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Kurosawa, Akira

(Encyclopedia)Kurosawa, Akira äkēˈrä ko͞orōˈsäwä [key], 1910–98, Japanese film director, scriptwriter, and producer, b. Tokyo. He is regarded as one of the world's greatest directors. In Rashomon (1950),...

Cousin, Victor

(Encyclopedia)Cousin, Victor vēktôrˈ [key], 1792–1867, French educational leader and philosopher, founder of the eclectic school. He lectured at the Sorbonne from 1814 until 1821, when political reaction force...

Hazzard, Shirley

(Encyclopedia)Hazzard, Shirley, 1931–2016, Australian-American novelist and short-story writer, b. Sydney. Educated in Australia, she lived in Hong Kong, Italy, and New Zealand before settling in the United State...

Gbowee, Leymah Roberta

(Encyclopedia)Gbowee, Leymah Roberta lāˈmä, bōwēˈ [key], 1972–, Liberian peace activist. A social worker and trauma counselor, she worked with ex-child soldiers from Charles Taylor's army, joined the Women ...

John Birch Society

(Encyclopedia)John Birch Society, ultraconservative, anti-Communist organization in the United States. It was founded in Dec., 1958, by manufacturer Robert Welch, headquartered in Belmont, Mass., and named after Jo...

Averroës

(Encyclopedia)Averroës əvĕrˈōēz [key], Arabic Ibn Rushd, 1126–98, Spanish-Arab philosopher. He was far more important and influential in Jewish and Christian thought than in Islam. He was a lawyer and physi...

Levine, Philip

(Encyclopedia)Levine, Philip, 1928–2015, American poet, b. Detroit, grad. Wayne State Univ. (B.A., 1950; A.M., 1954), Univ. of Iowa (M.F.A., 1957). The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, he held a variety of indus...

Mantel, Dame Hilary

(Encyclopedia)Mantel, Dame Hilary, 1952–, English novelist, b. Hilary Mary Thompson. After working as a social worker, she moved to Botswana with her geologist husband and later to Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, where she...

Kindi, al-

(Encyclopedia)Kindi, al- (Abu Yusuf Yakub ibn Ishak al-Kindi) äˈbo͞o yo͞oso͝ofˈ yäko͞obˈ ĭbˈən ēshäkˈ ăl-kĭnˈdē [key], 9th cent. Arab philosopher, b. Basra (now in Iraq). He studied at Basra and ...

Tutu, Desmond Mpilo

(Encyclopedia)Tutu, Desmond Mpilo, 1931–2021, South African religious leader, b. Klerksdorp, Univ. of South Africa (1954); Kings College, Lo...