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Giap, Vo Nguyen

(Encyclopedia)Giap, Vo Nguyen vô nəwēˈĕn zhäp [key], 1911–2013, Vietnamese military leader and government official whose strategies helped drive the forces of Japan, France, and the United States from Vietn...

code, in law

(Encyclopedia)code, in law, in its widest sense any body of legal rules expressed in fixed and authoritative written form. A statute thus may be termed a code. Codes contrast with customary law (including common la...

local government

(Encyclopedia)local government, political administration of the smallest subdivisions of a country's territory and population. The British system of local government, which has been the model for most of that cou...

illiteracy

(Encyclopedia)illiteracy, inability to meet a certain minimum criterion of reading and writing skill. Throughout most of history most people have been illiterate. In feudal society, for example, the ability to re...

Franklin, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, Benjamin, 1706–90, American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer, b. Boston. The only American of the colonial period to earn a European reputation as a natural philosopher, he is bes...

Litvinov, Maxim Maximovich

(Encyclopedia)Litvinov, Maxim Maximovich məksyēmˈ mäksēˈməvĭch lyĭtvēˈnəf [key], 1876–1951, Russian revolutionary and Soviet diplomat. A Jew, he changed his name from Wallach after joining the Social ...

Mondale, Walter Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Mondale, Walter Frederick ("Fritz"), 1928–2021, Vice President of the United States (1977–81), b. Ceylon, Minn., Univ. of Minn. (B.A., 1951; LL.B., ...

López, Francisco Solano

(Encyclopedia)López, Francisco Solano lōˈpās [key], 1826?–1870, president of Paraguay (1862–70). He was the son of Carlos Antonio López, who made him a brigadier general at 18. Appointed head of a diploma...

mastiff

(Encyclopedia)mastiff măsˈtĭf [key], breed of very large, powerful working dog developed in England more than 2,000 years ago. It stands from 27 to 33 in. (68.6–83.8 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs from 16...

Mead, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Mead, Margaret, 1901–78, American anthropologist, b. Philadelphia, grad. Barnard, 1923, Ph.D. Columbia, 1929. In 1926 she became assistant curator, in 1942 associate curator, and from 1964 to 1969 s...