This best-selling dictionary contains over 1,700 entries on all aspects of politics. Written by a leading team of political scientists, it embraces the whole multi-disciplinary specturm of political theory including political thinkers, history, institutions, and concepts, as well as notable current affairs that have shaped attitudes to politics. An appendix contains timelines listing the principal office-holders of a range of countries including the UK, Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and China. Fully revised and updated for the 3rd edition, the dictionary includes a wealth of new material in areas such as international relations, political science, political economy, and methodologies, as well as a chronology of key political theorists. It also boasts entry-level web links that don't go out of date. These can be accessed via a regularly checked and updated companion website, ensuring that the links remain relevent, and any dead links are replaced or removed. The dictionary has international coverage and will prove invaluable to students and academics studying politics and related disciplines, as well as politicians, journalists, and the general reader seeking clarification of political terms.

Here is a wonderful Baedeker to down-and-dirty politics--more than six hundred slang terms straight from the smoke-filled rooms of American political speech. Hatchet Jobs and Hardball: The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang illuminates a rich and colorful segment of our language. Readers will find informative entries on slang terms such as Beltway bandit and boondoggle, angry white male and leg treasurer, juice bill and Joe Citizen, banana superpower and the Big Fix. We find not only the meaning and history of familiar terms such as gerrymander, but also of lesser-known terms such as cracking (splitting a bloc of like-minded voters by redistricting) and fair-fight district (which refers to areas redistricted to favor no political party). Each entry includes the definition of the word, its historical background, and illuminating citations, some going back more than 200 years. (We learn, for instance, that a term as seemingly current as political football actually dates back to before the Civil War.) Selected entries will have extended encyclopedic notes. The book also features sidebar essays on topics such as political words in Blogistan; a short history of "big cheese"; all about chads and the 2000 election; the suffix "-gate" and all the related Watergate terms; and the naming of legislation. Political junkies, policy wonks, journalists, and word lovers will find this book addictive reading as well as a reliable guide to one of the more colorful corners of American English.

A consistent best-seller, the wide-ranging and authoritative Dictionary of Sociology was first published in 1994 and contains more than 2,500 entries on the terminology, methods, concepts, and thinkers in the field, as well as from the related fields of psychology, economics, anthropology, philosophy, and political science. For this fourth edition, Professor John Scott has conducted a thorough review of all entries to ensure that they are concise, focused, and up to date. Revisions reflect current intellectual debates and social conditions, particularly in relation to global and multi-cultural issues. New entries cover relevant contemporary concepts, such as climate change, social media, terrorism, and intersectionality, as well as key living sociologists. This Dictionary is both an invaluable introduction to sociology for beginners, and an essential source of reference for more advanced students and teachers.

When it comes to the vagaries of language in American politics, its uses and abuses, its absurdities and ever-shifting nuances, its power to confound, obscure, and occasionally to inspire, William Safire is the language maven we most readily turn to for clarity, guidance, and penetrating, sometimes lacerating, wit. Safire's Political Dictionary is a stem-to-stern updating and expansion of the Language of Politics, which was first published in 1968 and last revised in 1993, long before such terms as Hanging Chads, 9/11 and the War on Terror became part of our everyday vocabulary. Nearly every entry in that renowned work has been revised and updated and scores of completely new entries have been added to produce an indispensable guide to the political language being used and abused in America today. Safire's definitions--discursive, historically aware, and often anecdotal--bring a savvy perspective to our colorful political lingo. Indeed, a Safire definition often reads like a mini-essay in political history, and readers will come away not only with a fuller understanding of particular words but also a richer knowledge of how politics works, and fails to work, in America. From Axis of Evil, Blame Game, Bridge to Nowhere, Triangulation, and Compassionate Conservatism to Islamofascism, Netroots, Earmark, Wingnuts and Moonbats, Slam Dunk, Doughnut Hole, and many others, this language maven explains the origin of each term, how and by whom and for what purposes it has been used or twisted, as well as its perceived and real significance. For anyone who wants to cut through the verbal haze that surrounds so much of American political discourse, Safire's Political Dictionary offers a work of scholarship, wit, insiderhood and resolute bipartisanship.

Education is of relevance to everyone, but it involves specialized terminology which may be unfamiliar or opaque. The second edition of this UK-focused dictionary - with around 1,100 authoritative entries - provides clear and accessible definitions of the terms, organizations, qualifications, statutes, and much more, involved in education today.

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary is one of the most popular choices in Oxford's renowned dictionary line. This Luxury Edition is perfect for anyone looking to invest in a reliable resource for home, school, or office. It includes unique features such as cut thumb tabs, printed endpapers, ribbon marker, with coloured head and tailbands making it a centerpiece for all bookshelves. This centenary edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary Luxury Edition presents the most accurate picture of English today. It contains over 240,000 words, phrases, and definitions, providing superb coverage of contemporary English, including rare, historical, and archaic terms, scientific and technical vocabulary, and English from around the world. The dictionary has been updated with hundreds of new words--including sub-prime, social networking, and carbon footprint--all based on the latest research from the Oxford English Corpus. In addition, the dictionary features an engaging new center section, with quick-reference word lists (containing, for example, lists of Fascinating Words and Onomatopoeic Words), and a revised and updated English Uncovered supplement, which examines interesting facts about the English language. Sprinkled throughout the text are intriguing Word Histories, detailing the origins and development of numerous words. The volume also retains such popular features as the hundreds of usage notes which give advice on tricky vocabulary and pointers to help you improve your use of English. Finally, the dictionary contains full appendices on topics such as alphabets, currencies, electronic English, and the registers of language (from formal to slang), plus a useful Guide to Good English with advice on grammar, punctuation, and spelling. This Luxury Edition also includes 12 months' of access to Oxford Dictionaries Online at oxforddictionaries.com.

This wide-ranging dictionary contains a wealth of information on all aspects of history, from prehistory right up to the present day. Over 4,000 clear, concise entries include biographies of key figures in world history (living and dead), separate entries for every country in the world (summarising key historical events), and in-depth entries on religious and political movements, international organizations, and major conflicts and events and their after-effects. For this new edition, existing entries have been revised and updated to reflect the very latest global events including changes in leadership, wars, political situations, and the statistical information given for each country (population counts, currency, languages, religions). New entries have been included for key figures who have recently come to prominence and world events. The book also contains twenty-five detailed maps linked to key historical events and topics. These include the African slave trade, the Black Death, and the Normandy campaign. Also included are over 200 country maps. The dictionary is enhanced by entry-level web links which are accessed via a dedicated companion website. Encyclopedic in scope, this ambitious A to Z provides an excellent overview of world history both for students and anyone with an interest in the subject.

Originally compiled by an expert team of contributors, this dictionary covers all the major figures in world politics of the twentieth century. Authoritative and wide-ranging, it describes and assesses the lives of more than 1,100 men and women who have shaped political events across the world. Each entry includes an account of the background, career, and achievements of the individual concerned, balancing fact with critical appraisal. This second edition, commissioned especially for Oxford Reference, contains over 25 new entries, and the whole text has been thoroughly revised and updated.

This authoritative dictionary contains clear, concise definitions of over 150 key terms from ethical theory and touches upon a variety of relevant subfields including meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. It addresses a number of sub topics which have been under-represented within current literature, including the ethics of eating, feminist ethics, and disability ethics. Other entries cover relevant contemporary concepts, such as care ethics, moral nativism, and constitutivism, offering a thorough and accessible understanding to those working in conjunction with relevant fields. A Dictionary of Ethics is a valuable reference resource for academics, practitioners, and students of moral philosophy, applied ethics, and public policy. It will also be of interest to readers looking to familiarize themselves with ethical terms and the concepts they express.