Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Crenshaw, Kimberlé, 1959–, American legal scholar and critical race theorist, b. Canton, Ohio, J.D. Harvard University, 1984. An influential writer o...

(Encyclopedia) York, Richard, duke of, 1411–60, English nobleman, claimant to the throne. He was descended from Edward III through his father, Richard, earl of Cambridge, grandson of that king, and also through hi...

(Encyclopedia) garden city, an ideal, self-contained community of predetermined area and population surrounded by a greenbelt. As formulated by Sir Ebenezer Howard, the garden city was intended to bring together the...

(Encyclopedia) Mantel, Dame Hilary, 1952–, English novelist, b. Hilary Mary Thompson. After working as a social worker, she moved to Botswana with her geologist husband and later to Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, where she...

(Encyclopedia) Lucas, Edward Verrall, 1868–1938, English author and critic. For several years he was assistant editor of Punch. He wrote many volumes of gently satirical essays and travel books, including Old Lamp...

(Encyclopedia) Miller, William, 1782–1849, American sectarian leader, b. Pittsfield, Mass. He was the founder of the sect of Second Adventists, sometimes called Millerites. In 1831, convinced from study of the Bib...

(Encyclopedia) Patti, Adelina ădəlēˈnə pătˈē [key], 1843–1919, coloratura soprano, b. Madrid, of Italian parents. She was trained in New York City, where she made her debut in 1859, thereafter singing with...

(Encyclopedia) mugwumps mŭgˈwŭmpsˌ [key], slang term in U.S. political history for the Republicans who in 1884 deserted their party nominee, James G. Blaine, to vote for the Democratic nominee, Grover Cleveland....

(Encyclopedia) Hoel, Sigurd sēˈgo͝or hōˈəl [key], 1890–1960, Norwegian novelist. Hoel's sophisticated novels of urban life include the witty satire Sinners in Summertime (1927, tr. 1930) and the more serious...

(Encyclopedia) Nicomedia nĭkōmēˈdēə [key], ancient city, NW Asia Minor, near the Bosporus, in present-day Turkey. Refounded (264 b.c.) by Nicomedes I of Bithynia to replace Astacus as his capital, it flourishe...