American Folklore, Penguin Dictionary of - Hardcover

In addition to music, there are entries on history, politics, economy, and civil movements. Numerous pages are devoted to Abraham Lincoln, and there are biographies for Joe Hill, Eliot Ness, Crazy Horse, and Henry Ford, as well. The Dictionary discusses graffiti, ghost stories, and Ouiji boards, architectural trends such as Colonial Revival, and a variety of humor genres, from tall tales and playing the Dirty Dozens to telling Dumb Dora and Little Willie jokes. There are entries for painters, such as Norman Rockwell; dancers, such as Martha Graham; and crafts, including passages on quilts and tattoos. And there are sports figures (Yogi Berra's sayings get a full treatment), and writers, too, such as Zora Neale Hurston, Herman Melville, and H.L. Mencken.

The A-to-Z design enables fast access if you know what you want to look up, but it also provides seemingly endless opportunities for happy browsing. Open to the M's and you'll find Marilyn Monroe, Mickey Mouse, and midwives. Skip back to the J's and there's the jitterbug, John Henry, and Juneteenth. Tailor-made for folklorists, historians, and American Studies students, The Folklore Dictionary is a boon to anyone with browsing time to spare. --Stephanie Gold

Alan Axelrod is a renowned historian and business writer. He was the co author of the New York Times bestseller What Every American Should Know About American History as well as the BusinessWeek bestsellers Patton on Leadership and Elizabeth I, CEO. He has written extensively on the Civil War.