Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Kennedy, Robert Francis, 1925–68, American politician, U.S. Attorney General (1961–64), b. Brookline, Mass., younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and son of Joseph P. Kennedy. A graduate o...

(Encyclopedia) Richard I, Richard Cœur de Lion kör də lyôNˈ [key], or Richard Lion-Heart, 1157–99, king of England (1189–99); third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Although enthroned as duke of A...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Bahamas, the bəhäˈməz [key], officially Commonwealth of the Bahamas, independent nation (2020 ...

(Encyclopedia) American International Group (AIG), American multinational insurance corporation whose potential bankruptcy in 2008 led to the largest federal bailout of a private company. AIG was founded as American...

(Encyclopedia) XYZ Affair, name usually given to an incident (1797–98) in Franco-American diplomatic relations. The United States had in 1778 entered into an alliance with France, but after the outbreak of the Fre...

(Encyclopedia) Augustus II, 1670–1733, king of Poland (1697–1733) and, as Frederick Augustus I, elector of Saxony (1694–1733). He commanded the imperial army against the Turks (1695–96), but had no success a...

(Encyclopedia) Magdeburg mäkˈdəbo͝orkh [key], city (1994 pop. 270,546), capital of Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany, on the Elbe River. It is a large inland port, an industrial center, and a rail and road junction...

(Encyclopedia) Kushner, Tony ko͝oshˈnər [key], 1956–, American playwright, b. New York City. He was a little-known off-Broadway playwright with several interesting works, e.g., Yes, Yes, No, No (1985) and A Bri...

(Encyclopedia) sacrifice [Lat. sacrificare=to make holy], a type of religious offering, or gift to a superior or supreme being, in which the offering is consecrated through its destruction. The Paleolithic evidenc...

(Encyclopedia) Metropolitan Opera Company, term used in referring collectively to the organizations that have produced opera at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City. The original house, at West 39th Street an...