(Encyclopedia) Pure Land Buddhism or Amidism, devotional sect of Mahayana Buddhism in China and Japan, centering on worship of the Buddha Amitabha. According to the Pure Land Sutras, composed in…
(Encyclopedia) Oates, Joyce Carol, 1938–, American author, b. Lockport, N.Y., B.A. Syracuse Univ., 1960, M.A. Univ. of Wisconsin, 1961. She taught English at the Univ. of Detroit and the Univ. of…
(Encyclopedia) Carroll, Lewis, pseud. of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832–98, English writer, mathematician, and amateur photographer, b. near Daresbury, Cheshire (now in Halton). Educated at Christ…
(Encyclopedia) Conrad III, c.1093–1152, German king (1138–52), son of Frederick, duke of Swabia, and Agnes, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV; first of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He joined his…
And an oily smoke that rolls through the trees/ into the night of the last American summer . . . —Major Jackson compiled by David Johnson The summer's flower is to the…
(Encyclopedia) Kushner, TonyKushner, Tonyk&oobreve;shˈnər [key], 1956–, American playwright, b. New York City. He was a little-known off-Broadway playwright with several interesting works, e.g.,…
(Encyclopedia) Morrison, Toni, 1931–2019, American writer, b. Lorain, Ohio, as Chloe Ardelia (later Anthony) Wofford; B.A. Howard Univ., 1953, M.F.A. Cornell, 1955. Her fiction is noted for its…
(Encyclopedia) Doctorow, E. L. (Edgar Lawrence Doctorow)Doctorow, E. L.dŏkˈtərōˌ [key], 1931–2015, American novelist, b. New York City. The author of a dozen novels, Doctorow is known for his…
(Encyclopedia) Wilder, Thornton Niven, 1897–1975, American playwright and novelist, b. Madison, Wis., grad. Yale (B.A., 1920), Princeton (M.A., 1925). He received most of his early education in China…
(Encyclopedia) Black Panthers, U.S. African-American militant party, founded (1966) in Oakland, Calif., by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Originally aimed at armed self-defense against the local…
