Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Chen Shui-bian chŭn shwā-byän [key], 1951–, Taiwanese political leader, president of Taiwan (2000–2008). Born into poverty, he obtained his law degree from National Taiwan Univ. in 1975 and pra...

(Encyclopedia) Jersey City, city (1990 pop. 228,537), seat of Hudson co., NE N.J., a port on a peninsula formed by the Hudson and Hackensack rivers and Upper New York Bay, opposite lower Manhattan; settled before 16...

(Encyclopedia) Actors Studio, The, organization founded 1947 in New York City by the directors Cheryl Crawford, Elia Kazan, and Robert Lewis to train professional actors. Long directed (1948–82) by Lee Strasberg a...

(Encyclopedia) Fanon, Frantz Omar fräNts ômärˈ fänôNˈ [key], 1925–61, French West Indian ps...

(Encyclopedia) Civil War, in U.S. history, conflict (1861–65) between the Northern states (the Union) and the Southern states that seceded from the Union and formed the Confederacy. It is generally known in the So...

(Encyclopedia) perennial, any plant that under natural conditions lives for several to many growing seasons, as contrasted to an annual or a biennial. Botanically, the term perennial applies to both woody and herbac...

(Encyclopedia) dune, mound or ridge of wind-blown sand formed in arid regions and along coasts. Dunes are common in most of the great deserts of the world. Often a dune begins to form because material is deposited b...

(Encyclopedia) Boston Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1881 by Henry Lee Higginson, who was its director and financial backer until 1918. The orchestra performed at the Old Boston Music Hall for nearly 20 years until ...

(Encyclopedia)  Kopit, Arthur, 1937-2021, American playwright, b. New York, New York, as Arthur Lee Koenig, Harvard Univ. (BS, 1959). Kopit’s parents divorced when h...

(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...