Award: Booklist Editors' Choice, 2013
Edited by Thomas Riggs & Company, Missoula, Montana
From the Editor’s Note:
“The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture is an extensive reference source on popular culture in the United States, covering film, television, music, radio, theatre, dance, comedy, art, books, magazines, sports, social life, and other subject areas. Originally published in 2000, the encyclopedia, now in its second edition, includes more than 2,700 updated entries and more than 300 new entries. Each entry describes a topic in popular cultural and, when appropriate, its relevance to the broader American culture. The entry on MTV, for example, discusses the channel's rise to popularity and the relationship between MTV, youth culture, and consumerism. The entry on John Ford, outlining the film director’s long career, also discusses the influence Ford's films have had on Western movies and on Americans’ perceptions of the West.” (Thomas Riggs & Company)
Reviews:
“The first edition of this five-volume work appeared in 2000 and received a warm reception from reference book reviewers. As well it should, as the set contained 2,700 well-written and thoroughly researched, signed articles covering a plethora of fads and fashions in this country, from ABBA to ZZ Top. This reviewer is pleased to state that an already very good reference set has been elevated to a great one. Some of the more notable improvements include 300 new entries, expanded/updated original articles (essay-length pieces are now broken down into more manageable sections with the addition of subheadings), color photographs largely replacing formerly all black-and-white shots, inclusion of cross-references and expanded bibliographies, both of which appear at the end of each entry . . . Strongly recommended for purchase by all public and academic libraries.”
Library Journal, 2013
“The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture is back! This second edition updates the 2,700 previous entries from the 2000 edition, and adds an additional 300 drawn from the intervening years. As Jim Cullen states in the revised introduction to the set, entitled "The Art of Everyday Life" although popular culture is not an "American invention" nowhere else has it been "central to a notion of national character at home as well as abroad" The entries in these volumes are representative of the cultural symbols that shape not only how we see ourselves but how we are seen throughout the world . . . This set deserves a spot in all collections supporting the arts.”
Booklist, 2013
Founded in 1995, Thomas Riggs & Company is a book developer and publisher based in Missoula, Montana.
Edited by Thomas Riggs & Company, Missoula, Montana
From the Editor’s Note:
“The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture is an extensive reference source on popular culture in the United States, covering film, television, music, radio, theatre, dance, comedy, art, books, magazines, sports, social life, and other subject areas. Originally published in 2000, the encyclopedia, now in its second edition, includes more than 2,700 updated entries and more than 300 new entries. Each entry describes a topic in popular cultural and, when appropriate, its relevance to the broader American culture. The entry on MTV, for example, discusses the channel's rise to popularity and the relationship between MTV, youth culture, and consumerism. The entry on John Ford, outlining the film director’s long career, also discusses the influence Ford's films have had on Western movies and on Americans’ perceptions of the West.” (Thomas Riggs & Company)
Reviews:
“The first edition of this five-volume work appeared in 2000 and received a warm reception from reference book reviewers. As well it should, as the set contained 2,700 well-written and thoroughly researched, signed articles covering a plethora of fads and fashions in this country, from ABBA to ZZ Top. This reviewer is pleased to state that an already very good reference set has been elevated to a great one. Some of the more notable improvements include 300 new entries, expanded/updated original articles (essay-length pieces are now broken down into more manageable sections with the addition of subheadings), color photographs largely replacing formerly all black-and-white shots, inclusion of cross-references and expanded bibliographies, both of which appear at the end of each entry . . . Strongly recommended for purchase by all public and academic libraries.”
Library Journal, 2013
“The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture is back! This second edition updates the 2,700 previous entries from the 2000 edition, and adds an additional 300 drawn from the intervening years. As Jim Cullen states in the revised introduction to the set, entitled "The Art of Everyday Life" although popular culture is not an "American invention" nowhere else has it been "central to a notion of national character at home as well as abroad" The entries in these volumes are representative of the cultural symbols that shape not only how we see ourselves but how we are seen throughout the world . . . This set deserves a spot in all collections supporting the arts.”
Booklist, 2013
Founded in 1995, Thomas Riggs & Company is a book developer and publisher based in Missoula, Montana.
