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American Automobile Association

(Encyclopedia)American Automobile Association (AAA), federation of American automobile clubs, est. 1902. AAA provides a number of benefits to its members, including emergency road service; national and internationa...

Bentinck, Lord William George Frederick Cavendish

(Encyclopedia)Bentinck, Lord William George Frederick Cavendish, 1802–48, English politician and sportsman, known as Lord George. Although he entered Parliament in 1826, he was known primarily for his horse-racin...

Beaumanoir, Philippe de Remi, sire de

(Encyclopedia)Beaumanoir, Philippe de Remi, sire de fēlēpˈ də rəmēˈ sēr də bōmänwärˈ [key], c.1250–1296, French poet and jurist, a writer of medieval law texts. He was a judicial officer at Clermont ...

Justice, United States Department of

(Encyclopedia)Justice, United States Department of, federal executive department established in 1870 and charged with providing the means for enforcing federal laws, furnishing legal counsel in federal cases, and c...

closed shop and open shop

(Encyclopedia)closed shop and open shop. The term “closed shop” is used to signify an establishment employing only members of a labor union. The union shop, a closely allied term, indicates a company where empl...

Amadi, Elechi

(Encyclopedia)Amadi, Elechi, 1934–2016, Nigerian novelist, one of the first generation of African novelists who wrote in English; grad. University College, Ibadan. An Ikwerre, he is best known for the novel The C...

Mason-Dixon Line

(Encyclopedia)Mason-Dixon Line, boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland (running between lat. 39°43′26.3″N and lat. 39°43′17.6″N), surveyed by the English team of Charles Mason, a mathematician and ast...

Lee, Richard Henry

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Richard Henry, 1732–94, political leader in the American Revolution, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; brother of Arthur Lee, Francis L. Lee, and William Lee. He served in the house of burgesses (1758�...

Luanda

(Encyclopedia)Luanda lo͞oănˈdə, –änˈdə [key], city (1995 est. pop. 3,000,000), capital of Angola, a port on the Atlantic Ocean. It is Angola's largest city, its chief port, and its administrative center. M...

Calisher, Hortense

(Encyclopedia)Calisher, Hortense kălˈĭshər [key], 1911–2009, American author, b. New York City, grad. Barnard College, 1932. Her novels are difficult to categorize, blending deft character analysis with compl...