Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) standard of living, level of consumption that an individual, group, or nation has achieved. The evaluation of a standard of living is relative, depending upon the judgment of the observer as to what c...

(Encyclopedia) Ghose, Chinmoy gōsh [key], 1931–, Indian mystic and poet. Orphaned at the age of 12, he went to live at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in S India, where he stayed for the next 20 years, practicing spiri...

(Encyclopedia) Breck, James Lloyd, 1818–76, American Episcopal clergyman and missionary, b. Philadelphia. In 1841 he established a seminary at Nashotah, Wis., with which he was connected until 1850, when he turned...

(Encyclopedia) Neusner, Jacob, 1932–2016, American scholar and historian of Judaism, b. West Hartford, Conn, B.A. Harvard, 1953, M.A. Jewish Theological Seminary, 1960), Ph.D. Columbia, 1960. Regarded as the world...

(Encyclopedia) husband and wife, the legal aspects of the married state (for the sociological aspects, see marriage). The former Anglo-American law of marriage was chiefly characterized by the view that husband an...

(Encyclopedia) Prairie Pothole Region, large geographic area of central North America consisting of grass-covered wetlands. Stretching northwest from N Iowa through SW Minnesota, E South Dakota, E and N North Dakota...

(Encyclopedia) Hawaii, island (2020 pop. 200, 629), 4,037 sq mi (10,456 sq km), largest and southernmost island of the state of Hawaii and coextensive with Hawaii co.;...

(Encyclopedia) Sorokin, Pitirim Alexandrovitch pĭtĭrēmˈ ălˌĭgzănˈdrəvĭch sōrōˈkĭn [key], 1889–1968, Russian-American sociologist. Supporting himself as artisan and clerk, he was able to study at the...

(Encyclopedia) Freemasonry, teachings and practices of the secret fraternal order officially known as the Free and Accepted Masons, or Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Because of its identification with 19th-cent...

(Encyclopedia) Tweed, William Marcy, 1823–78, American politician and Tammany leader, b. New York City. A bookkeeper, he became (1848) a volunteer fireman and as a result acquired influence in his ward. He was an ...