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Fuller, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Fuller, Margaret, 1810–50, American writer, lecturer, and public intellectual, b. Cambridgeport (now part of Cambridge), Mass. She was one of the most influential personalities in the American liter...

Enlightenment

(Encyclopedia)Enlightenment, term applied to the mainstream of thought of 18th-century Europe and America. Centered in Paris, the movement gained international character at cosmopolitan salons. Masonic lodges pla...

Claude Lorrain

(Encyclopedia)Claude Lorrain zhəlāˈ [key], 1600–1682, French painter, b. Lorraine. Claude was the foremost landscape painter of his time. In Rome at about 12 years of age he was employed as a pastry cook for t...

insanity

(Encyclopedia)insanity, mental disorder of such severity as to render its victim incapable of managing his affairs or of conforming to social standards. Today, the term insanity is used chiefly in criminal law, to ...

Erie Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Erie Railroad, rail transportation line designed to connect the mouth of the Hudson River with the Great Lakes region. The New York and Erie RR Company was enfranchised and incorporated in 1832, and c...

Nebuchadnezzar

(Encyclopedia)Nebuchadnezzar nĕbˌəkədnĕzˈər [key], d. 562 b.c., king of Babylonia (c.605–562 b.c.), son and successor of Nabopolassar. In his father's reign he was sent to oppose the Egyptians, who were oc...

Lumet, Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Lumet, Sidney lo͞o-mĕtˈ [key], 1924–2011, one of the great American film directors of the 20th cent., b. Philadelphia. A child actor in New York's Yiddish radio and theater and (1935–41) on Bro...

Leakey, Richard Erskine Frere

(Encyclopedia)Leakey, Richard Erskine Frere frĭr [key], 1944–2022, Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist, and ...

periodical

(Encyclopedia)periodical, a publication that is issued regularly. It is distinguished from the newspaper in format in that its pages are smaller and are usually bound, and it is published at weekly, monthly, quarte...

Johnson, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Sir William, 1715–74, British colonial leader in America, b. Co. Meath, Ireland. He settled (1738) in the Mohawk valley, became a merchant, and gained great power among the Mohawk and other...