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panic

(Encyclopedia)panic, crisis in financial and economic conditions, marked by public loss of confidence in the financial structure. Panics are characterized by a general rush of investors to convert their assets into...

transcontinental railroad

(Encyclopedia)transcontinental railroad, in U.S. history, rail connection with the Pacific coast. In 1845, Asa Whitney presented to Congress a plan for the federal government to subsidize the building of a railroad...

magic, in entertainment

(Encyclopedia)magic, in entertainment, the seeming manipulation and supernatural control of the natural world for the amusement and amazement of an audience. Entertainment magic can be divided into four main catego...

America, in music

(Encyclopedia)America, in music, a patriotic hymn of the United States. The words (beginning “My country, 'tis of thee”) were written in 1832 by Samuel Francis Smith while he was a theological student in Andove...

Quasimodo, Salvatore

(Encyclopedia)Quasimodo, Salvatore sälvätôˈrā kwäzēˈmōdō [key], 1901–68, Italian poet and translator, b. Sicily. Quasimodo worked first as a technical designer and civil engineer. His five volumes of ve...

Piñera, Sebastián

(Encyclopedia)Piñera, Sebastián (Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique) mēgĕlˈ hwän sābästyänˈ pēnyāˈrä āchāˈnēkā [key], 1949–, Chilean business executive and politician, president of Chile ...

securities trading

(Encyclopedia)securities trading, financial activity involving transactions of property such as stocks, bonds, commodities, and currency (see securities). Although the trading of stocks and bonds dates back several...

multimedia

(Encyclopedia)multimedia, in personal computing, software and applications that combine text, high-quality sound, two- and three-dimensional graphics, animation, photo images, and full-motion video. In order to wor...

Durant, Thomas Clark

(Encyclopedia)Durant, Thomas Clark, 1820–85, American railroad builder, chief figure in the construction of the Union Pacific RR, b. Lee, Mass. He was successful in building railroads in the Midwest, and, after t...

Cheves, Langdon

(Encyclopedia)Cheves, Langdon chĭˈvĭs [key], 1776–1857, American statesman, b. Abbeville District (now Abbeville co.), S.C. Admitted to the bar in 1797, he became one of the leading lawyers of Charleston. In t...