Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Presley, Elvis (Elvis Aaron Presley), 1935–77, American popular singer, b. Tupelo, Miss. Exposed to gospel music from childhoo...

(Encyclopedia) roller, common name for brightly colored Old World birds noted for performing somersaults in flight. They include the rollers proper (subfamily Coraciinae) and ground rollers (subfamily Brachypteracii...

(Encyclopedia) Edward VIII, 1894–1972, king of Great Britain and Ireland (1936), known in later years as the duke of Windsor; eldest son of George V. He attended the naval colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth and Mag...

(Encyclopedia) Carolina campaign, 1780–81, of the American Revolution. After Sir Henry Clinton had captured Charleston, he returned to New York, leaving a British force under Cornwallis to subordinate the Carolina...

(Encyclopedia) Jay, John, 1745–1829, American statesman, 1st chief justice of the United States, b. New York City, grad. King's College (now Columbia Univ.), 1764. He was admitted (1768) to the bar and for a time ...

(Encyclopedia) Prohibition party, in U.S. history, minor political party formed (1869) for the legislative prohibition of the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The temperance movement was...

(Encyclopedia) Wilmington. 1 City (1990 pop. 71,529), seat of New Castle co., NE Del., on the Delaware River and tributary streams, the Christina and the Brandywine; settled 1638, inc. as a city 1832. The state's la...

(Encyclopedia) Liberal party, former British political party, the dominant political party in Great Britain for much of the period from the mid-1800s to World War I. By 1914 the Liberal government had passed subst...

(Encyclopedia) lobbying, practice and profession of influencing governmental decisions, carried out by agents who present the concerns of special interests to legislators and administrators. The term originated in t...

(Encyclopedia) Lee, Spike (Shelton Jackson Lee), 1957–, African-American filmmaker, b. Atlanta, Ga. As a student at New York Univ., he won recognition with his gradu...