Masterplots II. This item is unavailable.Masterplots II

Masterplots II: Christian Literature covers over 500 classic and contemporary works of Christian fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama, providing a plot summary, analysis of Christian themes, and an annotated bibliography for each title. At the core of this work are the fiction and nonfiction classics to which most students and general readers, Christian or secular, will be exposed at some time in their lives, from Saint Augustine's Confessions to John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress to C. S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters. Many titles represent the boom in Christian literature of the past three decades, from the Left Behind series to The Da Vinci Code.

The study of material culture (defined as “human made or altered environments and things”) is one of the newest academic fields, only being incorporated into American studies programs in the 1960s and 1970s. Although numerous books and articles on specific topics, eras, and objects have appeared in the last 30 years, ABC-CLIO’s Material Culture in America is the first encyclopedia in the field, and as the editors point out in their introduction, it is not meant to be comprehensive but to provide an introduction.   The encyclopedia has 195 entries in an A–Z format written by academics at universities or museums. Entries range from 1 page to 5 or 6 pages in length and are signed by the author. There are see also references to other articles in the book and suggestions for further reading that include books and journal articles. Many of the articles are from journals that have not been indexed in the major journal databases. The book concludes with a 50-page bibliography of books and articles divided by topic and an index covering subjects, people, places, groups, and companies. Each of the entries is an overview that gives a brief history of its topic and stresses the object’s place in history as an idea or symbol. Children’s dress, for example, shows that dress mirrored society’s changing conceptions of childhood, so colonial children were dressed as little adults, while Victorian children were dressed to indicate their family’s status. Some entries cover physical objects, for example, Bathrooms, Highways, Mail order catalogues, Souvenirs, and Wallpaper. Others cover architectural styles or social concepts. Civic architecture shows how elements of classicism were seen as the way to express America’s democratic government and how this form of architecture dominated American building into the twentieth century. Material Culture in America is a good place for students in the field to start their research, and the suggestions for further reading and extensive bibliography suggest avenues for deeper exploration. Highly recommended for college libraries and large public libraries. This title is also available as an e-book. --Merle Jacob