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Smith, Zadie

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Zadie, 1975–, British writer. The biracial daughter of an English father and Jamaican mother, Smith burst on the literary scene in 2000 with her first novel, White Teeth, the award-winning be...

Royce, Josiah

(Encyclopedia)Royce, Josiah, 1855–1916, American philosopher, b. California, grad. Univ. of California, 1873. After studying in Germany and at Johns Hopkins, he returned to California to teach (1878–82). From 1...

Gray, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Gray, Thomas, 1716–71, English poet. He was educated at Eton and Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1739 he began a grand tour of the Continent with Horace Walpole. They quarreled in Italy, and Gray returned...

Free-Soil party

(Encyclopedia)Free-Soil party, in U.S. history, political party that came into existence in 1847–48 chiefly because of rising opposition to the extension of slavery into any of the territories newly acquired from...

Gambetta, Léon

(Encyclopedia)Gambetta, Léon lāôNˈ gäNbĕtäˈ [key], 1838–82, French republican leader. A lawyer who achieved some note as an opponent of the Second Empire of Napoleon III, he was elected deputy in 1869 and...

Tocqueville, Alexis de

(Encyclopedia)Tocqueville, Alexis de älĕksēs də tôkvēlˈ [key], 1805–59, French politician and writer. A nobleman, he was prominent in politics, particularly just before and just after the Revolution of 184...

protocol

(Encyclopedia)protocol prōˈtəkŏl [key], term referring to rules governing diplomatic conduct or to a variety of written instruments. Examples of the latter are authenticated minutes of international conferences...

Scorsese, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Scorsese, Martin skôrsāˈzē, –sĕzˈē [key], 1942–, American film director; b...

Brando, Marlon

(Encyclopedia)Brando, Marlon, 1924–2004, American film actor, often described as the greatest of his generation, b. Omaha, Nebr. Regarded as the foremost practitioner of “method” acting as taught by American ...

Ephesians

(Encyclopedia)Ephesians ĭfēˈzhənz [key], letter of the New Testament, written, according to tradition, by St. Paul to the Christians of Ephesus from his captivity at Rome (c.a.d. 60). There is ground for believ...