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Wilson, Colin

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Colin, 1931–2013, English writer, b. Leicester. Born into a working-class family and largely self-educated, Wilson in many of his books exhorts humankind to expand its powers and realize its...

Wordsworth, Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Wordsworth, Christopher, 1774–1846, English clergyman, educator, and writer; youngest brother of William Wordsworth. He was master of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1820 to 1841. Most noted of his...

Bowles, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Bowles, Samuel, 1797–1851, American newspaper editor, b. Hartford, Conn. He founded (1824) the Springfield (Mass.) Republican, a weekly. In 1844 it became a daily under the influence of his son, Sam...

Sloan, John

(Encyclopedia)Sloan, John, 1871–1951, American painter and etcher, b. Lock Haven, Pa. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and worked for 12 years as an illustrator on the Philadelphia Inquirer...

Smetana, Bedřich

(Encyclopedia)Smetana, Bedřich bĕˈdərzhĭkh smĕˈtänä [key], 1824–84, Czech composer, creator of a national style in Czech music. He studied in Pilsen and in Prague, where in 1848, with the encouragement o...

standard of living

(Encyclopedia)standard of living, level of consumption that an individual, group, or nation has achieved. The evaluation of a standard of living is relative, depending upon the judgment of the observer as to what c...

Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn

(Encyclopedia)Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn, 1815–81, English clergyman and author. As a student at Rugby he was influenced by the liberal views of Thomas Arnold. In 1838 he was elected a fellow of University College, ...

Berger, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Berger, Thomas bûrˈgər [key], 1924–2014, American novelist, b. Cincinnati, grad. Univ. of Cincinnati (B.A., 1948). He is known for bitterly comic novels that often deal with the chasm he perceive...

Bruce, Lenny

(Encyclopedia)Bruce, Lenny, 1925–66, American comedian, b. Long Island, N.Y., as Leonard Alfred Schneider. Possessed of a cynical, surreal, and intensely comic view of the world, Bruce brutally satirized such sen...

West, Nathanael

(Encyclopedia)West, Nathanael, 1903–40, American novelist, whose real name was Nathan Weinstein, b. New York City, grad. Brown Univ., 1924. An innovative, highly original author, West revealed the sterility and g...