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Dickinson, Emily

(Encyclopedia)Dickinson, Emily, 1830–86, American poet, b. Amherst, Mass. She is widely considered one of the greatest poets in American literature. Her unique, gemlike lyrics are distillations of profound feelin...

O'Neill, Eugene (Gladstone)

(Encyclopedia)O'Neill, Eugene (Gladstone), 1888–1953, American dramatist, b. New York City. He is widely acknowledged as America's greatest playwright. Near the end of his life O'Neill renounced his daughter Oo...

Kemble, Roger

(Encyclopedia)Kemble, Roger, 1721–1802, English actor and manager. During his years as the leader of a traveling company, he married (1753) Sarah Wood, 1735–1806, an actress. They had 12 children, thus founding...

Hood, John Bell

(Encyclopedia)Hood, John Bell, 1831–79, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Owingsville, Ky. He resigned from the army (Apr., 1861) and entered the Confederate service 1862. He fought in the Peninsu...

Jackson, Robert Houghwout

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, Robert Houghwout houˈət [key], 1892–1954, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1941–54), b. Spring Creek, Pa. Despite the fact that he did not have a law degree, he was admitted...

lightning

(Encyclopedia)lightning, electrical discharge accompanied by thunder, commonly occurring during a thunderstorm. The discharge may take place between one part of a cloud and another part (intracloud), between one cl...

Machado, Gerardo

(Encyclopedia)Machado, Gerardo mächäˈᵺō [key], 1871–1939, president of Cuba (1925–33). A businessman turned presidential candidate in 1924, he channeled the resurgent nationalism of the era. His victory ...

King, Carole

(Encyclopedia) King, Carole, 1942-, American singer-songwriter, b. New York, N.Y., as Carole Joan Klein. King enjoyed two separate careers; in the early ‘60s, she ...

Parmigianino

(Encyclopedia)Parmigianino –jäˈnō [key], 1503–40, Italian painter and etcher, one of the most sensitive mannerist artists (see mannerism) and one of the period's finest draftsmen. His real name was Girolamo ...

Work Projects Administration

(Encyclopedia)Work Projects Administration (WPA), former U.S. government agency, established in 1935 by executive order of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the Works Progress Administration; it was renamed th...