Scarecrow Press
Pages: 368
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-0-8108-6775-8 • Hardback • August 2010 • $132.00 • (£102.00)
978-0-8108-7495-4 • eBook • August 2010 • $125.00 • (£96.00)
John Lohn is the Senior Writer for Swimming World Magazine, having covered the sport at the national and international levels since 2000. He covered the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, chronicling the record-breaking eight-gold medal performance of Michael Phelps.
Scarecrow Press has initiated a new series, Historical Dictionaries of Sports. The first title in the series is Historical Dictionary of Competitive Swimming (next up are basketball and golf). Author Lohn comes with the necessary credentials: he is the senior writer for Swimming World Magazine. Competitive swimming is examined through an introductory essay, a chronology that begins in 1875 with Matthew Webb's swim across the English Channel and ends with the thirteenth world championships in 2009, and a chronology of the career of Michael Phelps. The main part of the volume, the dictionary, has 500 cross-referenced entries that cover individuals, competitions, the competitive swimming strokes, and various countries that have been competitive in the sport. Twenty-one appendixes cover topics such as world-championship winners and Olympic medalists. The resource ends with a 5-page topical bibliography. Libraries with large sports collections or where competitive swimming is important for their communities will want to add this resource.
— Booklist
This inaugural volume in Scarecrow Press' sports reference series provides a glimpse of competitive swimming's rapid evolution. In his opening chronology, Lohn (coauthor, Swimmers: Courage and Triumph) locates his subject's genesis not in ancient Olympic Games, but in the 1875 English Channel crossing....Alphabetically organized, brief entries profile the people, organizations, championships, and locations defining competitive swimming. A series of appendixes detailing competitions, finalist names, and medals rounds out the book. A handy who's who for aquatic sports collections.
— Library Journal
In this easy-to-read and informative reference, Booker (English, Univ. of Arkansas; Science Fiction Television) covers sf movies from their beginnings to the present. Varying in length from one-quarter of a page to three pages, the 300-plus alphabetically arranged articles discuss directors, producers, writers, actors, subgenres, styles, and production companies....This could be a helpful place to begin research on sf movies....It is likely to be of most interest to academic researchers but may also be useful to curious public library patrons.
— Library Journal
It fills a niche available for a selective dictionary with a historical, contextual approach and an international scope....In addition to its 300-plus entries, this work provides a chronology of major films and trends, an insightful introductory essay, and an extensive bibliography arranged by topic. It will be useful for academic or public library collections seeking thorough coverage of science fiction or film, or for those lacking other reference works on the genre. Summing Up: Recommended.
— Choice Reviews
Science-fiction cinema began more than 100 years ago and has provided several milestones: color film, blending of live-action and animation, and a host of special effects. In this volume, English professor Booker surveys the genre. The focus is largely American, but Booker also notes contributions by the UK, Japan, South Korea, Germany, France, and Italy (omitting others, such as Hong Kong). Booker's lengthy chronology (almost 20 pages) begins with Mary Shelley's 1818 Frankenstein but lists mainly twentieth-century seminal and representative films and inspirations. An introduction traces sciencefiction film history from the silent era. A–Z entries cover films; persons (actors, directors, producers, writers, special-effects artists); characters; concepts; and techniques. Length ranges from a half page to 4 pages (mainly for concepts, such as Postapocalyptic). In most cases, film entries list the year and director, describe the plot, and comment on the film's impact....An extensive bibliography rounds out the volume. This volume should find a home in film-studies collections as well as in libraries serving science-fiction fans.
— Booklist
The dictionary...has its merits in bringing all the factual information together in one place.
— Reference Reviews