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Nantes, Edict of

(Encyclopedia)Nantes, Edict of, 1598, decree promulgated at Nantes by King Henry IV to restore internal peace in France, which had been torn by the Wars of Religion; the edict defined the rights of the French Prote...

Vallandigham, Clement Laird

(Encyclopedia)Vallandigham, Clement Laird vəlănˈdĭghămˌ, –gămˌ [key], 1820–71, American political leader, leader of the Copperheads in the Civil War, b. New Lisbon (now Lisbon), Ohio. He became (1842) a...

Havel, Václav

(Encyclopedia)Havel, Václav vätsˈläv hävĕl [key], 1936–2011, Czech dramatist and essayist, president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the Czech Republic (1993–2003). The most original Czech dramatist to ...

Ginsburg, Ruth Bader

(Encyclopedia)Ginsburg, Ruth Bader, 1933–2020, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1993–2020), b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Joan Ruth Bader. A graduate (1954) of Cornell, she attended Harvard Law School, then...

Heschel, Abraham Joshua

(Encyclopedia)Heschel, Abraham Joshua hĕshˈəl [key], 1907–72, American Jewish philosopher and theologian, b. Warsaw, Poland. He succeeded Martin Buber as director of the Central Organization for Jewish Adult E...

Americans with Disabilities Act

(Encyclopedia)Americans with Disabilities Act, U.S. civil-rights law, enacted 1990, that forbids discrimination of various sorts against persons with physical or mental handicaps. Its primary emphasis is on enablin...

Rajapaksa, Gotabaya

(Encyclopedia)Rajapaksa or Rajapakse, Gotabaya, 1949–, Sri Lankan political leader, president of Sri Lanka (2019–). He joined the Sri Lankan army in 1971, fought against Marxist insurrections and against the Ta...

Bandaranaike, Sirimavo

(Encyclopedia)Bandaranaike, Sirimavo sērēmäˈvō bändränīˈkē [key], 1916–2000, Sri Lankan political leader, b. Sirimavo Ratwatte. She and her husband, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, converted to Buddhism from ...

Stokes, Carl Burton

(Encyclopedia)Stokes, Carl Burton, 1927–96, American political leader, b. Cleveland. A 1956 graduate of the Cleveland-Marshall School of Law, Stokes began his political career as a Democratic member of the Ohio g...

Cardoso, Fernando Henrique

(Encyclopedia)Cardoso, Fernando Henrique fərnäNˈdo͞o ānrēˈkə kärdōˈso͞o [key], 1931–, Brazilian sociologist and politician, president of Brazil (1995–2002), b. Rio de Janeiro. Originally a sociology...