The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend (2 Volume Set) by James R. Dow (Repost)

"The Facts On File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition" is a complete revision that provides an even more extensive survey of myths, legends, and folklore from around the world. With assistance from a team of scholars, James R. Dow has revised and updated the entire text in this comprehensive resource. This new edition boasts approximately 3,000 entries, 150 of which are new; a substantially updated bibliography; an overhauled art program, with hundreds of new images; and, a new guide to Internet sources on world mythology and legend. Entries include important scholarly terms, figures important in folklore and mythology, the historical figures that have inspired myths and folklore, and the authors who wrote down folktales or used folklore and mythology extensively in their work. Many new entries focus on the mythology and folklore of Cambodia, Tibet, Ukraine, and other areas.

Review:
Dow (German folklore & linguistics, emeritus, Iowa State Univ.) has thoroughly revised and updated the 2004 edition of the late Mercatante's celebrated encyclopedia. Readers will encounter 150 new articles (bringing the total to 3000), an expanded, annotated bibliography including web resources on world mythology, and new images. Impressive in scope, the set takes its title seriously—featured here are not only myths and legends from the Western hemisphere but a large survey of folklore and fables from Africa, India, ancient cultures, and the world's aboriginal and native peoples. The A-to-Z articles run in length from a paragraph to several pages, each including cross-references to other entries and related subjects and crisp black-and-white illustrations that replace some of the earlier editions' murkier reproductions. Previous volumes used a numbered entry system, which has been discontinued; the indexes, including a list of entries by culture, now refer readers to page numbers. BOTTOM LINE Earlier versions have been enthusiastically recommended, and this new edition is even better. Jammed with information and filled with both impressive scholarship and entertaining tidbits (who knew the potato was considered unholy by the Scots?), it is highly recommended for all libraries. —Amanda Sprochi, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia