This biographical dictionary provides short biographies of more than 500 individuals who have served as admiral, vice admiral, or rear admiral in the world's naval forces. While naval officers from the American, British, French, and Japanese navies make up the bulk of the work, several biographies are included on admirals from 22 countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, and Spain. While the majority of entries are fairly detailed, some are considerably shorter because of limited naval records or lack of available information.The main criteria for inclusion was that each person must have actively served in the rank of at least rear admiral, although each individual did not necessarily become involved in enemy action over the course of his or her career. This effectively rules out people who were granted the rank on retirement or as a courtesy title, or, as in the case of several 'tombstone admirals', who were granted the title posthumously. The book also includes a list of the admirals organized by nationality, a timeline, and a general index.

The International Who's Who in Popular Music 2009 provides biographical details on some of the most talented and influential artists and individuals from the world of popular music. Now in its eleventh edition, it includes over 7,000 biographies charting the careers and achievements of pop, rock, folk, jazz, dance, world and country artists throughout the world.
Key features:

• each entry includes full biographical information: principal career details, recordings and compositions, honours and contact information where available
• spans the full range of the popular music industry, from rock to jazz and dance to country
• provides information on established names as well as up-and-coming artists
• a directory section provides details of music festivals, awards, organizations within the industry, and digital music sources
• for ease of reference, the book includes an index of music group members.

In one accessible volume the International Who's Who in Popular Music 2009 provides the most comprehensive collection of information on the most famous and influential people in the popular music industry.

This book provides capsule biographies of 909 of the nation's most notable African Americans. The entries are arranged alphabetically, with all individuals meeting two general criteria for inclusion: They were born or they spent their childhoods in the United States; and they have played an important part in the development of African American children by serving as role models. Anyone who died before January 1, 1995, is not included.

Activists, artists, athletes, attorneys, authors, business owners, educators, engineers, entertainers, government officials, medical doctors, military leaders and scientists: each person in this book has played a major role in 20th-century America.

From 1900 through 2000, the Catholic Church has had nine popes. Their terms of office have ranged from over 25 years (Leo XII) to slightly over one month (John Paul I). As the 21st century began, John Paul II was in his 22nd year as head of the church. During the century over 600 cardinals have helped to lead the church. This biographical reference work covers all nine popes and all 641 cardinals. The first section presents the popes in chronological order and provides full biographical information as date and place of birth and death, educational training and background for the priesthood, positions held within the church, and roles in church leadership and various conclaves. In the second section the cardinals are listed alphabetically and much the same biographical information is provided for them. (An appendix gives all the cardinals appointed by John Paul II in 2001.)

During his playing career, a baseball player's every action on the field is documented--every at bat, every hit, every pitch. But what becomes of a player after he leaves the game? Some do, in fact, continue to be involved with baseball in some capacity, but many do not, following a different calling and fade into obscurity. This exhaustive reference work presents information that has never before been available in one source. It briefly details the post-baseball lives of some 7,600 major leaguers, owners, managers, administrators, umpires, sportswriters, announcers and broadcasters who are now deceased. Each entry tells the date and place of the player's birth, the number of seasons he spent in the majors, the primary position he played, the number of seasons he spent as a manager in the majors (if applicable), his post-baseball career and activities, date and cause of his death, and his final resting place.

The fifteenth edition of the International Who's Who in Poetry is a unique and comprehensive guide to the leading lights and freshest talent in poetry today. Containing biographies of more than 4,000 contemporary poets world-wide, this essential reference work provides truly international coverage. In addition to the well known poets, talented up-and-coming writers are also profiled.
Key features:

• 
  
• each entry provides full career history and publication details
• 
  
• appendices section lists International prizes, organizations and poetry publications
• 
  
• the career profile section is supplemented by lists of Poets Laureate.

This biographical dictionary provides information on 322 men and women who have made or are making significant contributions in the field of anthropology. Arranged alphabetically, each entry is limited to 500 words and includes a short biography highlighting each person's professional and private background, a detailed analysis of the theories or approaches that each contributed to his or her individual field, and a brief guide to the person's major works of literature.A detailed timeline lists each person's date of birth, full name, and primary field of study, guiding readers to entries covering 1681 to 2006. An extensive glossary explains technical terms used throughout the work.

Spanning the period from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first centuries, The Biographical Dictionary of Social and Cultural Anthropology contains almost six hundred individually-signed entries from a global team of contributors and offers an important, and fascinating overview of the historical and contemporary reach of anthropological research.

The twenty-first edition of the International Who's Who in Poetry is a unique and comprehensive guide to the leading lights and freshest talent in poetry today. Containing biographies of more than 4,000 contemporary poets world-wide, this essential reference work provides truly international coverage. In addition to the well known poets, talented up-and-coming writers are also profiled. Key Features: - each entry provides full career history and publication details - appendices section lists international prizes, organizations and poetry publications, lists of Poets Laureate.

In 1922, an early association of film publicists known as the Western Associated Motion Picture Advertisers (Wampas) hit upon a strategy to call attention to their organization and their industry. The group selected 13 young actresses with potential star power and promoted them heavily as ""Baby"" (meaning junior) Stars. To be selected a Wampas Baby Star soon became a much-sought honor - a ticket to recognition and publicity in those days before the Academy Awards.While a few Baby Stars (Ginger Rogers, Joan Crawford) went on to superstardom and others enjoyed modest success, some failed to shine. Many of the nearly 150 actresses chosen during the program's existence, 1922-1934, are forgotten names today.This book offers full biographical details on every actress selected as a Wampas Baby Star. Each actress' entry traces her career and lists films in which she appeared. A year-by-year section lists each year's stars and alternates. Appendices include lists of rivals and successors to the Wampas Baby program (such as the ""Paramount Protegees""), Wampas ""Drop-Outs,"" presidents of Wampas, and miscellaneous facts about the Wampas Babies (which actress was tallest? Shortest? Oldest at time of selection?). Photographs, a bibliography and an index are included.

New Edition of a Highly Regarded Reference

As the first fully updated version in almost a decade, this comprehensive compendium brings together 2400 scientists who have made important contributions to the wide world of science. Rather than a Who's-Who style laundry list, this user-friendly resource provides essential biographical information and focuses on scientific achievement. Indeed, it is as much a book about science as it is about the notable scientists who comprise the field.

Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists, Third Edition concentrates on the 'traditional pure' sciences of physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and the earth sciences. It also covers medicine and mathematics and includes a selection of people who have made important contributions to engineering, technology, anthropology, psychology, and philosophy. Including 29 illustrations of key scientific concepts and discoveries, this definitive collection also contains helpful resources such as a pronunciation guide, cross references, quotations, a subject index, timeline of key scientific events, and list of useful Websites.

Contains More Biographies than Other Comparably Sized Titles

Written by a recognized authority in the field, the uncomplicated prose eases readers into sophisticated concepts, like abstract mathematics and modern theoretical physics. The book highlights all Nobel Prize winners and popular scientists such as Keith Campbell, Ian Wilmut, and John Nash. Compiled in A-Z style, this work is the authoritative volume of its kind with more than 200 new entries in its latest edition.

This directory provides an extensive listing of household information collected for over 2,265 famous or notorious individuals who were alive during the 1930 United States Census. Figures from the entertainment industry constitute the bulk of the material, but the work also includes census data for hundreds of scientists, athletes, politicians, criminals, cult figures, and religious leaders. Entries includes the household members' birth and/or professional names, occupations, residential address, and an estimate of the homes' value or monthly rental fee. Each entry also offers a brief guide to finding the household's original census data through the National Archives microfilm. Several appendices provide overall population data from the 1930 Census, a complete list of the 32 questions originally included in the census questionnaire, and contact information for current National Archives and Records Administration locations.

Often forgotten among the actors, directors, producers and others associated with filmmaking, art directors are responsible for making movies visually appealing to audiences. As such they sometimes make the difference between a hit and a bomb.This biographical dictionary includes not only the world's great and almost-great artists, but the unjustly neglected film designers of the past and present. Among the more than 300 art directors and designers are pioneers from silent films, designers from Hollywood and Europe's Golden Ages, Asian figures, post - Golden Age personalities, leaders of the European and American New Waves, and many contemporary designers. Each entry consists of biographical information, an analysis of the director's career and important films, and an extensive filmography including mentions of Academy Award nominations and winners.

This volume focuses on fifty of the most important entertainers in the history of country music, from its beginnings in the folk music of early America through the 1970s. Divided into five distinct categories, it discusses the pioneers who brought mountain music to mass audiences; cowboys and radio stars who spread country music countrywide; honky-tonk and bluegrass musicians who differentiated country music during the 1940s; the major contributions that female artists made to the genre; and the modern country sound which dominated the genre from the late 1950s to the mid - 1980s. Each entry includes a brief biography of the chosen artist with special emphasis on experiences which influenced their musical careers. Covered musicians include Fiddlin' John Carson, Riley Puckett, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Bob Willis, Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, Sr., Dale Evans, June Carter Cash, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, Roy Clark, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.

Biography is an endlessly fascinating subject for a wide variety of readers. The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography is the most up-to-date and comprehensive, single-volume, biographical reference of living and dead Americans available. The book contains 9,000 entries written for general readers in fluid narrative style. Each entry is self-contained and does not assume any historic or geographic knowledge. What sets this book apart is its breadth of coverage--living and dead, famous and forgotten American figures, of diverse careers, from colonial times to the present day--and its attention to women and minority groups. The Dictionary has been originally compiled--not derived from older work--with the help of over one-hundred consultants. It also contains two exceptionally useful indexes: one by occupation and the other by names mentioned in the entries (whether or not they are entries themselves). The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography is written for anyone interested in owning an eminently readable reference to living contemporaries and their achievements as well as to historically important figures. John Bowman, an accomplished author and editor, has been assisted by an editoral board of distinguished American scholars.

True professional baseball has not been played in Cuba since banned by the communist regime after the 1961 season, but there is a legacy of more than 70 years of continuous excellence by countless Cubans who played in the organized leagues of the island from 1878 to 1961. Scores of North Americans, white and black, and Latin Americans also played in Cuba during that time. Biographical and season-by-season statistical information for the many hundreds of Cuban, North American and Latin American players who took part in the Cuban leagues from 1878 to 1961 has been compiled in this work. The time period is divided into three eras. The first is from 1878 to 1899, the primitive years of the Cuban league; the second, 1900 to 1933, when the league opened its doors to welcome foreign players; and the third, from 1934 to 1961, the golden age that made Cuba then the second power in organized baseball. Birth and death dates for each player (if they could be determined) are provided. The statistical information for players includes the number of games played, at bats, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, and season average. The statistical information for pitchers includes the number of games pitched, complete games, win-loss record, and winning percentage.

This new volume of the "Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women" spans more than 2,000 years from antiquity to the early seventh century. It recovers the stories of more than 200 women, nearly all of them unknown in the West. The contributors have sifted carefully through the available sources, from the oracle bones to the earliest legends, from Liu Xiang's didactic Biographies to official and unofficial histories, for glimpses and insights into the lives of women. Empresses and consorts, nuns and shamans, women of notoriety or exemplary virtue, women of daring and women of artistic or scholarly accomplishment - all are to be found here. The editors have assembled the stories of women high born and low, representing the full range of female endeavor. The biographies are organized alphabetically within three historical groupings, to give some context to lives lived in changing circumstances over two millennia. A glossary, a chronology, and a finding list that identifies women of each period by background or field of endeavor are also provided.

In 1916, over 500 men played in a major league game. Many of those players' names are inseparable from baseball - 39 are members of the Hall of Fame - while others have only one line in the record books. Some enjoyed highly productive careers after leaving the game; others lacked the temperament, skills or opportunities to find success after baseball. This book is the first to focus on a representative group of major leaguers, the Class of 1916, in seeking answers to the questions Who was the average major leaguer in the late deadball era? What was his background? and What became of him when his playing days ended? Introductory chapters offer background information on the era and discuss the 1916 season; provide information on the players' ethnic and geographic origins, ages, and average physical sizes; chart player performance; and summarize post-playing careers and mortality statistics for the group. The main body of the work, a biographical dictionary, is arranged alphabetically, and each entry includes career and biographical information, statistics, post-baseball accomplishments and death. Many rare photographs accompany the text.

Claimants of paranormal abilities have always attracted controversy and fascination, and sometimes rigorous study by scientists. Charles Bailey, an Australian medium, was seemingly able to materialize different objects - animate and inanimate - under conditions, which made it difficult to conceive how they could have been normally produced. Sumitra Singh Young, a woman of Northern India who in 1984 became subject to epileptic-type seizures, claimed to be possessed by spirits of the dead. Franck Kluski was a Polish poet, banker and physical medium who specialized in both human and animal materializations. This biographical dictionary contains profiles of 330 psychics worldwide from Tony Agpa to Elenor Zugun, each accompanied by a bibliography listing the primary sources consulted. The primary focus is on those claimed psychics who have figured prominently in the history of the subject, though some lesser-known figures are included to show how rich, varied, and colorful that history has been. The aim throughout is to present each case as fairly and dispassionately as the facts allow, with a particular eye for accuracy in details and presentation. The approach is historical, not apologetic or accusatory, making the work ideally suited as a permanent reference.

From the time Westinghouse started commercial broadcasting in 1920 through the end of the radio soap operas in the early 1960s, hundreds of men and women performed on radio. Day after day, week after week, these performers (e.g., Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, Kate Smith, Lowell Thomas, Kay Kyser, and Bob Hope) became familiar voices and welcomed guests in the homes of millions of Americans. Actors, comedians, singers, commentators, announcers, emcees, newscasters, preachers and various other artists all gave voice to radio and 953 of them are covered in this unique reference work. Performers Fran Allison, Les Paul, Johnny Desmond, Alec Templeton, Don Wilson, Jerry Colonna and soap opera favorites Virginia Payne, Betty Garde, Macdonald Carey, David Gothard, Page Gilman, and Jan Miner are included herein, as well as Ezra Stone, Groucho Marx, Will Rogers, and Frank Sinatra and hundreds more. For each, there is a listing of their radio programs, birth and death dates (where appropriate) and a biography that focuses on their work in radio. It is heavily illustrated.

This work features interviews with 51 leading ladies who starred in B-westerns, A-westerns, and television westerns. Some were well-known and others were not, but they all have fascinating stories to tell and they talk candidly about their careers and the many difficulties that went along with their jobs. Back then, conditions were often severe, locations were often harsh, and pay was often minimal. The actresses were sometimes the only females on location and they had to provide their own wardrobe and do their own make-up, as well as discourage the advances of over-affectionate co-stars. Despite these difficulties, most of the women interviewed for this agree that they had fun. Claudia Barrett, Virginia Carroll, Francis Dee, Lisa Gaye, Marie Harmon, Kathleen Hughes, Linda Johnson, Ruta Lee, Colleen Miller, Gigi Perreau, Ann Rutherford, Ruth Terry, and June Vincent are among the 51 actresses interviewed.

From its very beginnings, the nature of jazz has been to reinvent itself. As the musical genre evolved from its roots - blues, European music, Voodoo ceremonies, and brass bands that played at funerals, parades and celebrations - the sound reflected the tenor of the times, from the citified strains of the Roaring '20s to the Big Band swing of pre - World War II to the bop revolution that grew out of the minimalist sound the war forced upon the art form. That the music continued to develop and evolve is a tribute to the power and creativity of its musicians. Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughan, Art Blakey, Dave Brubeck, Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Diana Krall, Archie Shepp, Chick Corea, Branford Marsalis, Larry Coryell, and Kenny Kirkland are just some of the jazz greats profiled here. The five major periods of jazz - the bop revolution, hard bop and cool jazz, the avant-garde, fusion, and contemporary - form the basis for the sections in this reference work, with a brief history of each period provided. The artists who were integral to the evolution of each period are then profiled. Each biographical entry focuses on the artist's life and his or her influence on jazz and on music as a whole. A complete discography for each musician is also provided.

First published in 1987 to overwhelming international acclaim, Jeremy Gaige's Chess Personalia has been called ?one of the most useful chess books ever published? (Edward Winter in New in Chess). The book is an invaluable resource for researchers and enthusiasts, and original copies are highly sought after by chess collectors. Long out of print, the original work is available here for the first time in a softcover format. This biobibliography contains around 14,000 worldwide entries, each entry offering full name, date and place of birth and death, FIDE title, country of citizenship and citations to mentions in the world's media. Variants in names are cross-referenced. Those knowledgeable in the chess world will recognize the author's name and be completely assured as to the comprehensiveness, accuracy, lack of bias, and sedulous research this extraordinary reference work represents.

This authoritative biographical guide presents the lives and careers of over six hundred men and women who have made their mark in the world's fighting navies, from the sixteenth century to the present day.
From the great admirals who won - or lost - major sea battles, to commanders who specialised in minesweeping; from eminent naval administrators to those who designed the ships, it features those who have helped to shape sea-warfare around the world.
Covering key events from the Battle of Trafalgar to those of World War Two and the Vietnam War, this is an invaluable work of reference for anyone interested in naval history.

This detailed and comprehensive guide provides biographical information on the most influential and significant figures in world anthropology, from the birth of the discipline in the nineteenth century to the present day. Each of the fifteen chapters focuses on a national tradition or school of thought, outlining its central features and placing the anthropologists within their intellectual contexts. Fully indexed and cross-referenced, The Routledge Dictionary of Anthropologists will prove indispensable for students of anthropology.