Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Kawabata, Yasunari yäso͞onäˈrē käwäˈbätä [key], 1899–1972, Japanese novelist. His first major work was The Izu Dancer, (1925). He came to be a leader of the school of Japanese writers that...

(Encyclopedia) Lang, Fritz läng [key], 1890–1976, German-American film director, b. Vienna. His silent and early sound films, notably the iconic masterpiece Metropolis (1926) with its dystopian vision of the futu...

(Encyclopedia) Brahmo Samaj bräˈmō səmäjˈ [key] [Hindi,=society of God], Indian religious movement, founded in Kolkata (Calcutta) in 1828 by Rammohun Roy. It promoted a monotheistic, reformed Hinduism with str...

(Encyclopedia) Smith, Bessie, 1894–1937, American singer, b. Chattanooga, Tenn. About 1910 Smith became the protégée of Gertrude (Ma) Rainey, one of the earliest b...

(Encyclopedia) Hill, A. P. (Ambrose Powell Hill), 1825–65, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Culpeper, Va. He served briefly in the Mexican War and had a varied army career until he resigned in Mar...

(Encyclopedia) Donleavy, J. P. (James Patrick Donleavy), 1926–2017, Irish-American novelist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., studied Trinity College, Dublin. The son of Irish expatriates, he lived most of his life in Ireland a...

(Encyclopedia) Christy, Edwin P., 1815–62, American showman, b. Philadelphia. He established c.1846 in Buffalo, N.Y., a company of minstrels that came to be known as Christy's Minstrels. The company, although not ...

(Encyclopedia) Ryder, Donald P., , 1926-2021, African-American architect, b. Springfield, Oh., Univ. of Illinois (BA, 1951). Ryder was raised in Dayton, Ohio. He serve...

(Encyclopedia) Giannini, A. P. (Amadeo Peter Giannini) ämädĕˈō, jänēˈnē [key], 1870–1949, American banker and financier, b. San Jose, Calif. The son of Italian immigrants, he joined his stepfather in the ...

(Encyclopedia) Nott, Eliphalet ĭlĭfˈəlĭt [key], 1773–1866, American educator, inventor, and clergyman, b. Ashford, Conn. In 1804, Nott became president of Union College, a post he held for 62 years; he initia...