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Hook, Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Hook, Sidney, 1902–89, American philosopher, b. New York City, grad. City College (B.S., 1923), Ph.D. Columbia Univ., 1927. He taught at New York Univ. (1927–72) and was long head of its philosoph...

Paley, Grace

(Encyclopedia)Paley, Grace, 1922–2007, American writer and social activist, b. the Bronx, N.Y., as Grace Goodside. In short stories mainly celebrating the lives of women, Paley paints the daily lives of working-c...

Mapp v. Ohio

(Encyclopedia)Mapp v. Ohio, case decided in 1961 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Dollree Mapp was convicted in a state court of possessing pornographic material in violation of Ohio law. Her conviction was obtained on t...

Alemanni

(Encyclopedia)Alemanni ălĭmănˈī [key], Germanic tribe, a splinter group of the Suebi (see Germans). The Alemanni may have been a confederation of smaller tribes. First mentioned (a.d. 213) as unsuccessfully as...

Rachel, French actress

(Encyclopedia)Rachel ālēˈzä fālēksˈ [key], 1821–58, French actress, b. Switzerland. Exploited by her father in her childhood, she sang in the streets with her sister Sarah. In Paris, showing great promise ...

Haley, Alex

(Encyclopedia)Haley, Alex (Alexander Murray Palmer Haley), 1921–92, American writer, b. Ithaca, N.Y. Haley was for a time one of the most famous writers in the United States as the author of Roots: The Saga of an...

Vargas Llosa, Mario

(Encyclopedia)Vargas Llosa, Mario märˈyō värˈgäs yōˈsä [key], 1936–, Peruvian novelist and politician, b. Arequipa. Although his works contain much external realism, emphasizing the ugly and grotesque, h...

Balch, Emily Greene

(Encyclopedia)Balch, Emily Greene bŏlch [key], 1867–1961, American economist and sociologist, b. Jamaica Plain, Mass., grad. Bryn Mawr, 1889. She taught at Wellesley College until her dismissal (1918) for opposi...

Vesey, Denmark

(Encyclopedia)Vesey, Denmark, 1767?–1822, African-American leader. After many years as a slave he won (1800) $1,500 in a lottery and purchased his freedom. Intelligent and energetic, he acquired considerable weal...

Gentiloni Silveri, Paolo

(Encyclopedia)Gentiloni Silveri, Paolo, 1954–, Italian politician. From a aristocratic Roman family, Gentiloni became a journalist and was originally aligned with the Greens. First elected to parliament in 2001, ...