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Ngugi wa Thiong'o

(Encyclopedia)Ngugi wa Thiong'o ĕngo͞oˈgē wä tē-ŏngˈgō [key] or James Ngugi, 1938–, Kenyan writer, acclaimed as East Africa's foremost novelist. He studied at universities in Uganda and England. His firs...

watch

(Encyclopedia)watch, small, portable timepiece usually designed to be worn on the person. Other kinds of timepieces are generally referred to as clocks. At one time it was generally believed that the first watches ...

Afghanistan War

(Encyclopedia)Afghanistan War, 1978–92, conflict between anti-Communist Muslim Afghan guerrillas (mujahidin) and Afghan government and Soviet forces. The conflict had its origins in the 1978 coup that overthrew A...

Hereward the Wake

(Encyclopedia)Hereward the Wake hĕrˈĭwərd [key], fl. 1070, Anglo-Saxon rebel against William I. A thane, he apparently held land in Lincolnshire. In 1070 he sacked Peterborough with the aid of a Danish fleet an...

era of good feelings

(Encyclopedia)era of good feelings, period in U.S. history (1817–23) when, the Federalist party having declined, there was little open party feeling. After the War of 1812 all sections were anxious to return to a...

Edmond

(Encyclopedia)Edmond, city (2020 pop. 94,428), Oklahoma co., central Okla.; settled 1889. It is a trading center with a huge oil field and small industries that manuf...

Boyle, Kay

(Encyclopedia)Boyle, Kay, 1903–93, American writer, b. St. Paul, Minn. A European expatriate in the interwar years, she returned to Europe as a correspondent for the New Yorker (1946–53) and subsequently taught...

sleet

(Encyclopedia)sleet, precipitation of small, partially melted grains of ice. As raindrops fall from clouds, they pass through layers of air at different temperatures. If they pass through a layer with a temperature...

Benet, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Benet, Juan bənetˈ [key], 1927–93, Spanish novelist and essayist. He earned a degree in civil engineering and worked as a highway engineer before publishing (1961) his first work, Nunca llegarás ...

monopoly

(Encyclopedia)monopoly mənōpˈəlē [key], market condition in which there is only one seller of a certain commodity; by virtue of the long-run control over supply, such a seller is able to exert nearly total con...