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Wouk, Herman

(Encyclopedia)Wouk, Herman wōk [key], 1915–2019, American writer, b. New York City. In The Caine Mutiny (1951; Pulitzer Prize), he made the protagonist-antagonist Captain Queeg a popular symbol of uncontrolled a...

tall tale

(Encyclopedia)tall tale, extravagantly and humorously exaggerated story of the backwoods exploits of an American frontiersman. Originating in the 1820s, the genre remained popular well into the 20th cent. One of th...

Burnet, Gilbert

(Encyclopedia)Burnet, Gilbert bûrˈnĭt [key], 1643–1715, Scottish bishop and writer. He studied in Scotland, England, and abroad, held minor ecclesiastical office in Scotland, and was appointed (1669) professor...

Burroughs, John

(Encyclopedia)Burroughs, John, 1837–1921, American naturalist and author, b. Roxbury, N.Y.; son of a farmer. He was a journalist, a treasury clerk in Washington, and a bank examiner, before settling in 1874 on a ...

White, E. B.

(Encyclopedia)White, E. B. (Elwyn Brooks White), 1899–1985, American writer, b. Mt. Vernon, N.Y., grad. Cornell, 1921. A witty, satiric observer of contemporary society, White was a member of the staff of the ear...

Bernstein, Eduard

(Encyclopedia)Bernstein, Eduard āˈdo͞oärt bĕrnˈshtīn [key], 1850–1932, German socialist. From 1872 he was actively associated with the Social Democratic party. In 1878, antisocialist legislation sent him i...

Douglass, Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Douglass, Frederick dŭgˈləs [key], c.1818–1895, American abolitionist, b. near Easton, Md. as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. The son of a black slave, Harriet Bailey, and a white father, m...

Eucharist

(Encyclopedia)Eucharist yo͞oˈkərĭst [key] [Gr.,=thanksgiving], Christian sacrament that repeats the action of Jesus at his last supper with his disciples, when he gave them bread, saying, “This is my body,”...

Pamuk, Orhan

(Encyclopedia)Pamuk, Orhan ôrˈhän päˈmo͞ok [key], 1952–, Turkey's most celebrated contemporary novelist, studied Robert College (now Univ. of the Bosporus) and İstanbul Univ. Pamuk uses a variety of formal...

Spector, Phil

(Encyclopedia) Spector, Phil (Harvey Philip), 1939-2021, American record producer, b. Bronx, NY. The child of Russian Jewish immigrants, Spector’s father passed awa...