Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll
This latest incarnation of an authoritative encyclopedia first  published in 1983 boasts over 100 new entries and many revisions  to the 1800 entries found in the 1995 edition. The coverage  increase was made possible by the omission of three kinds of  "nonartist" entries: the Grammy Award boxes, the Rock and Roll  Hall of Fame boxes, and the style and genre definitions. As with  the previous editions, the scope is excellent: few works can  compete in terms of blanket coverage of the major rock'n'roll  players, which dates from the 1950s to the present and includes  names as diverse as Elvis, Chad and Jeremy, Britney, and Eminem.  The alphabetically arranged entries contain birth and, when  applicable, death dates; a discography; and an essay that  attempts (usually successfully) to put the performer's or  group's work in critical and historical perspective. The  introduction by coeditor Romanowski cogently sums up the  criteria and methodology, and though her reasons for featuring  or deleting artists are subjective, they are hard to counter.  This latest edition even offers an index of acts cut from the  second edition. Useful, reasonably priced, and including  well-written essays by respected music writers, this is highly  recommended for any public or academic library. David M.  Turkalo, Suffolk Univ. Law Sch. Lib., BostonCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.