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Vanderbilt, Cornelius

(Encyclopedia)Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 1794–1877, American railroad magnate, b. Staten Island, N.Y. As a boy he ferried freight and passengers from Staten Island to Manhattan, and he soon gained control of most of ...

bridge, card game

(Encyclopedia)bridge, card game derived from whist, played with 52 cards by four players in two partnerships. Bridge probably originated in the Middle East in the 19th cent. Auction bridge, one form of the game, ...

missions

(Encyclopedia)missions, term generally applied to organizations formed for the purpose of extending religious teaching, whether at home or abroad. It also indicates the stations or the fields where such teaching is...

North Africa, campaigns in

(Encyclopedia)North Africa, campaigns in, series of military contests for control of North Africa during World War II. The desert war started in 1940 and for more than two years thereafter seesawed between NE Libya...

Thomas à Becket, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Thomas à Becket, Saint, or Saint Thomas Becket, 1118–70, English martyr, archbishop of Canterbury, b. London. He is called St. Thomas of Canterbury and occasionally St. Thomas of London. In exi...

Reagan, Ronald Wilson

(Encyclopedia)Reagan, Ronald Wilson rāˈgən [key], 1911–2004, 40th president of the United States (1981–89), b. Tampico, Ill. In 1932, after graduation from Eureka College, he became a radio announcer and spo...

English literature

(Encyclopedia)English literature, literature written in English since c.1450 by the inhabitants of the British Isles; it was during the 15th cent. that the English language acquired much of its modern form. For the...

Ford, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Ford, Henry, 1863–1947, American industrialist, pioneer automobile manufacturer, b. Dearborn, Mich. Henry Ford's son, Edsel Bryant Ford, 1893–1943, b. Detroit, shared in the control of the vast ...

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