Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Volstead, Andrew Joseph vŏlˈstĕd [key], 1860–1947, American legislator, b. Goodhue co., Minn. A lawyer, he held several local offices in Minnesota before serving (1903–23) in the U.S. House of ...

(Encyclopedia) Goodman, Benny (Benjamin David Goodman), 1909–86, American clarinetist, composer, and band leader, b. Chicago. Goodman studied clarinet at Hull House. In Chicago he had the opportunity to hear (and ...

(Encyclopedia) Fargo, William George, 1818–81, American pioneer expressman, b. Pompey, N.Y. He had been successively a postrider, freight agent, messenger, and resident agent (1843) for an express company in Buffa...

(Encyclopedia) India-Pakistan Wars, name given to the series of conflicts between India and Pakistan since 1947, when the Indian subcontinent was partitioned and the two countries became independent of Great Britain...

(Encyclopedia) Labour party, British political party, one of the two dominant parties in Great Britain since World War I. Harold Wilson, who became leader on Gaitskell's death in 1963, was able to lead the party t...

(Encyclopedia) Lofoten vĕstˈərôlən [key], two contiguous island groups (1995 est. pop. 56,700), Nordland and Troms counties, NW Norway, in the Norwegian Sea. Situated within the Arctic Circle, the islands exten...

(Encyclopedia) melodrama [Gr.,=song-drama], originally a spoken text with musical background, as in Greek drama. The form was popular in the 18th cent., when its composers included Georg Benda, J. J. Rousseau, and W...

(Encyclopedia) Kurosawa, Akira äkēˈrä ko͞orōˈsäwä [key], 1910–98, Japanese film director, scriptwriter, and producer, b. Tokyo. He is regarded as one of the world's greatest directors. In Rashomon (1950),...

(Encyclopedia) Streep, Meryl, 1949–, American actress, b. Summit, N.J., as Mary Louise Streep. She attended Yale Drama School and appeared in many Broadway and off-Broadway productions during the early 1970s. Movi...

(Encyclopedia) Sutter, John Augustus, 1803–80, American pioneer, b. Kandern, Baden, of Swiss parents. His original name was Johann August Suter. He emigrated to the United States in 1834, went to St. Louis, then t...