Encyclopedia of Urban Legends. By Jan Harold Brunvand. Illustrated by Randy Hickman. (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2001. Pp. xxxiv + 525, preface, introduction, incidental illustrations, selected bibliography, index.)

Urban legends have become part and parcel of everyday life in America. The stories are familiar-tales of food, travel, crime, romance, sex, shopping, technology, scientific discovery, pets and the like-yet many Americans often fail to recognize the legends and their various permutations as they exchange them in electronic mail, debate them over dinner, or watch them being played out in movies. That being the case, Jan Brunvand has done both everyday America and academia a ...