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Baraka, Amiri

(Encyclopedia)Baraka, Amiri amērē bəräˈkə [key], 1934–2014, American poet, playwright, and political activist, b. Newark, N.J., as Everett LeRoy Jones, studied at Rutgers Univ., Howard Univ. In college he a...

Aeschines

(Encyclopedia)Aeschines ĕˈskĭnēz [key], c.390–314? b.c., Athenian orator, rival of Demosthenes. Aeschines rose from humble circumstances and became powerful in politics because of his oratorical gifts. At fir...

Okubo, Toshimichi

(Encyclopedia)Okubo, Toshimichi tōˌshēmēˈchē ōˈko͞obō [key], 1830–78, Japanese statesman. A major figure in the Meiji restoration, he was influential in introducing Western ideas to Japan. He supported ...

Boethus

(Encyclopedia)Boethus bōēˈthəs [key], fl. 1st half of 2d cent. b.c., Greek sculptor of genre subjects and worker in silver. He was born in Chalcedon and seems to have worked mainly at Rhodes. In the writings of...

ice skating

(Encyclopedia)ice skating, gliding along an ice surface on keellike runners known as ice skates. The earliest skates (c.9th cent.), made of bone, were found in Sweden. Wooden skates with iron facings appeared in ...

Martí, José

(Encyclopedia)Martí, José hōsāˈ märtēˈ [key], 1853–95, Cuban essayist, poet, and patriot, leader of the Cuban struggle for independence. One of the greatest prose writers of Spanish America, he is noted f...

Crockett, Davy

(Encyclopedia)Crockett, Davy (David Crockett) krŏkˈĭt [key], 1786–1836, American frontiersman, b. Limestone, near Greeneville, Tenn. After serving (1813–14) under Andrew Jackson against the Creek in the War ...

Trilling, Lionel

(Encyclopedia)Trilling, Lionel, 1905–75, American critic, author, and teacher, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1925; M.A., 1926; Ph.D., 1938). He began teaching literature at Columbia in 1932 and became a...

Pombal, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, marquês de

(Encyclopedia)Pombal, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, marquês de səbəstyouNˈ zho͝ozĕˈ dĭ kərväˈlyō ē mĕˈlo͝o märkāsˈ dĭ po͝ombälˈ [key], 1699–1782, Portuguese statesman. After studying...

Prynne, William

(Encyclopedia)Prynne, William prĭn [key], 1600–1669, English political figure and Puritan pamphleteer. Beginning his attacks on Arminian doctrine in 1627, he soon earned the enmity of William Laud. When Prynne's...