book presents the codes of ethics of 222 professional organizations. The compilers followed a broad definition of "profession," but were unable to include a significant number of ethical codes for professional associations that did not respond to their inquiries or grant them permission, so the list is just slightly odd.

It is interesting to see these codes of ethics compiled in a book this way, since each code was created by a specific professional with that group as its audience, and the audience of the book is a different group, a group of students, consumers, and citizens who may be interested in working on an ethical code for another purpose, considering professional ethics generally, or monitoring the behavior of a professional group in terms of its own ethical code.

Among the professional groups included are:

• Air Traffic Control Association
  
• American Arbitration Association
  
• American Bed and Breakfast Association
  
• American Library Association
  
• American Nuclear Society
  
• American Psychiatric Association
  
• American Society of Newspaper Editors
  
• Association of Management Consulting Firms
  
• Botanical Society of America
  
• The Direct Marketing Association
  
• Genetics Society of America
  
• International Association of Chiefs of Police
  
• Music Teachers National Association
  
• National Guild of Hypnotists
  
• National Property Management Association
  
• Public Relations Society of America
  

This is a potentially very useful reference book.

Lattitudes and Attitudes: An Atlas of American Tastes, Trends, Politics, and Passions

By Michael J. Weiss.

Published by Little, Brown and Co., 1994. Copyright held by the author.

This is a paperback book measuring 7.5" by 10" and running to 224 pages.

What it is is a kind of a cultural atlas of the U.S. In the first section it shows geographic breakdowns of a whole host of interesting statistics on the popularity of different products and ideas, like bagels, types of beer, books vs. television, shopping malls, fraternal orders, recliners, power tools, Tupperware, pets, condoms, cologne, cigarettes, jogging, hunting, Volvos, SUV's, specific TV shows, different types of music, specific magazines, as well as positions on social issues. Each page in this section presents a map and a few paragraphs about a certain statistic, or a pair of statistics juxtaposed. The maps represent survey results in four colors, which is enough to tell you something. The results are sometimes surprising, often showing cultural breakdowns quite different from the red-state/blue-state cliche. In very many maps, however, the country's largest metropolitan areas are culturally linked (for instance, people in these places bake from scratch comparatively little - big surprise, and also are below average in buying lay-z-boy recliners, and are politically the most liberal).

The second section has entries on specific geographical markets ("places" seen from a marketing standpoint). Each entry in this section gives a run-down on what products and ideologies are "hot" and "not hot" in that geographic area, also providing a paragraph-long summary of the place from a marketing standpoint, as well as some minimal, key demographic information.

It's interesting to see consumer patterns broken down geographically and mixed with political attitudes like this. It's a fun book, but not terribly serious. It's generally not possible to draw conclusions from the maps without bringing in prior knowledge of cultural geography.

For each map the original source of the statistic is cited. It's usually a private market research firm.

This is a fun book, potentially most useful in a practical sense to marketing students and to people looking to market their product or service (or idea) in the right parts of the country.

It is a bit dated.

The Global Etiquette Guide to Asia

By Dean Foster

Published by John Wiley and Sons, 2000.

This is a 6" by 9" paperback running to 341 pages including the index.

This is not an academic book per se, but a handy guide to etiquette and customs for travellers to Asia, with a business slant to it. It is part of a series of similar guides for all parts of the world.

The book is divided into sections geographically - first into broad regions and then into chapters for individual countries. Each chapter begins with some background information on the country it's covering, including a summary of the historical context and short paragraphs on politics, education, and demographics. This is followed by a section discussing fundamental cultural orientations through specific cultural variables ("Other-Independent vs. Other-Dependent," "Hierarchy-Oriented vs. Egality-Oriented," "Rule-Oriented vs. Relationship-Oriented," etc.). These cultural orientations are in sections for how people relate to each other, how people view time, and what is the best way for society to work with the world at large. From there each section begins to go into the specifics of a society's customs: greetings and introductions; communication styles (including okay and not okay topics; tone, volume, and speed; use of silence; physical gestures; etc.); protocol in public (walking styles and waiting in lines; behavior in public places like airports and the market); dress; dining and drinking (including table manners; seating plans; etc.); being a good guest or host; gift giving; holidays; and business culture (including such things as daily office protocol; management styles; boss-subordinate relations; conducting meetings; and negotition styles).

Besides being an extremely useful book for travellers, it is very interesting as a quick source of insight into aspects of life that are culturally determined but seem to us to be simply natural, as well as sometimes revealing the greater development of Asian cultures in certain respects.

Westerner that I am, I can't resist copying down a brief paragraph to give you a sense of the kind of information the book is absolutely filled with. This is in the chapter on Indonesia, in the section on Communication Styles, under the heading, "Silence:"

"Passive silence -- allowing time to pass simply, without words -- can be a form of proactive communication in Indonesia. There may be long pauses between comments, but rarely extending over several minutes. When confronted with silence, for whatever reason, the best response is to remain silent yourself, although this may be difficult and appear unproductive for time-conscious Westerners. This is perhaps the most subtle form of communication, yet communication it is. If you must say something, bring up something positive, even if it is unrelated to the previous statement. Remember, in Asia, "silence is golden"; those who speak too much are considered immature, given how careful one must be with what one says. Because some Westerners find silence disconcerting, they may tend to fill up the space with more talk; resist this impulse, as it only enhances the effectivness of the silence, by forcing the Westerner to say more than he or she might be inclined to."

Encyclopedia of Human Emotions

Edited by David Levinson, James J. Ponzetti, Jr., and Peter F. Jorgensen

Published by Macmillan Reference USA, 1999.

This is a two-volume hardbound set measuring 9" by 11" and totaling 768 pages including the bibliography index and subject index, plus 18 pages of preferatory material.

This Encyclopedia brings together information from psychology, psychiatry, biology, sociology, anthropology, communication studies and other fields to summarize what we know about "the nature, causes, expression, and societal role of emotions - today, in the past, and across cultures."

There are 156 articles in the set, each signed by an expert whose institutional home is listed. The "S" sequence contains articles with the following titles:

• Sadness
  
• Sartre, Jean-Paul
  
• Satisfaction
  
• Seasonal Affective Disorder
  
• Self-Esteem
  
• Sensation Seeking and Risk Taking
  
• Shame
  
• Shyness
  
• Sin
  
• Smiling
  
• Sociology of Emotions
  
• Spinoza, Baruch
  
• Sports
  
• Stress
  
• Sullivan, Harry Stack
  
• Surprise
  
• Sympathy
  

The article on satisfaction is almost seven pages in length. It begins with a paragraph defining the emotion, and then has sections with the headings, "Satisfaction as a Concept;" "Satisfaction Compared to Related Concepts" (with subheadings "Pleasure," "Happiness," and "Joy,"); "Cross-Cultural Research on Satisfaction;" and "Conculsion." It finishes with see-also references to "Achievement Motivation," "Happiness," "Hope," "Motivation," and "Pleasure," followed by a bibliography of 44 items for further reading.

The textual discussion is non-technical and very informative. Most people's knowledge of emotions is intuitive, and it is almost surprising to see how much study has gone into human emotions in different disciplines and what the contours of our knowlege of emotion are.

Articles on related emotions, such as Envy and Jealousy, Shame and Guilt, Anxiety and Fear, and Sympathy and Empathy, are all written by different experts, which allows you to get different versions of the distinctions between them.

This is a very interesting encyclopedia, useful in many types of research. The odd thing about its subject matter is the unlikelihood of someone turning to it whose research might be helped by it, because of its focus on subjective experience rather than the outward realities that are usually in focus. People doing work in theatre, film, literature, art, persuasion, psychology and some other social science disciplines seem most likely (to me) to find a good use for this encyclopedia.

The Illustrated Book of World Rankings, 5th Edition

Edited by George Thomas Kurian

Published by M. E. Sharpe, Inc., 2001.

This is a hardbound book of 8.5" by 10" running to 471 pages plus some preferatory material.

The book is a compilation of comparative international statistics. The book is divided into topic areas with specific measures under each in the table of contents. The topic areas are as follows:

1. Geography and Climate
   
2. Population
   
3. Vital Statistics and Family
   
4. Race and Religion
   
5. Politics and International Relations
   
6. Military Power
   
7. Economy
   
8. Business and Investment
   
9. Finance
   
10. Trade
    
11. Agriculture
    
12. Industry
    
13. Energy
    
14. Labor
    
15. Transportation and Communication
    
16. Environment
    
17. Consumption and Housing
    
18. Health and Social Services
    
19. Food
    
20. Education
    
21. New Technologies
    
22. Crime and Law Wnforcement
    
23. Media
    
24. Cities
    
25. Culture
    
26. Women
    
27. Global Indexes
    

For an example of the depth of coverage, the section titled "Women," which is smaller than most of the sections, has the following data:

• Gender-Related Development Index
  
• Gender Empowerment Measure
  
• Women's Share of Earned Income
  
• Seats Held by Women in National Legislatures
  
• Female College and University Students
  
• Female College and University Science Enrollment
  
• Female Administrators and Managers
  
• Female Professional and Technical Workers
  
• Women in Government
  

Data tables rank the countries of the world in order of what is being measured. Most of these tables are introduced with a paragraph-long explanation of the statistic being reported and what it measures, with caveats sometimes noted.

The information is usually depressingly unsurprising, in that most of the tables look like a ranking of countries by general economic development. There are many exceptions, however, and these are what make the book interesting. For example, the United States ranks 70th in literacy, behind countries as diverse as Samoa, Armenia, Barbados, Romania, Cuba, and most of the former Soviet countries. It's also a surprise that the United States ranks fourth in film production, behind India, China and the Philippines, and that the country with the most libraries is Russia, followed by Germany and then Poland. Also, the United States is rather heavily policed compared to other countries, with many more police officers per capita than North Korea as well as the European countries. (Middle Eastern countries and dictatorships in Asia, Africa and South America have the most.)

Many of the statistics, as acknowledged in the introduction, suffer from the difficulty of comparing numbers that were collected differently. For example, the high reported crime rates of Scandinavian countries versus African countries likely has to do with what is defined as a crime and handled (and recorded for statistical purposes) by the legal system.

The ten-page appendix consists of an impressively long list of the international statistical sources used in compiling the book, however, these statistical sources are not cited directly from the tables, which is a real shortcoming. The index is well-done and pretty thorough.

The book has a lot in it but doesn't have every statistic that you might be of interest to you. For example, I have often heard about the ranking of the United States in prison population as a percentage of total population. (I have heard that it ranks first at times and at other times that it ranks second behind Russia.) This statistic doesn't seem to be reported in the book.

Generally speaking, a very nice and useful compilation.

Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America
Revised and Updated Edition

By J. Gordon Melton

Published by Garland's "Religious Information Sytems" imprint, 1992.

This is a 5.5" X 8.5" paperback of 407 pages including the index.

Melton is an established authority on cults, having authored other commonly-seen reference books on the subject, but this doesn't make it any less noticeable and awkward that his list of chapters on "The Established Cults" includes such major American religions as the Church of Christ, Scientist, Jehovah's Witnesses, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). "Cult" is a very loaded and powerful word, so it is surprising to see it applied to such powerful and established groups as these, and raises questions about Melton's criteria. For example, a commonly-understood attribute of cults is that they require members to break ties with the world outside, or that they are outside the mainstream of American religion, things that aren't quite true of the Mormons, for example, though their internal associations and unity are certainly strong.

Melton is aware of the controversial aspect to the gray area of cults and religion, so he devotes his first chapter to the preliminary question of "what is a cult," and provides his working criteria. In this chapter, Melton talks about three major sources of discussion about cults, that contribute varying degrees of pejorativeness to the "cult" label. These are Christian counter-cult ministries representing religious orthodoxies (which beg the question, in my mind, "What would Jesus do?"), secular anti-cultists who arose in the 70's in response to the experience of brainwashed family members, etc., and social scientists who study religious behavior and groups. Melton is relatively private about his own pathway to the study of cults, but my sense is that he is some kind of an orthodox Protestant.

Melton has chapters on 32 different "cults," which include Christian Science, Mormons, Rosicrucians, Satanism, "Spiritualism," Theosophy, The Universal Peace Mission Movement of Father Divine, Scientology, Mormons (separate entries for mainstream and fundamentalist, polygamy practicing Mormons), ECKANKAR, Elan Vital, Hare Krishnas, Nichiren Shoshu, Osho, Unification Church, and "Witchcraft and NeoPaganism" (which hardly seem organized enough to be a cult, but, whatever), among others. Additionally, the New Age Movement is listed as a cult, and there are two chapters on anti-cult movements.

The entry on Nichiren Shoshu, as an example, is seven pages in length. The chapter describes the history and origin of the movement, including internal divisions, and then goes on to discuss the beliefs and practices, organization, current status and existing controversies of the group, and finally a bibliography.

Following the long section that goes into detail about the cults listed is a section titled "Violence and the Cults."

It's a pretty interesting and informative but somewhat tendentious reference book.