A series of dictionaries on the contemporary milieu of the world’s most important countries. These dictionaries are not tourist guides–though tourists with a serious interest in countries they are visiting will find them of great help in learning more about these societies. These alphabetical reference guides have been compiled to give up-to-date information on all aspects of each country–explanations of terms that are outside the scope of a standard dictionary or encyclopedia–including acronyms, political and legal institutions, cultural phenomena, social welfare programs, industrial concerns, media, literary and political personalities, and much more. Each Dictionary has been compiled by two people–a native of the individual country and an English-speaking collaborator from either Great Britain or the United States. Readers are thus assured of authoritative information that is rendered in terms comprehensible to English-language readers. The Dictionaries will prove invaluable to researchers, librarians, and students.