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Petty, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Petty, Richard, 1937–, American auto racing driver, b. Level Cross, N.C. The son of Lee Petty, a champion stock car race driver, he won a record 200 National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing ra...

Badius, Jodocus

(Encyclopedia)Badius, Jodocus jōdōˈkəs bāˈdēəs [key], 1462–1535, French printer, b. Asche, near Brussels. His original name was Josse Bade, and he is sometimes called for his birthplace Jodocus Badius Asc...

Orr, James Lawrence

(Encyclopedia)Orr, James Lawrence, 1822–73, American politician, b. Craytonville, S.C. He served in the South Carolina legislature (1844–48) and in the U.S. House of Representatives (1849–59), where he was (1...

Dance Theatre of Harlem

(Encyclopedia)Dance Theatre of Harlem, the first black classical ballet company. The group was founded in Harlem, New York City, by Arthur Mitchell, then of the New York City Ballet, the first African-American prin...

Simon, Neil

(Encyclopedia)Simon, Neil (Marvin Neil Simon), 1927–2018, American playwright, b. the Bronx, New York City. His plays, nearly all of them popular with audiences, if not always with critics, are comedies treating ...

Inman, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Inman, Henry, 1801–46, American portrait, genre, and landscape painter, b. Yorkville, N.Y., studied with John Wesley Jarvis. He was a founder and first vice president of the National Academy of Desi...

Iqaluit

(Encyclopedia)Iqaluit ĭkälo͞oˈĭt [key], town, Nunavut Territory, Canada, at the NE head of Frobisher Bay on ...

José Tomás

(Encyclopedia)José Tomás (José Tomás Román Martín), 1975–, Spanish matador. Though he first entered the bullring in Spain, he became a full-fledged matador in Mexico City after having gone there to gain exp...

Ré, island, France

(Encyclopedia)Ré rā [key], island (1991 pop. 13,973), 33 sq mi (85 sq km), Charente-Maritime dept., off La Rochelle, W France, in the Bay of Biscay. The island is largely agricultural; it has oyster beds, some fi...

pessimism

(Encyclopedia)pessimism, philosophical opinion or doctrine that evil predominates over good; the opposite of optimism. Systematic forms of pessimism may be found in philosophy and religion. In religion Buddhism and...