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Siegen, Ludwig von

(Encyclopedia)Siegen, Ludwig von lo͝otˈvĭkh fən zēˈgən [key], c.1609–1680, German engraver, b. Holland, educated in Germany. He is said to have invented (c.1640) the mezzotint process of engraving. Among h...

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...

Braun, Eva

(Encyclopedia)Braun, Eva āˈvä broun [key], 1912–45, mistress and later wife of the German dictator Adolf Hitler. She was a shop assistant to a Nazi photographer, through whom she met Hitler. She entered his ho...

Burnett, Frances Eliza Hodgson

(Encyclopedia)Burnett, Frances Eliza Hodgson bərnĕtˈ [key], 1849–1924, American author, b. Manchester, England. In 1865 she went to Knoxville, Tenn., with her family. She wrote several adult novels, but is fam...

Grey of Fallodon, Edward Grey, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Grey of Fallodon, Edward Grey, 1st Viscount fălˈədən [key], 1862–1933, British statesman. He entered Parliament as a Liberal in 1885 and became (1905) foreign secretary in the difficult period p...

Balkan Wars

(Encyclopedia)Balkan Wars, 1912–13, two short wars, fought for the possession of the European territories of the Ottoman Empire. The outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War for the possession of Tripoli (1911) encourag...

Dulles, Allen Welsh

(Encyclopedia)Dulles, Allen Welsh dŭlˈəs [key], 1893–1969, U.S. public official, b. Watertown, N.Y.; brother of John Foster Dulles. The Dulles brothers, born into America's political establishment, became extr...

shield, armor

(Encyclopedia)shield, piece of defensive armor, worn on the arm or shoulder to ward off weapons during combat, used prior to the dominance of gunpowder. Originally for individual defense during hand-to-hand combat,...

Cleaver, Eldridge

(Encyclopedia)Cleaver, Eldridge (Leroy Eldridge Cleaver), 1935–98, African-American social activist, b. Wabbaseka, Ark. Growing up in Los Angeles, he spent much of 1954–66 in prison for various crimes including...

Tyne and Wear

(Encyclopedia)Tyne and Wear, former metropolitan county, NE England. Created in the 1974 local government reorganization, the county embraced the Newcastle upon Tyne conurbation and comprised five metropolitan dist...