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Keats, Ezra Jack

(Encyclopedia)Keats, Ezra Jack, 1916–83, American author and illustrator of children's books, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Jacob Ezra Katz. During the Great Depression, he painted murals for the Works Progress Administr...

Danakil

(Encyclopedia)Danakil, desert region, NE Ethiopia and neighboring portions of Djibouti and Eritrea, c.350 mi (560 km) long and 50–250 mi (80–400 km) wide, between the gulfs of Zula and Tadjoura. It is bordered ...

Evans, Walker

(Encyclopedia)Evans, Walker, 1903–75, American photographer, b. St. Louis. Evans began his photographic career in 1928. His studies of Victorian architecture and his photographs of the rural South during the Grea...

Selfridge, Harry Gordon

(Encyclopedia)Selfridge, Harry Gordon, 1858–1947, American-British retail merchant, b. Ripon, Wis. He moved to Chicago in 1876, where he started a successful 25-year career at Marshall Field & Co., developing...

panic

(Encyclopedia)panic, crisis in financial and economic conditions, marked by public loss of confidence in the financial structure. Panics are characterized by a general rush of investors to convert their assets into...

Tônlé Sap

(Encyclopedia)Tônlé Sap tŏnˈlā säp [key] [great lake], lake, central Cambodia; largest lake of SE Asia. It occupies the depression of the Cambodian plain and is fed by many streams; the Tônlé Sap River, c.7...

Catlett, Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Catlett, Elizabeth, 1915–2012, American-Mexican sculptor, painter, and printmaker, considered one of the foremost African-American artists of her era, b. Washington, D.C., grad. Howard Univ. (B.A., ...

Bennett, Richard Bedford

(Encyclopedia)Bennett, Richard Bedford, 1870–1947, Canadian prime minister, b. Hopewell, N.B. In 1927 he succeeded Arthur Meighen as leader of the Conservative party; upon the defeat of the Liberals in 1930, he b...

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