Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

May, Theresa Mary

(Encyclopedia)May, Theresa Mary, 1956–, British political leader, b. Eastbourne, Sussex, as Theresa Mary Brasier, grad. Oxford (1977). She worked for the Bank of England (1977–83) and the Association for Paymen...

Paoli, Pasquale

(Encyclopedia)Paoli, Pasquale päskwäˈlā päˈōlē [key], 1725–1807, Corsican patriot. He shared the exile (1739–55) of his father, Giacinto Paoli, who had fought against the Genoese rulers of the island. I...

Lee, Harper

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Harper (Nelle Harper Lee), 1926–2016, American novelist, b. Monroeville, Ala. A member of an old Southern family and related to Robert E. Lee, she was a lifelong friend of Truman Capote. Lee at...

Bradbury, Ray

(Encyclopedia)Bradbury, Ray (Raymond Douglas Bradbury) brădˈbĕrˌē, –bərē [key], 1920–2012, American writer, b. Waukegan, Ill. A popular and prolific writer of science fiction who did much to bring the ge...

Snow, C. P.

(Encyclopedia)Snow, C. P. (Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow of Leicester), 1905–80, English author and physicist. Snow had an active, varied career, including several important positions in the British government. ...

Sterne, Laurence

(Encyclopedia)Sterne, Laurence stûrn [key], 1713–68, English author, b. Ireland. Educated at Cambridge, he entered the Anglican church and was given the living of Sutton-in-the-Forest, Yorkshire, in 1738, where ...

Shriver, Robert Sargent

(Encyclopedia)Shriver, Robert Sargent, 1915–2011, U.S. public official, b. Westminster, Md., husband of Eunice Shriver. A lawyer, he served in World War II and was (1945–46) an assistant editor of Newsweek maga...

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...

almanac

(Encyclopedia)almanac, originally, a calendar with notations of astronomical and other data. Almanacs have been known in simple form almost since the invention of writing, for they served to record religious feasts...

García Márquez, Gabriel

(Encyclopedia)García Márquez, Gabriel gäbrēĕlˈ gärsēˈä märˈkās [key], 1927–2014, Colombian novelist, short-story writer, and journalist, b. Aracataca. Widely considered one of the great Latin America...

Browse by Subject