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diary

(Encyclopedia)diary [Lat.,=day], a daily record of events and observations. As distinguished from memoir (an account of events placed in perspective by the author long after they have occurred), the diary derives i...

Darnley, Henry Stuart, Lord

(Encyclopedia)Darnley, Henry Stuart or Stewart, Lord, 1545–67, second husband of Mary Queen of Scots and father of James I of England (James VI of Scotland). His mother was Margaret Douglas, the daughter of Archi...

Kushner, Tony

(Encyclopedia)Kushner, Tony ko͝oshˈnər [key], 1956–, American playwright, b. New York City. He was a little-known off-Broadway playwright with several interesting works, e.g., Yes, Yes, No, No (1985) and A Bri...

Koestler, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Koestler, Arthur kĕstˈlər [key], 1905–83, English writer, b. Budapest of Hungarian parents. Koestler spent his early years in Vienna and Palestine. He was an influential Communist journalist in B...

Wounded Knee

(Encyclopedia)Wounded Knee, creek, rising in SW S.Dak. and flowing NW to the White River; site of the last major battle of the Indian wars. The ...

spiritual

(Encyclopedia)spiritual, a religious folk song of American origin, particularly associated with African-American Protestants of the southern United States. The African-American spiritual, characterized by syncopati...

Sinai

(Encyclopedia)Sinai sīˈnī [key], triangular peninsula, c.23,000 sq mi (59,570 sq km), NE Egypt. It is c.230 mi (370 km) long and 150 mi (240 km) wide and extends north into a broad isthmus linking Africa and Asi...

Pearl Harbor

(Encyclopedia)Pearl Harbor, land-locked harbor, on the southern coast of Oahu island, Hawaii, W of Honolulu; one of the largest and best natural harbors in the E Pacific Ocean. In the vicinity are many U.S. militar...

Holocaust

(Encyclopedia)Holocaust hŏlˈəkôstˌ, hōˈlə– [key], name given to the period of persecution and extermination of European Jews by Nazi Germany. Romani (Gypsies), homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, the disabl...

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isayevich

(Encyclopedia)Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isayevich əlyĭksänˈdər ēsīˈəvĭch sôlˌzhənētˈsĭn [key], 1918–2008, Russian writer widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential authors of the 20...