Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Proulx, E. Annie (Edna Annie Proulx) pro͞o [key], 1935–, American writer, b. Norwich, Conn., grad. Univ. of Vermont (B.A., 1969), Sir George Williams (now Concordia) Univ., Montreal (M.A., 1973). S...

(Encyclopedia) zoning, legislative regulations by which a municipal government seeks to control the use of buildings and land within the municipality. It has become, in the United States, a widespread method of cont...

(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...

(Encyclopedia) Grand Ole Opry, weekly American radio program featuring live country and western music. The nation's oldest continuous radio sho...

(Encyclopedia) Fundamental Orders, in U.S. history, the basic law of the Connecticut colony from 1639 to 1662, formally adopted (Jan. 14, 1639) by representatives from the towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windso...

(Encyclopedia) Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807–82, American poet, b. Portland, Maine, grad. Bowdoin College, 1825. He wrote some of the most popular poems in American literature, in which he created a new body o...

(Encyclopedia) LaGuardia, Fiorello Henry fēərĕlˈō, ləgwärˈdēə [key], 1882–1947, U.S. public official, congressman, and mayor of New York City (1934–45), b. New York City. He spent his early years in Ar...

(Encyclopedia) Bonds, Barry Lamar, 1964–, American baseball player, b. Riverside, Calif. Bonds grew up surrounded by baseball; his father, Bobby Bonds, was a San Francisco Giants outfielder (1968–74), and the gr...

(Encyclopedia) Kazan, Elia ĭlīˈə, ēlˈyə kəzănˈ, –zänˈ [key], 1909–2003, American stage and film director, producer, writer, actor, b. Turkey, as Elia Kazanjoglous. Immigrating with his Greek family t...

(Encyclopedia) Silk Road, ancient overland trade route linking Asia and Europe, consisting of a network of caravan routes running from China across central Asia to the shores of the Mediterranean. Its starting point...