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Ballard, J. G.

(Encyclopedia)Ballard, J. G. (James Graham Ballard) bălˈərd [key], 1930–2009, English writer, mainly of dystopian science fiction. Born to English parents in Shanghai, he was torn from his affluent surrounding...

Kerr, Clark

(Encyclopedia)Kerr, Clark kûr, kär [key], 1911–2003, American educational reformer, b. Reading, Pa., grad. Swarthmore College (B.A., 1932) and the Univ. of California at Berkeley (Ph.D., 1939). He was a profess...

Fellini, Federico

(Encyclopedia)Fellini, Federico fādārēˈkō fāl-lēˈnē [key], 1920–93, Italian film director. After World War II he wrote screenplays for such neorealistic films as Rossellini's Open City and Paisan. He beg...

Katmai National Park and Preserve

(Encyclopedia)Katmai National Park and Preserve kătˈmī [key], at the northern end of the Alaska Peninsula on Shelikof Strait, S Alaska, comprising Katmai National Park (3,674,530 acres/1,487,664 hectares) and an...

Dunhuang

(Encyclopedia)Dunhuang or Tunhwang both: do͞on-hwäng [key], town, extreme NW Gansu prov., China. Crescent Lake, a noted tourist attraction surrounded by high sand dunes, is there. The Caves of the Thousand Buddha...

Afwerki, Isaias

(Encyclopedia)Afwerki or Afewerki, Isaias, 1945–, Eritrean political leader, president of Eritrea (1993–), b. Asmara. He studied engineering at the Univ. of Addis Ababa, leaving in 1966 to join the Eritrean Lib...

Falashas

(Encyclopedia)Falashas fäläˈshəs [key] [Amharic,=exiles], Jews of Ethiopia who refer to themselves as Beta Israel (House of Israel). Long isolated from mainstream Judaism, they practice a form of the religion b...

Wilson, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Robert, 1941–, dramatist, director, and designer, b. Waco, Tex. He began his arts career as a painter. A leading figure in postmodern theater since 1963, when he arrived in New York City, he...

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