Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Koch kōk [key], family of American industrialists and philanthropists. Fred Chase Koch, 1900–1967, b. Quanah, Tex., grad. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1922, was a Wichita, Kans., entrepre...

(Encyclopedia) Zhang Yimou, 1951–, Chinese film director. Sentenced to forced labor during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) because his father had been an officer in Chiang Kai-shek's army, he then studied at t...

(Encyclopedia) Lukács, György dyörˈdyə lo͞oˈkäch [key], 1885–1971, Hungarian writer, one of the foremost modern literary critics. Converted to Communism in 1918, Lukács served (1919) in the cabinet of Bé...

(Encyclopedia) Mpama, Josie 1903–1979, anti-apartheid activist. Mpama was a pioneer of women's rights in South Africa and a labor advocate. B...

(Encyclopedia) Laxness, Halldór Kiljan hälˈdōr kĭlˈyän läkhsˈnĕs [key], 1902–98, Icelandic novelist, b. Reykjavík as Halldór Kiljan Gudjónsson. Although Laxness was converted to Roman Catholicism brie...

(Encyclopedia) Mbeki, Govan 1910–2001, anti-apartheid activist, politician, and writer. Mbeki was an influential leader of the African National Congress, the ...

(Encyclopedia) Klíma, Ivan ēvänˈ klēmˈə [key], 1931–, Czech author, b. Prague as Ivan Kauders, grad. Charles Univ., Prague (1956). Of Jewish descent, Klíma spent 1941–45 in the Theresienstadt (now Terez�...

(Encyclopedia) Kazantzakis, Nikos nēˈkôs käˌzändzäˈkēs [key], 1883?–1957, Greek writer, b. Crete. After obtaining a law degree he studied philosophy under Henri Bergson in Paris and traveled widely in Eur...

(Encyclopedia) Brzezinski, Zbigniew Kazimierz zbĭgˈnyĕv käzēmˈyĕsh brəzhĭnˈskē ...

(Encyclopedia) Górecki, Henryk Mikolaj hĕnˈrĭk mēkôˈlī gôrĕtˈskē [key], 1933–2010, Polish composer. He studied (1955–60) at the Katowice State Higher School of Music, joining the faculty in 1968, ris...