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Franklin, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, Sir John, 1786–1847, British explorer in N Canada whose disappearance caused a widespread search of the Arctic. Entering the navy in 1801, he fought in the battle of Trafalgar. On his firs...

Great Depression

(Encyclopedia)Great Depression, in U.S. history, the severe economic crisis generally considered to have been precipitated by the U.S. stock-market crash of 1929. Although it shared the basic characteristics of oth...

Nabokov, Vladimir

(Encyclopedia)Nabokov, Vladimir vlädēˈmĭr näbôˈkŏf [key], 1899–1977, Russian-American author, b. St. Petersburg, Russia. He emigrated to England after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and graduated from Cam...

Nussbaum, Martha Craven

(Encyclopedia)Nussbaum, Martha C., 1947–, American philosopher, b. New York City, Ph.D. Harvard University, 1975. The Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor o...

Arnold, Matthew

(Encyclopedia)Arnold, Matthew, 1822–88, English poet and critic, son of the educator Dr. Thomas Arnold. Arnold was educated at Rugby; graduated from Balliol College, Oxford in 1844; and was a fellow of Oriel Coll...

Kansas-Nebraska Act

(Encyclopedia)Kansas-Nebraska Act, bill that became law on May 30, 1854, by which the U.S. Congress established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. By 1854 the organization of the vast Platte and Kansas river c...

criticism

(Encyclopedia)criticism, the interpretation and evaluation of literature and the arts. It exists in a variety of literary forms: dialogues (Plato, John Dryden), verse (Horace, Alexander Pope), letters (John Keats),...

Custer, George Armstrong

(Encyclopedia)Custer, George Armstrong, 1839–76, American army officer, b. New Rumley, Ohio, grad. West Point, 1861. In the reorganization of the U.S. army after the war Custer was assigned to the 7th Cavalry w...

Howells, William Dean

(Encyclopedia)Howells, William Dean, 1837–1920, American novelist, critic, and editor, b. Martins Ferry, Ohio. Both in his own novels and in his critical writing, Howells was a champion of realism in American lit...

Romanian literature

(Encyclopedia)Romanian literature, the literature of Romania. Until the 16th cent. most writing by Romanians was in Slavonic. In 1541 a catechism in Romanian was issued at Sibiu, and from 1560 liturgical works were...