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automobile industry

(Encyclopedia)automobile industry, the business of producing and selling self-powered vehicles, including passenger cars, trucks, farm equipment, and other commercial vehicles. By allowing consumers to commute long...

Shaw, George Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Shaw, George Bernard, 1856–1950, Irish playwright and critic. He revolutionized the Victorian stage, then dominated by artificial melodramas, by presenting vigorous dramas of ideas. The lengthy pref...

Securities and Exchange Commission

(Encyclopedia)Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), agency of the U.S. government created by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and charged with protecting the interests of the public and investors in connecti...

Louis XVI, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis XVI, 1754–93, king of France (1774–92), third son of the dauphin (Louis) and Marie Josèphe of Saxony, grandson and successor of King Louis XV. In 1770 he married the Austrian archduchess Ma...

Nauru

(Encyclopedia)Nauru näo͞oˈro͞o [key], officially Republic of Nauru, atoll and independent republic (2015 est. pop. 11,000), c.8 sq mi (20 sq km), central Pacific, just south of the equator and west of the Gilbe...

labor law

(Encyclopedia)labor law, legislation dealing with human beings in their capacity as workers or wage earners. The Industrial Revolution, by introducing the machine and factory production, greatly expanded the class ...

Philadelphia, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Philadelphia, city (2020 pop. 1,603,797), coextensive with Philadelphia co., SE Pa., on the Delaware River c.100 mi (160 km) upstream at the influx of t...

Panama Canal

(Encyclopedia)Panama Canal, waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic (by way of the Caribbean Sea) and Pacific oceans, built by the United States (1904–14, on territory leased from the repub...

Bush, George Walker

(Encyclopedia)Bush, George Walker, 1946–, 43d President of the United States (2001–9), b. New Haven, Conn. The eldest son of President George H. W. Bush, he was was raised in Texas and, like his father, attende...

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