Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

143 results found

mystery

(Encyclopedia)mystery or mystery story, literary genre in which the cause (or causes) of a mysterious happening, often a crime, is gradually revealed by the hero or heroine; this is accomplished through a mixture o...

biography

(Encyclopedia)biography, reconstruction in print or on film, of the lives of real men and women. Together with autobiography—an individual's interpretation of his own life—it shares a venerable tradition, meeti...

Arizona

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Arizona ârˌəzōˈnə [key], state in the SW United States. It is bordered by Utah (N), New Mexico (E), Mexico (S), and, largely across the Colorado River, Nevada and California (W); it touch...

Thirty Years War

(Encyclopedia)Thirty Years War, 1618–48, general European war fought mainly in Germany. The general results of the war may be said to have been a tremendous decrease in German population; devastation of G...

Panama, country, Central America

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Panama pănˈəmäˌ [key], Span. Panamá, officially Republic of Panama, republic (2015 est. pop. 3,657,000), 29,760 sq mi (77,081 sq km), occupying the Isthmus of Panama, which connects Centr...

Oklahoma

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Oklahoma ōkləhōˈmə [key], state in SW United States. It is bordered by Missouri and Arkansas (E); Texas, partially across the Red River (S, W); New Mexico, across the narrow edge of the Ok...

Roosevelt, Theodore

(Encyclopedia)Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919, 26th President of the United States (1901–9), b. New York City. Alice, his daughter by his first wife, married Nicholas Longworth in the White House; “Princ...

Republican party

(Encyclopedia)Republican party, American political party. In 1980, the conservative Ronald Reagan, a former supporter of Barry Goldwater, regained the presidency for the Republicans and reversed long-standi...

opera

(Encyclopedia)opera, drama set to music. In the early part of the 20th cent. the foremost operatic composer was Richard Strauss. Although influenced by Wagner, he composed operas with even richer and more stunnin...

Browse by Subject