Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Lewis, Sinclair, 1885–1951, American novelist, b. Sauk Centre, Minn., grad. Yale Univ., 1908. Probably the greatest satirist of his era, Lewis wrote novels that present a devastating picture of midd...

(Encyclopedia) Menander mĭnănˈdər [key], 342?–291? b.c., Greek poet, the most famous writer of New Comedy. He wrote ingenious plays using the love plot as his theme; his style is elegant and elaborate and his ...

(Encyclopedia) Truth, Sojourner, c.1797–1883, American abolitionist, a freed slave, originally called Isabella, b. Ulster co., N.Y. Convinced that she heard heavenly...

(Encyclopedia) Saint David's, Welsh Tyddewi, small town, Pembrokeshire, SW Wales. The renowned town cathedral is mainly Transitional Norman in style, built of red-violet stone. Among its features is the late 13th-ce...

(Encyclopedia) Savoy, the, chapel in London, between the Strand and the Thames River. Its name is derived from the palace of Peter of Savoy, uncle of Eleanor of Provence, wife of Henry III. Destroyed (1381) in the P...

(Encyclopedia) Tabuaeran təbo͞oˌəĕrˈən [key], atoll (1990 pop. 1,309), c.15 sq mi (40 sq km), central Pacific, one of the Line Islands and part of the Republic of Kiribati. Visited by the American explorer Ed...

(Encyclopedia) Popham, George pŏpˈəm [key], c.1550–1608, early colonist in Maine, b. England. He was named in the patent granted to the Plymouth Company in 1606. In consequence of the colonization project of hi...

(Encyclopedia) Bodley, George Frederick bŏdˈlē [key], 1827–1907, English architect. One of the most prominent and prolific ecclesiastical architects, Bodley was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott. A friend of ...

(Encyclopedia) Tarawa təräˈwə, tărˈəwä [key], atoll (1990 pop. 28,802), capital of Kiribati, central Pacific, previously capital of the former British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. The administra...

(Encyclopedia) Polk, James Knox pōk [key], 1795–1849, 11th President of the United States (1845–49), b. Mecklenburg co., N.C. To the surprise of many, the new President proved to be his own man; he even ignor...