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Adams, Brooks

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Brooks, 1848–1927, American historian, b. Quincy, Mass.; son of Charles Francis Adams (1807–86). His theory that civilization rose and fell according to the growth and decline of commerce w...

Lang, Fritz

(Encyclopedia)Lang, Fritz läng [key], 1890–1976, German-American film director, b. Vienna. His silent and early sound films, notably the iconic masterpiece Metropolis (1926) with its dystopian vision of the futu...

Morgan, Sir Henry

(Encyclopedia)Morgan, Sir Henry, 1635?–1688, Welsh buccaneer. In his youth he went to the West Indies, eventually joining the buccaneers there. On the death (1667) of Edward Mansfield, Morgan took his place as co...

Hughes, Howard Robard

(Encyclopedia)Hughes, Howard Robard, 1905–76, U.S. business executive, b. Houston. As a young man he inherited (1925) the patent rights to an oil tool drill, which, manufactured by the Hughes Tool Company, formed...

Utzon, Jørn

(Encyclopedia)Utzon, Jørn, 1918–2008, Danish architect, grad. Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen (1942). He worked for Eric Gunnar Asplund in Sweden and Alvar Aalto in Finland before opening (1950) his own C...

Tussaud, Marie

(Encyclopedia)Tussaud, Marie to͝osōˈ, tüsōˈ [key], 1760–1850, Anglo-French modeler in wax, b. Strasbourg, France, as Marie Grosholtz or Grosholz. She learned her art from her uncle, Philippe Curtius, a prop...

Hampton Roads Peace Conference

(Encyclopedia)Hampton Roads Peace Conference, meeting held on Feb. 3, 1865, on board the Union transport River Queen in Hampton Roads, Va., with the object of ending the Civil War. President Lincoln and Secretary o...

Plath, Sylvia

(Encyclopedia)Plath, Sylvia, 1932–63, American poet, b. Boston. Educated at Smith College and Cambridge, Plath published poems even as a child and won many academic and literary awards. Her first volume of poetry...

Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. vŏnˈəgət [key] 1922–2007, American novelist, b. Indianapolis. After serving in World War II, he worked as a police reporter and wrote short stories for mainstream and science...

Lynch, David (Keith)

(Encyclopedia)Lynch, David (Keith), 1946–, American film and television writer, producer, and director, b. Missoula, Mont. Trained as a painter, he studied at the Corcoran School of Art, Washington, D.C. (1963–...