Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Cobbett, William kŏbˈĭt [key], 1763?–1835, British journalist and reformer. The son of a farm laborer, he ran away from home at 14 and later joined the British army. He resigned in order to expos...

(Encyclopedia) Sayles, John (John Thomas Sayles), 1950–, one of America's most influential independent filmmakers as well as a screenwriter, fiction writer, playwright, and actor, b. Schenectady, N.Y., grad. Willi...

(Encyclopedia) Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 1806–61, English poet, b. Durham. A delicate and precocious child, she spent a great part of her early life in a state of semi-invalidism. She read voraciously—philoso...

(Encyclopedia) Eliot, George, pseud. of Mary Ann or Marian Evans, 1819–80, English novelist, b. Arbury, Warwickshire. One of the great English novelists, she was reared in a strict atmosphere of evangelical Protes...

(Encyclopedia) Longview. 1 City (1990 pop. 70,311), seat of Gregg co., E Tex.; inc. 1872. It is a manufacturing, business, and distribution center for the rich East Texas oil field. The city has oil and natural-gas ...

(Encyclopedia) Earp, Wyatt Berry Stapp ûrp [key], 1848–1929, law officer, gambler, and gunfighter of the American West, b. Monmouth, Ill. After serving as police officer in Wichita (1874) and Dodge City (1876–7...

(Encyclopedia) Absheron əp– [key], peninsula, c.40 mi (60 km) long, extending into the Caspian Sea, E Azerbaijan. It is a dry, hilly area at the eastern end of the Greater Caucasus Mts. and is underlain by rich o...

(Encyclopedia) Roswell rŏzˈwĕl [key], city (1990 pop. 44,654), seat of Chaves co., SE N.Mex., near the Pecos River; settled 1869 as a trading post, inc. 1903. It is the trade, marketing, and rail center of an irr...

(Encyclopedia) Sable Island, low, sandy island, c.25 mi (40 km) long and 1 mi (1.6 km) wide, off N.S., Canada, ESE of Halifax, near the edge of the continental shelf. The crescent-shaped island is the exposed part o...

(Encyclopedia) Lewes, George Henry lo͞oˈĭs [key], 1817–78, English critic and author. As editor of the Leader (1850–54) and of the Fortnightly Review (1865–66), Lewes distinguished himself as a critic. Infl...