With entries that range from specific works to authors, folklore, and popular culture (including music, film, television, urban legend, and gaming), this book provides a single-volume resource on all things ghostly in the United States and in other countries. The concept of ghosts has been an ongoing and universal element in human culture as far back as recorded history can document. In more modern popular culture and entertainment, ghosts are a popular mainstay—from A Christmas Carol and Casper the Friendly Ghost to The Amityville Horror, Ghostbusters, Poltergeist, The Sixth Sense, and Ghost Whisperer. This book comprehensively examines ghost and spirit phenomena in all its incarnations to provide readers with a holistic perspective on the subject. It presents insightful information about the contribution of a specific work or author to establish or further the evolution of ghost lore, rather than concentrating solely on the film, literature, music, or folklore itself. The book focuses on ghosts in western culture but also provides information about spirit phenomena and lore in international settings, as many of the trends in popular culture dealing with ghosts and spirits are informed by authors and filmmakers from Germany, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom. The writers and editors are experts and scholars in the field and enthusiastic fans of ghost lore, ghost films, ghost hunting, and urban legends, resulting in entries that are informative and engaging—and make this the most complete and current resource on ghost and spirit lore available.

After studying at Oxford University and finding God, Carolyn Weber grappled with a new invitation: to think bigger about love. Through Weber's personal story of courtship, marriage, and parenthood, as well as spiritual, theological, and literary reflection, this memoir explores what life looks like when we choose to love God first.

In this eclectic encyclopedia, author Stan Jeffries chronicles the careers of over 110 musical artists from 37 different nations. Entries include biographical information, trace the entrants' musical development, and recount the performers' critical and popular reception. Annotation. Weighted heavily towards European acts and secondarily towards Asian ones, this encyclopedia contains some 130 entries offering career details of groups and single artists who have achieved success in world pop charts. The selection is arbitrary and incomplete, with four entries from South Africa representing the entirety of the African continent, the growing influence of Arab pop music completely ignored, and the arguably crucial contribution of Jamaica to world pop utterly neglected.

Based on Martin Strong's The Great Rock Discography, this is a compact version featuring 500 of the most influential figures in the history of popular music. It expands on the format of the previous title, in which full track listings for all albums, b-sides for all singles, labels, UK and US chart positions, band members, recommended listening, style analysis, band histories - from original line-ups to dissolution, solo projects, potted biographies, a pricing guide for rare albums and release dates are given.