Books in Young Oxford Companions series

Here is an encyclopedia of the Supreme Court--exactly the kind of sourcebook that students, teachers, and librarians need to comlplement the available material about the history and current operations of the Court. This authoritative and comprehensive treatment includes: * biographical sketches of all 107 justices * detailed discussions of 100 landmark Supreme Court cases * concepts of constitutional law * legal terms and phrases associated with the Court's operations * procedures and practices in the daily operations of the Court * essays on key topics and issues in American constitutional law * excerpts from notable Supreme Court opinions * tables of terms of Supreme Court justices The essay on current constitutional issues (abortion rights, affirmative action, censorship, school prayer, libel, and employment discrimination) and essays that illuminate procedural topics (the right to a trial, the right to counsel, and protection against self-incrimination) demonstrate the relationships of the Court to the lives and concerns of individuals in American society. A complete index and table of justices are included. In an easy-to-use alphabetical format, with extensive cross-referencing, suggestions for further reading, and many photographs and other illustrations, The Young Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States is an invaluable and ready reference for students, teachers, and librarians.

The first and only comprehensive work of its kind, The Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry in English charts the development of poetry from 1900 to the present, across the whole of the English-speaking world, from the United States, Great Britain, and Ireland to New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, Trinidad and Zimbabwe--anywhere where poets write in English. Alphabetically arranged for ease of reference, it offers biographical entries on some 1,500 individual poets, as well as over one hundred entries covering important magazines, movements, literary terms and concepts. As readable as it is comprehensive, the Companion offers a fascinating survey of this century's shift from 'poetry' to 'poetries,' as American and British traditions of poetry have made way for a growing diversity of voices, and as the burgeoning poetries of Australia, Canada, and other English-speaking countries assert their own identities. The range of poets represented in this Companion is extraordinary. Here are in-depth discussions of Yeats, Eliot, Pound, and Joyce alongside provocative assessments of W.H. Auden, Elizabeth Bishop, Wallace Stevens, and Marianne Moore. John Ashbery, Margaret Atwood, Maya Angelou, and Mary Oliver are accounted for, as well as Carolyn Forché, David Bottoms, Jorie Graham, and many other younger poets just coming into prominence. Chinua Achebee, Jack Mapanje, Femi Oyebode and other important African poets writing in English are here, as well as poets from the Caribbean, India, and even Russia. Readers will relish this Companion's many insightful contributions from celebrated poet-critics, writing on other poets in intriguing author-subject combinations. For example, Seamus Heaney writes on Robert Lowell ("Lowell had invented a way of getting at life, of making poetry kick and freak at the edge of contemporary reality"), Ann Stevenson discusses Sylvia Plath ("In the quarter-century following her suicide, Sylvia Plath has become a heroine and martyr of the feminist movement. In fact, she was a martyr mainly to the recurrent psychodrama that staged itself within the bell jar of her tragically wounded personality"), and Tom Paulin weighs in on Ted Hughes ("His appointment as Poet Laureate in 1984 sealed his essentially shaman-like conception of his poetic mission and enabled him to speak out on environmental issues while celebrating royal weddings and babies"). Other pairings include Jay Parini on Wallace Stevens, Jon Stallworthy on Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brook, and William H. Pritchard on Robert Frost and Randall Jarrell. Each entry includes a wealth of biographical and bibliographical information, and a select bibliography at the end of the book supplies a handy source of information on poets whose work is not otherwise in print, or readily available to readers. From Abse and Auden to Zaturenska and Zukofsky, The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English is an essential reference for students, lovers of poetry, and for poets themselves.

More than 200 articles, conveniently arranged alphabetically, provide a concise and easy-to-use guide to the people, issues, vocabulary, and activities of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. With gavel-to-gavel coverage now available on any cable TV, students will welcome this informative and entertaining tour of our Congress and its procedures, historical origins, and 200-year evolution of modern legislative practices. Fully illustrated and using first-person observation excerpted from memoirs, oral histories, committee hearings, and debates in the Congressional Record, the entries capture the drama, humor, triumphs, and tragedies of congressional history. Cross-referencing, suggestions for further reading, photos, artifacts, and cartoons make this complete, up-to-date, and refreshing look at Congress an essential resource for young adults, librarians, teachers, and parents.