Book excerpt: Designed for students, scholars, and general readers, this work focuses on folklore forms and methods from a cross-cultural, theoretical perspective. Folklore emphasizes those bodies of North American and European scholarship that have influenced each other most profoundly since the discipline's inception. The entries provide an introduction that facilitates the pursuit of more specialized topics and other bodies of scholarship. Topics range from such traditional subjects as "festival" and "folktale" to cutting-edge entries such as "computer-mediated folklore" and "postmodernism." In most cases, a longer, more comprehensive essay format for entries has been favored over shorter entries. Entries are cross-referenced, and each includes a select bibliography to serve as a guide to in depth research. - Entries are cross referenced, and each includes a select bibliography to serve as a guide to in depth research