Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Brooks, Mel, 1927–, American film director, writer, actor, and producer, b. Brooklyn, NY as Melvin Kaminsky. His earliest work was in television, notably as a gag writer for Sid Caesar's “Your Sho...

(Encyclopedia)  Brooks, Garth , 1962- , American country singer/songwriter, b. Luba, OK, Oklahoma State Univ. (B.A., 1984). Brooks's mother was a country singer who pe...

(Encyclopedia) Brooks Range, mountain chain, northernmost part of the Rocky Mts., extending about 600 mi (970 km) from east to west across N Alaska. Mt. Chamberlin, 9,020 ft (2,749 m) high, near the Canadian border,...

(Encyclopedia) Atkinson, Brooks (Justin Brooks Atkinson), 1894–1984, American journalist, b. Melrose, Mass. After being an editor for the New York Times he became its drama critic in 1925. Except for his service a...

(Encyclopedia) Brooks, Preston Smith, 1819–57, U.S. Congressman (1852–57), b. Edgefield District, S.C. A lawyer and the nephew of Senator Andrew Pickens Butler, he is remembered as the man who in 1856 caned Char...

(Encyclopedia) Adams, Brooks, 1848–1927, American historian, b. Quincy, Mass.; son of Charles Francis Adams (1807–86). His theory that civilization rose and fell according to the growth and decline of commerce w...

(Encyclopedia) Brooks, Van Wyck văn wĭkˈ [key], 1886–1963, American critic, b. Plainfield, N.J., grad. Harvard, 1908. His first book, The Wine of the Puritans (1909), presented the thesis that American culture ...

(Encyclopedia) Brooks, Gwendolyn Elizabeth, 1917–2000, American poet, b. Topeka, Kans. She grew up in the slums of Chicago and lived in that city until her death. Brooks's poems, technically accomplished and writt...

(Encyclopedia) Brooks, Maria Gowen gouˈən [key], 1795?–1845, American poet, b. Medford, Mass. Her first collection of verse, Judith, Esther, and Other Poems (1820), was praised by Southey, who named her “Maria...