African Folktales at Internet Archive: African Folklore: An Encyclopedia

For this week, I am focusing on reference books (see all this week's posts on one page), and the book I want to feature today is this extraordinary reference project: African Folklore: An Encyclopedia edited by Philip Peek and Kwesi Yankah, just a click away at Internet Archive.

This is a recent book, published in 2004, and as typical with books from Routledge, it is incredibly expensive: I know, because I bought a copy; that was before the great Internet Archive came to the rescue with "controlled digital lending" so that you can now check this book out online and have access to the book right in your own home at any time that you need it.

In addition, this book has the advantage of electronic search at Internet Archive so that, in addition to using the organizational tools provided by the physical book, you can also search electronically. My main interest is tricksters, so I am able to search for trickster in the Internet Archive version, and then browse the book that way (and it's a BIG book, over 600 pages), moving from one entry to the next; there are over 100 hits for trickster in the book:

The list of contributors is also extremely valuable since you can use that list of names to search for other books at Internet Archive and/or for used books at Abe, and each article contains its own list of references which is also great for finding more to read:

So, for an endless source of learning and for leads about where to learn more, I cannot say enough good things about this book: highly HIGHLY recommended!

African Folklore: An Encyclopedia

edited by Philip Peek and Kwesi Yankah