Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Leo IV (Leo the Khazar), d. 780, Byzantine emperor (775–80), son and successor of Constantine V. He owed his nickname to his mother, a Khazar princess. Leo tempered the iconoclastic excesses of his ...

(Encyclopedia) Exeter Book, manuscript volume of Old English religious and secular poetry, of various dates of composition, compiled c.975 and given to Exeter Cathedral by Bishop Leofric (d. 1072). See edition by G...

(Encyclopedia) Isherwood, Christopher ishˈərwo͝od [key], 1904–86, British-American author. After the appearance of his first novel, All the Conspirators (1928), Isherwood went to Germany. The four years he spen...

(Encyclopedia) Abrahams, Peter, 1919–2017, South African novelist and journalist, b. Peter Henry Abrahams Deras. Though he lived mostly in exile, he exposed the injustices of the apartheid system and the politics ...

(Encyclopedia) Carter, Nick, fictional detective character in dime novels said to have been created by J. R. Coryell in the 1880s. The firm of Street & Smith, New York City, published over 1,000 stories about Ni...

(Encyclopedia) Gombert, Nicolas nēkôläˈ gôNbĕrˈ [key], c.1500–c.1560, Flemish composer. Gombert was the greatest follower of Josquin des Prés. He served at the court of Emperor Charles V. His sacred works ...

(Encyclopedia) Lindsay, John Vliet vlēt [key], 1921–2000, American politician, mayor of New York City (1966–73), b. New York City. He practiced law and then served (1955–57) as executive assistant to Attorney...

(Encyclopedia) Vinson, Frederick Moore, 1890–1953, 13th chief justice of the United States (1946–53), b. Louisa, Ky. He received his law degree from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky (1911). He served (1923�...

(Encyclopedia) Eden, Emily, 1797–1869, English novelist. She went with her brother George, Lord Auckland, to India when he was governor-general (1836–42). Her two novels, The Semi-detached House (1859) and The S...

(Encyclopedia) Baker, Oliver Edwin, 1883–1949, American economic geographer, grad. Heidelberg College, Tiffin, Ohio. He studied forestry at Yale and agriculture and economics at the Univ. of Wisconsin (Ph.D., 1921...