From Ken Burns's documentaries to historical dramas such as Roots, from A&E's Biography series to CNN's coverage of such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, television has become the primary source for historical information for tens of millions of Americans today. Why has television become such a respected authority? What falsehoods enter our collective memory as truths?

This encyclopedia, part of the Facts On File European Nations Series, is the latest in a number of excellent reference books on the Emerald Isle. The first 179 pages form a well-written and concise history. The largest section is the A-Z historical dictionary with articles on important people, all 32 counties, culture, politics, and geographic features. The third section is a chronology extending from 8000 BCE to 2005. Two appendixes containing a list of leaders from 1922 to 2005 and 12 maps precede a 10-page bibliography organized by historical periods.

Using ethnographic case studies from a wide range of geographical areas, including Mexico, Peru, Amazonia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Europe, and Africa, the contributors explore the inner worlds of meaning and practice that define and sustain elite identities. They also provide insights into the cultural mechanisms that maintain elite status, and into the complex ways that elite groups relate to, and are embedded within, wider social and historical processes.

The Historical Dictionary of the Etruscans relates the history of this culture through a list of acronyms and abbreviations, a chronology, a introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of dictionary entries on important persons, places, events, and institutions and significant political, economic, social, and cultural aspects.

"History in Literature" is a concise guide to 20th-century historical events, periods, movements and figures, and the ways they have been depicted in specific works of literature. This reference help readers to understand the historical context of 20th-century literary works. Arranged A-Z by historical event, the book allows readers to compare the factual details of an event, period or life to the literary treatment and understand how history is used for literary purposes.