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reggae

(Encyclopedia)reggae, Jamaican popular music that developed in the 1960s among Kingston's poor blacks, drawing on American “soul” music and traditional African and Jamaican folk music and ska (a Jamaican and Br...

Ritter, Tex

(Encyclopedia)Ritter, Tex (Woodward Maurice Ritter), 1905–74, American country singer, b. Murvaul, Tex. He moved (1930) to New York, where he performed in musicals and on the radio. Settling (1936) in California,...

Niort

(Encyclopedia)Niort nyôr [key], city (1990 pop. 58,660), capital of Deux-Sèvres dept., W France, in Poitou. An old agricultural marketplace, it now has plywood, chemical, metallurgy, clothing, tobacco, and printi...

Peru, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Peru pəro͞oˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 12,843), seat of Miami co., N Ind., on the Wabash River; inc. 1847. It is a trade, processing, and rail center for a fertile agricultural area. Among its product...

Nordhausen

(Encyclopedia)Nordhausen nôrtˈhouˌzən [key], city (1994 pop. 44,744), Thuringia, central Germany, at the southern foot of the Harz Mts. It is an industrial center and rail junction. Manufactures include clothin...

Wooden, John

(Encyclopedia)Wooden, John, 1910–2010, American basketball coach, b. Martinsville, Ind. He was the first athlete to be honored in the basketball Hall of Fame as both player and coach. An All-American guard at Pur...

Sloane, T(homas) O'Conor

(Encyclopedia)Sloane, T(homas) O'Conor, 1851–1940, American scientist, lecturer, writer, and periodical editor, Ph.D. Columbia, 1876. Sloane was a member of the editorial staff of the Scientific American, where h...

Spahn, Warren Edward

(Encyclopedia)Spahn, Warren Edward, 1921–2003, American baseball player, b. Buffalo, N.Y. A spectacular pitcher in high-school baseball, Spahn turned professional in 1939 and played in the minor leagues. In 1942 ...

Locofocos

(Encyclopedia)Locofocos lōˌkōfōˈkōz [key], name given in derision to the members of a faction that split off from the Democratic party in New York in 1835. Tension had been growing between radical Democrats, ...

Staples, Mavis

(Encyclopedia) Staples, Mavis, 1939- , African American popular singer, b. Chicago, Il. Staples began performing at age 11 with her father, Roebuck “Pops” St...