From: brock@ucsub.Colorado.EDU (Steve Brock)
Subject: Review of Encyc. of World Cultures, Vol. 7, South America
Date: 16 Mar 1995 17:37:29 GMT

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD CULTURES, VOLUME 7 (SOUTH AMERICA), David
Levinson, Editor in Chief, Johannes Wilbert, Volume Editor.  G.K.
Hall and Co., 866 Third Ave., N.Y., NY  10022, (800) 223-2336,
(800) 445-6991 FAX.  Each volume contains: maps, indexes, bibliog-
raphies, glossary, filmography, index of ethnonyms.  486 pp.,
$100.00 cloth.  0-8161-1813-2

                             REVIEW

     This volume, arranged by geographic region, is the seventh of
a projected ten-volume set, sponsored by Yale University's Human
Relations Area Files.  Over one thousand anthropologists and
sociologists have collaborated on this compilation.  Volume Seven
addresses the three general categories of South American people,
living in twelve sovereign republics, and with a population of just
over 305 million: American Indians, African Americans, and ethnic-
group immigrants from Europe and Asia.  The bulk of the book
concentrates on American Indians.
     For each of the three South American cultures, the authors
investigate individual groups, giving information on their location
and demography, language, history, settlements, economy,
sociopolitical organization (as well as past and current
conflicts), religion and expressive culture, and an occasionally
out-of-date bibliography.
     Each volume in the set, arranged alphabetically by culture
(and cross-referenced), contains an introduction which describes
the history of cultural development in the region, written by the
Volume Editors.  The introduction also contains a bibliography of
general works on the cultures of the region.
     After several original maps showing the cultures of particular
regions come the descriptive summaries, which are divided into
location, population, language, history, economy, kinship, marriage
and family, sociopolitical organization, and religion, followed by
a bibliography for the culture.
     When completed, the set will describe virtually all the
cultures of all regions of the world.  It is not intended to be
all-inclusive of all nationalities, but only contains descriptions
of distinct cultures.  Each volume, if needed, has an index of
extinct cultures in an appendix.  Immigrant cultures are treated as
separate only when there has been a period of resistance to
assimilation into the dominant culture.
     The set is well-utilized by high-school students,
undergraduate anthropology and sociology majors, researchers, and
other cultural investigators, and is essential for every
high-school, college, and large public library.
     Forthcoming editions and their anticipated dates of
publication are as follows:
     Volume  8 - Caribbean, (May, 1995)
     Volume  9 - Africa and the Middle East, (August, 1995)
     Volume 10 - Cumulative Indexes, Bibliographies, and Maps.    
                 (October, 1995)