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Tan, Amy

(Encyclopedia)Tan, Amy, 1952–, American novelist, b. Oakland, Calif. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she has taken for her theme the lives of Asian-Americans and the generational and cultural differences amon...

Lipsius, Justus

(Encyclopedia)Lipsius, Justus jŭsˈtəs lĭpˈsēəs [key], 1547–1606, Flemish scholar, whose original name was Joest Lips. He was one of the most celebrated authorities of his day on Roman literature, history, ...

De Sanctis, Francesco

(Encyclopedia)De Sanctis, Francesco fränchāsˈkō dā sängkˈtēs [key], 1817–83, Italian historian and literary critic. He was one of the founders of modern Italian literary criticism. He suffered imprisonmen...

Fox, Paula

(Encyclopedia)Fox, Paula, 1923–, American writer, b. New York City. Fox's six cooly acute novels reflect her own life, particularly her miserable childhood and its psychological aftermath. Poor George (1967), her...

Tudor

(Encyclopedia)Tudor, royal family that ruled England from 1485 to 1603. Its founder was Owen Tudor, of a Welsh family of great antiquity, who was a squire at the court of Henry V and who married that king's widow, ...

Stevenson, Robert Louis

(Encyclopedia)Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850–94, Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist, b. Edinburgh. Handicapped from youth by delicate health, he struggled all his life against tuberculosis. He studied law and w...

family, in sociology

(Encyclopedia)family, a basic unit of social structure, the exact definition of which can vary greatly from time to time and from culture to culture. How a society defines family as a primary group, and the functio...

Grahame, Kenneth

(Encyclopedia)Grahame, Kenneth grāˈəm [key], 1859–1931, English author. He was a secretary in the Bank of England from 1908 until 1918. His works, noted for their humor and charm, include The Golden Age (1895)...

Elizabeth, Saint, daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary

(Encyclopedia)Elizabeth, Saint, 1207–31, daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary and wife of Landgrave Louis II of Thuringia. She is called St. Elizabeth of Hungary. She led a simple life, personally tended the sic...

Wald, Lillian D.

(Encyclopedia)Wald, Lillian D. wôld [key], 1867–1940, American social worker and pioneer in public health nursing. In 1893 she organized a visiting nurse service, which became the nucleus of the noted Henry Stre...