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Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge

(Encyclopedia)Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, vehicular suspension bridge, New York City, across the Narrows at the entrance to New York harbor, linking the boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island. Designed by O. H. Amma...

Dylan, Bob

(Encyclopedia)Dylan, Bob dĭlˈən [key], 1941–, American singer and composer, b. Duluth, Minn., as Robert Zimmerman. Dylan learned guitar at the age of 10 and autoharp and harmonica at 15. After a rebellious you...

Hardy, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Hardy, Thomas, 1840–1928, English novelist and poet, b. near Dorchester, one of the great English writers of the 19th cent. The son of a stonemason, he derived a love of music from his father and a ...

short story

(Encyclopedia)short story, brief prose fiction. The term covers a wide variety of narratives—from stories in which the main focus is on the course of events to studies of character, from the “short short” sto...

plague

(Encyclopedia)plague, any contagious, malignant, epidemic disease, in particular the bubonic plague and the black plague (or Black Death), both forms of the same infection. These acute febrile diseases are caused b...

Deutsches Theater

(Encyclopedia)Deutsches Theater doiˈchəs tāäˈtər [key], German private theater organization founded in 1883. Under its first director, Adolph L'Arronge, the Deutsches merged with the Freie Bühne (Otto Brahm,...

Dos Passos, John Randolph

(Encyclopedia)Dos Passos, John Randolph dəs păsˈəs [key], 1844–1917, American lawyer, b. Philadelphia. He was admitted to the bar in 1865 and moved (1867) to New York City, where he conducted his practice. Hi...

Fiske, Minnie Maddern

(Encyclopedia)Fiske, Minnie Maddern, 1865–1932, American actress, b. New Orleans. Born of a family of actors, she spent her childhood on the stage. In 1890 she married Harrison Grey Fiske, editor of the New York ...

Howard University

(Encyclopedia)Howard University, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; with federal support. It was founded in 1867 by Gen. Oliver O. Howard of the Freedmen's Bureau, to provide education for newly emancipated slaves...

Heraclitus

(Encyclopedia)Heraclitus hĕrəklīˈtəs [key], c.535–c.475 b.c., Greek philosopher of Ephesus, of noble birth. According to Heraclitus, there was no permanent reality except the reality of change; permanence wa...