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Barron, James

(Encyclopedia)Barron, James, 1768–1851, U.S. naval officer, b. Hampton, Va. Of a seafaring family, he served in the Virginia navy in the Revolution, entered the U.S. navy as a lieutenant in 1798, and held command...

Sierra Club

(Encyclopedia)Sierra Club, national organization in the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the world's parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. Founded (1892) in California by a group led by...

tranquilizer

(Encyclopedia)tranquilizer, drug whose action calms the central nervous system, decreasing emotional agitation without impairing alertness. Tranquilizing drugs differ from hypnotic drugs such as barbiturates in tha...

Becker, Carl Lotus

(Encyclopedia)Becker, Carl Lotus, 1873–1945, American historian, b. Blackhawk co., Iowa. He taught history at Dartmouth College (1901–2), at the Univ. of Kansas (1902–16), and at Cornell (1917–41). After re...

Rivlin, Alice M.

(Encyclopedia)Rivlin, Alice M., 1931–2019, American economist, b. Philadelphia as Georgianna Alice Mitchell, Ph.D. Harvard, 1958. Rivlin was affiliated with the Brookings Institution at various times from 1957 un...

Osborne, John

(Encyclopedia)Osborne, John (John James Osborne), 1929–94, English dramatist. He began his theatrical career as an actor and playwright in provincial English repertory theaters. Osborne's plays usually focus on a...

Warren, Gouverneur Kemble

(Encyclopedia)Warren, Gouverneur Kemble gəvərnērˈ [key], 1830–82, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Cold Spring, N.Y. An army engineer, he assisted in the survey of the Mississippi delta and also en...

Vance, Cyrus Roberts

(Encyclopedia)Vance, Cyrus Roberts, 1917–2002, U.S. secretary of state (1977–80), b. Clarksburg, W.Va., grad. Yale (B.A., 1939, LL.B., 1942). After seeing action in the Navy during World War II, Vance practiced...

state flowers

(Encyclopedia)state flowers. Each state of the United States has designated, usually by legislative action, one flower as its floral emblem; the rose has been designated by Congress as the national flower of the Un...

Buntline, Ned

(Encyclopedia)Buntline, Ned bŭntˈlĭn, –līn [key], pseud. of Edward Zane Carroll Judson, 1823–86, American adventurer and writer. In 1845 he founded in Nashville Ned Buntline's Own, a sensational magazine. A...

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