Finding Background Information

The 100 Most Influential Scientists is part of the Britannica Guide Series that offers a look into 100 scientists from Ancient Greece to the present day. The Britannica Guides series offers an essential introduction to many of the key issues of our time. Clear, accurate, and meticulously researched, the series gives both background and analysis for when you need to know for sure what is really happening in the world, whether you are an expert, student, or traveler.

The Blackwell Dictionary of Political Science provides students and general readers with a clear and lively introduction to the terminology of political science.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature gathers together 350 essays from more than 190 leading scholars on the whole of American literature, from European discovery to the present. At the core of the Encyclopedia lie essays on poets, playwrights, essayists, and novelists. Figures such as Whitman, Melville, Faulkner, Frost, and Morrison are discussed in detail with each examined in the context of his or her times, an assessment of the writer's current reputation, a bibliography of major works, and a list of major critical and biographical works about the writer. Entries on major works place them in their historical context and offer a range of possibilities with regard to critical approach.

A thorough reference set on one of the most important of topics, Historical Encyclopedia of American Business examines almost every facet of American business history that might be of interest to students. The three-volumes in this set cover general business topics like outsourcing or labor strikes, broad legal topics like patent laws, specific companies and government organizations, and persons who have played exceptional roles in the history of Business, like Benjamin Franklin or Bill Gates.

The first edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations was published in 1941 and for over 70 years this bestselling book has remained unrivalled in its coverage of quotations past and present. The eighth edition is a vast treasury of wit and wisdom spanning the centuries and providing th eultimate answer to the question, "Who said that?" Find that half-remembered line in a browser's paradise of over 20,000 quotations, comprehensively indexed for ready reference.

Designed for the non-specialist, the Encyclopedia Of Business And Finance is a two-volume complete reference covering five general areas: finance and banking; accounting; marketing; management; and information systems. Drawing on practical professional expertise as well as that of noted scholars, the contributors include academics and business scholars from leading business programs. The new completely revised second edition includes 315 signed essays.

American National Biography is the first new comprehensive biographical dictionary focused on American history to be published in seventy years. Produced under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies, the ANB contains over 17,500 profiles on historical figures written by an expert in the field and completed with a bibliography. The scope of the work is enormous--from the earlest recorded European explorations to the very recent past.

Federal, state, county, and municipal police forces all have their own codes of conduct, yet the ethics of being a police officer remain perplexing and are often difficult to apply in dynamic situations. The police misconduct statistics are staggering and indicate that excessive use of force comprises almost a quarter of misconduct cases, with sexual harassment, fraud/theft, and false arrest being the next most prevalent factors. The ethical issues and dilemmas in criminal justice also reach deep into the legal professions, the structure and administration of justice in society, and the personal characteristics of those in the criminal justice professions.