Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Bukowski, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Bukowski, Charles, 1920–94, American underground poet and fiction writer, b. Andernach, Germany. His family immigrated to the United States in 1922, settling in Los Angeles. A hard-drinking unskille...

Brautigan, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Brautigan, Richard brôˈtəgăn [key], 1935–84, American novelist and poet, b. Tacoma, Wash. He was a counterculture hero of the 1960s and 70s, and his work is an indictment of America's cultural e...

Upanishads

(Encyclopedia)Upanishads o͞opănˈĭshădz [key], speculative and mystical scriptures of Hinduism, regarded as the wellspring of Hindu religious and speculative thought. The Upanishads, which form the last section...

West, Dame Rebecca

(Encyclopedia)West, Dame Rebecca, 1892–1983, English novelist and critic, b. Ireland as Cicily Isabel Fairfield. West began her career as a journalist for feminist and suffragist publications. At various times sh...

Mohave, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Mohave mōhäˈvē [key], indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Yuman branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the mid-18th cent. they...

Makah

(Encyclopedia)Makah mäkôˈ [key], Native North Americans who in the early 19th cent. inhabited Cape Flattery, NW Wash. According to Lewis and Clark they then numbered some 2,000. The Makah are the southernmost of...

Malecite

(Encyclopedia)Malecite or Maliseet both: mălˈəsīt [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In th...

Massachuset

(Encyclopedia)Massachuset măsəcho͞oˈsĭt [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early 1...

Mandarin

(Encyclopedia)Mandarin mănˈdərĭn [key] [Port. mandar=to govern, or from Malay mantri=counselor of state], a high official of imperial China. For each of the nine grades there was a different colored button worn...

Marie de l'Incarnation

(Encyclopedia)Marie de l'Incarnation də lăNkärnäsyôNˈ [key], 1599–1672, French missionary. Her name was originally Marie Guyard. She was married in her youth and bore a son; when her son was 12 years old, h...

Browse by Subject