Gale is continually updating and adding new content to our In Context products, ensuring that they offer timely, authoritative, useful information. The items below were added or updated during the week of February 9, 2015.
Biography in Context
- Four new homepage spotlights:
- Writer Zora Neale Hurston, a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance who is known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God – author Alice Walker renewed interest in Hurston’s work during the 1970s
- Iconic singer Madonna, whose Grammy Awards appearance will tie in with her March 2015 new album release
- New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, celebrating his recent Super Bowl win
- “The Theory of Everything” star Eddie Redmayne – the British actor has been nominated for this year’s Academy Award for Best Actor
- New Featured Video: Louis Armstrong singing “Hello, Dolly” (for African American Heritage Month)
- Three New Portals launched in January bringing the total number of portal pages to 4,574:
- Maulana Karenga, educator, scholar, and founder of Kwanzaa
- Nik Wallenda, high-wire walker and member of the famous acrobatic Wallenda family
- San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner, the 2014 World Series MVP
- Note: An update was made to the BiC portal page for Harper Lee, who surprised the literary community this week with news of “Go Set a Watchman,” her new (yet-unpublished) book that will release in July 2015.
Global Issues in Context
- A new video entitled “Young Cubans Stage Cultural Revolution” was added to the homepage
- 38 portal pages have been updated this week including:
- Automobile Emissions
- Apartheid: Lingering Issues
- Cuba Post-Castro
- Holocaust: Lingering Issues
- Industrial Accidents and Pollution
- Iran: International Relations
- Islamic State
- Water Rights
Opposing Viewpoints in Context
- 5 new homepage spotlights nowappear:
- An image of a vial of the MMR vaccine. The recent Measles outbreak in the United States has caused another round of controversy and debate on whether or not vaccinations should be mandatory for children. This spotlight is tied to the Vaccines portal.
- An image of Lava spewing from one of the world’s most active volcanoes, the Kilauea volcano, which is located next to the town of Pahoa on the Big Island of Hawaii. This spotlight is tied to the Natural Disasters portal.
- An image of a group of young undocumented immigrants known as “dreamers” meeting with President Obama. Thanks to the DREAM Act passed in 2012, they are protected from deportation. This spotlight is tied to the DREAM Act portal.
- An image of the aftermath of an airport in Donetsk, Ukraine, as it became a battle ground between Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) soldiers and the Ukrainian government’s troops. This spotlight is tied to the Russia and Ukraine Conflicts portal.
- An image of Flight 235, which crashed into a river in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, on February 4, 2015. Both engines failed after take-off and 40 people have died of the 58 on board. Note the image was taken from a car data recorder. This spotlight is tied to the Transportation Infrastructure portal.
- A new homepage video also appears and is titled “What’s Next in the Global Response to Ebola?”
Student Resources in Context
- The latest editions of Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices (2015) and Cities of the United States (2014) have been loaded and now appear.
- In conjunction with the above additions, 308 portal pages have been updated with new reference content and over 600 images have been added. The updated portal pages include all religion portals, and many of the nation, state, and city portals. Additionally, all state and province portal pages have been updated to feature photographic images instead of flags.
U.S. History in Context
- Two new portal pages nowappear:
- Women in World War I
- Women in World War II
World History in Context
- Two new portal pages nowappear:
- Genetics
- Margaret Thatcher