(Encyclopedia) Allen, Woody, 1935–, American actor, writer, and director, one of contemporary America's leading filmmakers, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Allen Stewart Konigsberg. Allen began his career…
(Encyclopedia) Darnley, Henry Stuart or Stewart, Lord, 1545–67, second husband of Mary Queen of Scots and father of James I of England (James VI of Scotland). His mother was Margaret Douglas, the…
(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…
(Encyclopedia) irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow…
Biographies of U.S. representatives and senators from Washington Member Name Birth-Death ADAMS, Brockman (Brock) 1927-2004 ALLEN, John Beard 1845-1903…
(Encyclopedia) oratory, the art of swaying an audience by eloquent speech. In ancient Greece and Rome oratory was included under the term rhetoric, which meant the art of composing as well as…