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Manzoni, Alessandro

(Encyclopedia)Manzoni, Alessandro älās-sänˈdrō mändzôˈnē [key], 1785–1873, Italian novelist and poet. Taken in his youth to Paris by his mother in 1805, Manzoni embraced the deism that he was later to di...

Wiesel, Elie

(Encyclopedia)Wiesel, Elie, 1928–2016, American writer, writing in French, b. Sighet, Romania. In 1944 the Nazis imprisoned him and his family at Auschwitz, an extermination camp, where his mother and sister were...

Weaver, Sigourney

(Encyclopedia) Weaver, Sigourney , 1949- , American actress, b. New York, N.Y., as Susan Alexandra Weaver, Stanford Univ. (B.A., 1972), Yale Univ. (M.F.A., 1974). Wea...

Bassett, Angela Evelyn

(Encyclopedia) Bassett, Angela Evelyn 1958- , American actress, b. New York, N.Y., Yale Univ. (B.A., 1980; M.F.A., 1983; D.F.A. (2018, hon.). Bassett’s parents ...

tsetse fly

(Encyclopedia)tsetse fly tsĕtˈsē [key], name for any of several bloodsucking African flies of the genus Glossina, and in the same family as the housefly. The larva of the tsetse fly develops inside the body of t...

Smothers Brothers

(Encyclopedia) Smothers Brothers, American comedians, musicians, and TV hosts. Tom (b. February 2, 1937,as Thomas Smothers) and Dick (b. November 20, 1939, as ...

Thomson, Virgil

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, Virgil, 1896–1989, American composer, critic, and organist, b. Kansas City, Mo. Thomson studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Until about 1926 he wrote in a dissonant, neoclassic style, bu...

York, house of

(Encyclopedia)York, house of, royal house of England, deriving its name from the creation of Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III, as duke of York in 1385. The claims to the throne of Edmund's grandson, Richa...

Seeger, Ruth Crawford

(Encyclopedia)Seeger, Ruth Crawford, 1901–53, American composer and folklorist, b. East Liverpool, Ohio, as Ruth Porter Crawford, studied American Conservatory, Chicago; stepmother of Pete Seeger and mother of Mi...

Edward III

(Encyclopedia)Edward III, 1312–77, king of England (1327–77), son of Edward II and Isabella. Edward's long reign saw many constitutional developments. Most important of these was the emergence of the Commons ...