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Puccini, Giacomo

(Encyclopedia)Puccini, Giacomo jäˈkōmō po͞ot-chēˈnē [key], 1858–1924, Italian composer of operas. He wrote some of the most popular works in the opera repertory. A descendant of a long line of musicians, ...

Bingham, George Caleb

(Encyclopedia)Bingham, George Caleb, 1811–79, American painter and politician, b. Augusta co., Va. His family moved (1819) to Missouri, which was the site of most of Bingham's activities. In 1837 he studied for a...

Storm King Art Center

(Encyclopedia)Storm King Art Center, sculpture park and museum in Mountainville, N.Y., some 55 mi (89 km) north of New York City. Founded in 1960, it comprises 500 acres (202 hectares) of lawns, fields, hills, and ...

Dunham, Katherine

(Encyclopedia)Dunham, Katherine dŭnˈəm [key], 1909?–2006, American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist, b. Chicago. She studied anthropology at the Univ. of Chicago, where she received a B.A. and Ph.D. a...

Grand Alliance, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Grand Alliance, War of the, 1688–97, war between France and a coalition of European powers, known as the League of Augsburg (and, after 1689, as the Grand Alliance). Louis XIV of France took advanta...

Lin, Maya Ying

(Encyclopedia)Lin, Maya Ying mīˈə [key], 1959–, American architect and sculptor, b. Athens, Ohio. Lin's work is known for its visual poetry and sensitive mingling of highly abstract form with meaning. From an ...

Vancouver, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Vancouver, city (1990 pop. 46,380), seat of Clark co., SW Wash., on the Columbia River opposite Portland, Oreg., with which it is connected by bridges; inc. 1857. A rapidly growing suburb of Portland ...

Snake, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Snake, river, 1,038 mi (1,670 km) long, NW United States, the chief tributary of the Columbia; once called the Lewis River. The Snake rises in NW Wyoming, in Yellowstone National Park, flows through J...

Beck, Aaron Tempkin

(Encyclopedia) Beck, Aaron Tempkin, 1921-2021, American psychiatrist, b. Providence, R.I., Brown Univ. (B.A., 1942), Yale Univ. (M.D., 1946). Following earning his me...

Howells, William Dean

(Encyclopedia)Howells, William Dean, 1837–1920, American novelist, critic, and editor, b. Martins Ferry, Ohio. Both in his own novels and in his critical writing, Howells was a champion of realism in American lit...