Ranging from the Abakwa Society to zydeco music, The Dictionary of Global Culture provides a vast survey of cultural subjects from all over the world - East Asia, India, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Australasia, as well as Europe and North America.

The book's more than 1,200 entries - on writers, musicians, deities, rulers, philosophies, literary forms - have been prepared by a team of regional experts from every part of the world, including scholars from other cultures in addition to Western scholars of other cultures.

While no work of its kind can be even remotely exhaustive, The Dictionary of Global Culture provides an essential starting point for those who would participate in the emerging global civilization. For students, businesspeople, and informed Americans from all walks of life, here is an invitation to journey through the range of human cultures, many of whose traditions we are only beginning to learn ... and to learn to respect.