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Enron Corporation

(Encyclopedia)Enron Corporation, U.S. company that in 2001 became the largest bankruptcy and stock collapse in U.S. history up to that time. The company was formed in 1985 when InterNorth purchased Houston Natural ...

Lockerbie

(Encyclopedia)Lockerbie lŏkˈərbē [key], village (1991 pop. 3,892), Dumfries and Galloway, S Scotland, site of a 1988 airplane crash. On Dec. 21, 1988, a New York–bound Pan Am Boeing 747 exploded in flight as ...

Connally, John Bowden, JR.

(Encyclopedia)Connally, John Bowden, Jr. kŏnˈəlē [key], 1917–93, U.S. public official, b. Floresville, Tex. A lawyer, he became associated with Lyndon B. Johnson, managed the latter's successful senatorial ca...

Anderson, Maxwell

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, Maxwell, 1888–1959, American dramatist, b. Atlantic, Pa., grad. Univ. of North Dakota, 1911. His plays, many of which are written in verse, usually concern social and moral problems. Ander...

simony

(Encyclopedia)simony sĭmˈənē [key], in canon law, buying or selling of any spiritual benefit or office. The name is derived from Simon Magus, who tried to buy the gifts of the Holy Spirit from St. Peter (Acts 8...

black market

(Encyclopedia)black market, the selling or buying of commodities at prices above the legal ceiling or beyond the amount allotted to a customer in countries that have placed restrictions on sales and prices. Such tr...

Munsey, Frank Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Munsey, Frank Andrew mŭnˈsē [key], 1854–1925, American publisher and author, b. Mercer, Maine. In 1882 he quit a telegraph operator's job in Maine to begin a career as publisher in New York City....

ransom

(Encyclopedia)ransom, price of redemption demanded by the captor of a person, vessel, or city. In ancient times cities frequently paid ransom to prevent their plundering by captors. The custom of ransoming was form...

Mark, Gospel according to

(Encyclopedia)Mark, Gospel according to, 2d book of the New Testament. The shortest of the four Gospels and probably the earliest, it is usually thought to have been composed shortly before the destruction of the T...

Fama, Eugene Francis

(Encyclopedia)Fama, Eugene Francis, 1939–, 1939–, U.S. economist, b. Boston, Mass., grad. Univ. of Chicago (M.B.A. 1963, Ph.D. 1964). He has taught at the Univ. of Chicago's Graduate School of Business since 19...