Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Kurosawa, Akira äkēˈrä ko͞orōˈsäwä [key], 1910–98, Japanese film director, scriptwriter, and producer, b. Tokyo. He is regarded as one of the world's greatest directors. In Rashomon (1950),...

(Encyclopedia) Levine, Philip, 1928–2015, American poet, b. Detroit, grad. Wayne State Univ. (B.A., 1950; A.M., 1954), Univ. of Iowa (M.F.A., 1957). The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, he held a variety of indus...

(Encyclopedia) Averroës əvĕrˈōēz [key], Arabic Ibn Rushd, 1126–98, Spanish-Arab philosopher. He was far more important and influential in Jewish and Christian thought than in Islam. He was a lawyer and physi...

(Encyclopedia) Péguy, Charles shärl pāgēˈ [key], 1873–1914, French poet and writer. Of a poor, working family, he won scholarships and made a brilliant record as a student. He left the École normale supérie...

(Encyclopedia) Mantel, Dame Hilary, 1952–, English novelist, b. Hilary Mary Thompson. After working as a social worker, she moved to Botswana with her geologist husband and later to Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, where she...

(Encyclopedia) Cousin, Victor vēktôrˈ [key], 1792–1867, French educational leader and philosopher, founder of the eclectic school. He lectured at the Sorbonne from 1814 until 1821, when political reaction force...

(Encyclopedia) John Birch Society, ultraconservative, anti-Communist organization in the United States. It was founded in Dec., 1958, by manufacturer Robert Welch, headquartered in Belmont, Mass., and named after Jo...

(Encyclopedia) Hazzard, Shirley, 1931–2016, Australian-American novelist and short-story writer, b. Sydney. Educated in Australia, she lived in Hong Kong, Italy, and New Zealand before settling in the United State...

(Encyclopedia) Kindi, al- (Abu Yusuf Yakub ibn Ishak al-Kindi) äˈbo͞o yo͞oso͝ofˈ yäko͞obˈ ĭbˈən ēshäkˈ ăl-kĭnˈdē [key], 9th cent. Arab philosopher, b. Basra (now in Iraq). He studied at Basra and ...

(Encyclopedia) Quine, W. V. (Willard Van Orman Quine) kwīn [key], 1908–2000, American philosopher and mathematical logician, b. Akron, Ohio, grad. Oberlin, 1930. He studied at Harvard (Ph.D., 1932) under Alfred N...