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Nicephorus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Nicephorus, Saint nīsĕfˈərəs [key], 758?–829?, patriarch of Constantinople (806–15), Byzantine historian and theologian. St. Nicephorus attended the Second Council of Nicaea as lay representa...

McReynolds, James Clark

(Encyclopedia)McReynolds, James Clark məkrĕnˈəldz [key], 1862–1946, U.S. Attorney General (1913–14) and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1914–41), b. Elkton, Ky. He received his law degree fro...

Magdala, village, Ethiopia

(Encyclopedia)Magdala ämˈbə märˈēəm [key], village, Amhara region, central Ethiopia. Emperor Tewodros II (Theodore II) in the mid-19th cent. used Magdala as the base of operations for his conquest of the sur...

Knox, Philander Chase

(Encyclopedia)Knox, Philander Chase fəlănˈdər [key], 1853–1921, U.S. cabinet member, b. Brownsville, Pa. He built up a fortune as a corporation lawyer in Pittsburgh. He was Attorney General (1901–4) in the ...

Sims, William Sowden

(Encyclopedia)Sims, William Sowden, 1858–1936, American naval officer, b. Port Hope, Upper Canada (now Ontario), of American parents. After serving with the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, he was (1897–1900) naval...

Red Sea

(Encyclopedia)Red Sea, ancient Sinus Arabicus or Erythraean Sea, narrow sea, c.170,000 sq mi (440,300 sq km), c.1,450 mi (2,330 km) long and up to 225 mi ...

Huxley, Aldous Leonard

(Encyclopedia)Huxley, Aldous Leonard, 1894–1963, English author; grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, brother of Sir Julian Huxley, and half-brother of Sir Andrew Huxley. Educated at Eton and Oxford, he traveled wide...

Grossman, David

(Encyclopedia)Grossman, David, 1954–, Israeli writer and peace activist, b. Jerusalem. He is widely recognized as the finest novelist in the generation that followed Amos Oz and A. B. Yehoshua. The son of a Polis...

Abbas, Mahmoud

(Encyclopedia)Abbas, Mahmoud mäkhmo͞odˈ äbäsˈ, mämo͞odˈ [key], 1935–, Palestinian leader, also known as Abu Mazen. He was born in Saffed, Palestine (now in Israel), but his family fled during the 1948–...

Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act

(Encyclopedia)Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, 1909, passed by the U.S. Congress. It was the first change in tariff laws since the Dingley Act of 1897; the issue had been ignored by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Repub...