Specialized Print Reference Book (2)

Rodgers, Eamonn, Encyclopedia of Contemporary Spanish Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1999.

This encyclopedia is a specialized print reference book that targets the contemporary culture of Spain. The publisher, Routledge, distributes academic books, journals and online resources in the humanities and social sciences on a global scale. These reference works have earned a credible reputation and have been recommended by organizations such as Booklist, Choice, and Library Journal, to name a few. This source would be helpful to a journalist because there are many easy-to-find entries that are extremely relevant to this topic. For example, relevant entries include those about Fallas, Holy Week processions, Sanfermines (the running of the bulls), Moors and Christians, the April Fair and Corpus Christi, which are all major fiestas in the country. Furthermore, this is an important source because there is an entry simply about the culture of the fiesta. This entry will give an easy overview of the importance of the Spanish fiesta, without overwhelming the reader with long extensive lists of the fiestas. Individual fiestas are in separate entries, which allows the reader to have better understanding of the topic as a whole.

Truscott, Sandra, and María García. A Dictionary of Contemporary Spain. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998.

This dictionary of contemporary Spain includes more than 2,000 entries pertaining to words that may appear while researching any topic about modern Spain. For this reason, this is a pertinent source for any journalist researching this topic. It would be handy to keep during the entire research process as a reference for when the researcher finds unfamiliar concepts or Spanish words. The publisher, Fitzroy Dearborn Publisher, issues scientific, academic books and journals internationally. FDP specializes in producing reference materials in the arts, humanities, business and sciences subject areas for public, high school, college/university and libraries. It publishes about 25 new books per year and has a backlist of 350 titles. Under the “fiesta” entry, one will find seven subsequent entries explaining some of the region-specific celebrations, all of which are relevant to the topic of the Spanish fiesta. These subsequent entries address several of the main Spanish festivals, and provides the reader with a brief summary of what is to be expects of each festival.