Kurian, George Thomas 1931-

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KURIAN, George Thomas 1931-

PERSONAL: Born August 4, 1931, in Changanacherry, India; naturalized U.S. citizen; married August 22, 1966; wife's name Annie; children: Sarah Claudine. Ethnicity: "Asian American." Education: Madras Christian College, M.A., 1951. Politics: Republican. Religion: Christian. Hobbies and other interests: Carpentry.

ADDRESSES: Home—3689 Campbell Ct., Yorktown Heights, NY 10598. Office—George Kurian Reference Books, P.O. Box 519, Baldwin Place, NY 10505. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer. G. Kurian Reference Books, Baldwin Place, NY, president, 1972–. United Nations Studies Forum, director.

MEMBER: International Encyclopedia Society (president).

AWARDS, HONORS: Citations for outstanding reference book, American Library Association, 1978, for Encyclopedia of the Third World, 1979, for The Illustrated Book of World Rankings, and 1988, for World Education Encyclopedia.

WRITINGS:

EDITOR

Dictionary of Indian English, Indian Universities Press (Madras, India), 1966.

Children's Literary Almanac, G. Kurian Reference Books (Pelham, NY), 1973

Directory of American Book Publishing, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1975.

Historical and Cultural Dictionary of India, Scarecrow Press (Metuchen, NJ), 1976.

Worldwide Markets for English-Language Books, Knowledge Industry Publications (White Plains, NY), 1977.

Encyclopedia of the Third World, three volumes, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1978, 4th edition, 1991.

The Illustrated Book of World Rankings, M. E. Sharpe (Armonk, NY), 1979.

Laurel Dictionary of Biography, Dell (New York, NY), 1980.

World Press Encyclopedia, two volumes, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1982.

New American Gazetteer, New American Library (New York, NY), 1984.

Geo-Data: World Almanac Gazetteer, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1984.

World Data, World Almanac (New York, NY), 1984.

What's What in American Business, Probus (Chicago, IL), 1985.

Sourcebook of Global Statistics, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1986.

World Encyclopedia of Police Forces and Penal Systems, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1987.

Yearbook of American Universities and Colleges, Garland Publishing (New York, NY), 1987.

Global Guide to Medical Information, Elsevier (New York, NY), 1987.

Handbook of Business Quotations, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1987.

World Education Encyclopedia, three volumes, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1988.

Geo-Data: World Geographical Encyclopedia, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1989.

Glossary of the Third World: Words for Understanding Third World Peoples and Cultures, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1989.

(Editor) Teachers as Writers, Teachers USA, 1989.

Encyclopedia of the First World, two volumes, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1990.

The Benelux Countries, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1990.

British Isles, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1990.

North America, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1990.

Scandinavia, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1990.

Japan, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1990.

Australia and New Zealand, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1990.

Encyclopedia of the Second World, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1991.

World Encyclopedia of Cities, two volumes, American Bibliographical Center-Clio Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1993.

Datapedia of the United States: American History in Numbers, Bernan (Lanham, MD), 1993, 3rd edition, 2004.

Atlas of the Third World, 2nd edition, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1993.

(With Graham T. T. Molitor) Encyclopedia of the Future, two volumes, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1995.

Encyclopedia of Medical Media and Communications, Aspen Publishers (Gaithersburg, MD), 1996.

Encyclopedia of the Democratic Party, two volumes, M. E. Sharpe (Armonk, NY), 1996.

Encyclopedia of the Republican Party, two volumes, M. E. Sharpe (Armonk, NY), 1996.

Timenglish: The Words of Time, Word Almanac, 1996.

Global Data Locator, Bernan Press (Lanham, MD), 1997.

World Encyclopedia of Parliaments and Legislatures, two volumes, Congressional Quarterly (Washington, DC), 1997.

The Dictionary of America, NTC Publishing Group (Lincolnwood, IL), 1997.

The World as It Should Be: Reversing History's Mistakes, United Nations Studies Forum, 1997.

Historical Guide to U.S. Government, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(With David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson) World Christian Encyclopedia, three volumes, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Jeffrey D. Schultz) The Political Market Place, Oryx (Phoenix, AZ), 1998.

NTC's Dictionary of the USA: A Practical Guide to American Language and Culture, NTC Publishing Group (Lincolnwood, IL), 1998.

(With John Y. Cole) Encyclopedia of the Library of Congress, Library of Congress (Washington, DC), 1999.

(With Graham T. T. Molitor) Compendium of the Twenty-first Century, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1999.

(With Jeffrey D. Schultz) The Chronicles of Christianity, Liguori Publications (Liguori, MO), 1999.

The Nobel Scientists, Plenum (New York, NY), 1999, published as The Nobel Scientists: A Biographical Encyclopedia, Prometheus Books (Amherst, NY), 2002.

Encyclopedia of American Studies, four volumes, Grolier (Danbury, CT), 2000.

The Illustrated Book of World Rankings 2000 (CDROM), 5th edition, M. E. Sharpe (Armonk, NY), 2001.

(Editor, with Miles Orvell, Johnella E. Butler, and Jay Mechling) Encyclopedia of American Studies, Grolier (Danbury,CT), 2001.

(With David Barrett and Todd M. Johnson) World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions A.D. 30-A.D. 2200, 2nd edition, 3 volumes, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Christianity A to Z (also published as Nelson's New Christian Dictionary,), Thomas Nelson (Nashville, TN) 2001, published as The Testament Christian Dictionary: The Authoritative Compendium of Christian Terms, Testament Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Encyclopedia of the World's Nations, three volumes, Facts on File (New York, NY), 2002.

Supplement to the Encyclopedia of the Democratic Party, 1996–2000, Sharpe Reference (Armonk, NY), 2002.

Supplement to the Encyclopedia of the Republican Party, 1996–2000, Sharpe Reference (Armonk, NY), 2002.

Dictionary of World Politics, Congressional Quarterly Press (Washington, DC), 2002.

Timetables of World Literature, Facts on File (New York, NY), 2003.

NATO Encyclopedia, Potomac Books (Dulles, VA), 2005.

World Encyclopedia of Police Forces and Correctional Systems, two volumes, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2005.

WORK IN PROGRESS: World Encyclopedia of Agriculture, two volumes, publication by Cambridge University Press (New York, NY) expected in 2007; International Encyclopedia of Political Science, five volumes, Congressional Quarterly Books (Washington, DC), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS: George Thomas Kurian once told CA: "My purpose is to harness the information explosion to produce meaningful reference books. Information is a form of energy, and its transmission and utilization are important functions in a dynamic culture and society. I look for gaps in the current reference shelf, find a need, and then try to fill it."