The Riverside Dictionary Of Biography: A comprehensive Reference Covering 10,000 of the World's Most Important People, From Ancient Times To The Present Day - Hardcover

Editors Of The American Heritage

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0618493379 ISBN 13: 9780618493371

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005

Synopsis

An authoritative resource offering concise profiles of more than ten thousand of the world's most important people features information on individuals from ancient times to the present day and representing a wide range of fields of endeavor, furnishing details on birth and death dates, full name, nationality, occupation, and accomplishments, as well as thousands of cross references and brief quotations.

About this title

About the Author

The Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries and of other reference titles published by Houghton Mifflin Company are trained lexicographers with a varied array of interests and expertise. Most of the editors hold graduate degrees and have studied at least one foreign language. Several have degrees in linguistics or in the history of the English language. Others have degrees in science or sometimes other disciplines. All the editors familiarize themselves with the vocabulary in specific subject areas, collect materials on new developments and usage, and work in association with consultants to ensure that the content of our publications is as accurate and as up-to-date as possible.

Reviews

Just as the British Chambers Biographical Dictionary (2002) provided the basis for The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography (2003), the Chambers Concise Biographical Dictionary (2002) has begotten this volume in Houghton Mifflin's American Heritage Dictionaries line.

Entries are similar to those in The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography, having name, birth and death dates, a brief identifying phrase, and narrative text in which related entries are cross-referenced. Downsizing has been achieved not only by cutting the number of entries from 18,000 to 10,000 but also by lopping off some entry length. Gone are the longer sidebar entries found in the Houghton Mifflin as well as the occasional citations to source material. On the other hand, The Riverside Dictionary of Biography adds a few black-and-white portraits at the beginning of every alphabetical section and also scatters quotations here and there throughout the text. A few individuals not found in Houghton Mifflin have been added, among them John Kerry and Ang Lee. In some cases Riverside has the advantage of greater currency, noting, for example, Lance Armstrong's sixth Tour de France win and the deaths of Ray Charles, Julia Child, and Ronald Reagan in 2004. Both volumes retain a slight British bias. Nigella Lawson and Richard Branson rate entries but not Martha Stewart or Donald Trump.

Libraries that already own The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography probably don't need to add Riverside, even though it is slightly more up-to-date. For other libraries, it is a sound and economical choice. Mary Ellen Quinn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0618493379
• ISBN 13: 9780618493371
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 867