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Parkman, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Parkman, Francis, 1823–93, American historian, b. Boston. In 1846, Parkman started a journey along the Oregon Trail to improve his health and study the Native Americans. On his return to Boston he c...

Trent Affair

(Encyclopedia)Trent Affair, incident in the diplomatic relations between the United States and Great Britain, which occurred during the American Civil War. On Nov. 8, 1861, the British mail packet Trent, carrying J...

Tiahuanaco

(Encyclopedia)Tiahuanaco tyäwänäˈkō [key], ancient native ruin, W Bolivia, 34 mi (55 km) S of Lake Titicaca on the Tiahuanaco R. in the S central Andes, near the Peruvian border; also called Tiwanaku or Tiahua...

Pynchon, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Pynchon, Thomas pĭnˈchən [key], 1937–, American novelist, b. Glen Cove, N.Y., grad. Cornell, 1958. Pynchon is noted for his amazingly fertile imagination, his wild sense of humor, and the teeming...

pen

(Encyclopedia)pen, pointed implement used in writing or drawing to apply ink or a similar colored fluid to any surface, such as paper. Various kinds of pens have been used since ancient times. Reeds that were slit ...

Warren, Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia) Warren, Elizabeth, 1949- , American politician, b. Oklahoma City, Ok., as Elizabeth Ann Herring, Univ. of Houston (1970, B.S.); Rutgers-Newark La...

Wells, H. G.

(Encyclopedia)Wells, H. G. (Herbert George Wells), 1866–1946, English author. Although he is probably best remembered for his works of science fiction, he was also an imaginative social thinker, working assiduous...

Salem, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Salem. 1 City (1990 pop. 38,091), seat of Essex co., NE Mass., on an inlet of Massachusetts Bay; inc. 1629. Its once famous harbor has silted up. Salem has electronic, leather, and machinery industrie...

Doniphan, Alexander William

(Encyclopedia)Doniphan, Alexander William dŏnˈĭfən [key], 1808–87, American lawyer and soldier, b. Mason co., Ky. He began (1830) to practice law in Lexington, Mo., and served three terms in the state legisla...

Rimbaud, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Rimbaud, Arthur ärtürˈ răNbōˈ [key], 1854–91, French poet who had a great influence on the symbolists and subsequent modern poets, b. Charleville. A defiant and precocious youth, Rimbaud at 16...