Dictionary of Law 8,000 TERMS CLEARLY DEFINED (fourth edition)

This dictionary provides the user with the main vocabulary currently being used in British and American law. The areas covered include criminal, civil, commercial and international law, as well as interactions with the police and legal advisers, and the procedures of the courts and prisons. Common words used in reading or writing reports, articles or guidelines are also included.

 

The dictionary is designed for anyone who needs to check the meaning or pronunciation of legal terms, but especially for those who need some knowledge of legal terms in their work but who may not be legal professionals, or for those for whom English is an additional language. Each headword is explained in a clear, straightforward way. Pronunciations, uncommon plurals and uncommon verb forms are provided.

 

William Burns’s guide to the scientific revolution offers readers a synthesis of recent research on the scientific revolution in an accessible format that reflects recent trends in scholarship and will guide readers through this literature.

Readers of this book will find biographical entries for well-known figures such as Tycho Brahe and Robert Boyle juxtaposed with equally important figures such as the Spanish physician Francisco Hernбndez, whose natural history of Mexico represents an early example of the relationship between science and empire, and Margaret Cavendish, the most prolific female natural philosopher of the early modern period.

Like any reference work, this guide reflects the interests and preferences of its author. But it also casts its net widely, defining “science” not just in a narrow sense but in relation to such subjects as art, music, and literature and introducing readers to an interdisciplinary literature on the scientific revolution that is not always included in standard accounts of this period.

The majority of the information in these volumes was provided by the U.S. Department of State and is the most recent release of that information as of March 2008. However, changes in countries and governments occur rapidly. Therefore, the reader is advised to check directly with the consulate of the country he or she intends to visit before making final plans.

 

A New Handbook of Literary Terms offers a lively, informative guide to words and concepts that every student of literature needs to know. Mikics’s definitions are essayistic, witty, learned, and always a pleasure to read. They sketch the derivation and history of each term, including especially lucid explanations of verse forms and providing a firm sense of literary periods and movements from classicism to postmodernism. The Handbook also supplies a helpful map to the intricate and at times confusing terrain of literary theory at the beginning of the twenty-first century: the author has designated a series of terms, from New Criticism to queer theory, that serves as a concise but thorough introduction to recent developments in literary study.