Claudia Rankine: …elected a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, and in the following year she published Citizen: An American Lyric, a compelling chronicle of racial aggression and the continuum of violence in the United States. For that work, Rankine received both the PEN Open Book Award and the NAACP Image…

pokeweed, (Phytolacca americana), strong-smelling plant with a poisonous root resembling that of a horseradish. Pokeweed is native to wet or sandy areas of eastern North America. The berries contain a red dye used to colour wine, candies, cloth, and paper. Mature stalks, which are red or purplish

Robert O. Keohane: He was president of the American Political Science Association (1999–2000) and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2009 he was named the most influential scholar of the preceding 20 years in the field of international relations by the journal Foreign Policy.

Gilded Age: An American Politician, by Francis Marion Crawford (1884), focuses upon the disputed election of Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, but its significance as a political novel is diluted by an overdose of popular romance.

horticulture: Horticultural education and research: The American Pomological Society, dedicated to the science and practice of fruit growing, was formed in 1848. The American Horticultural Society, established in 1922, is devoted largely to ornamentals and gardening. The American Society for Horticultural Science was established in 1903 and became perhaps the most…

APRA, political party founded by Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre (1924), which dominated Peruvian politics for decades. Largely synonymous with the so-called Aprista movement, it was dedicated to Latin American unity, the nationalization of foreign-owned enterprises, and an end to the exploitation of

the Doors: …briefly in 1978 to record An American Prayer, providing backing music for poetry Morrison recorded before his death. Manzarek also produced albums for the punk band X.

Aaron Sorkin: …before penning the political romance The American President (1995), about the relationship between a widowed U.S. president (played by Michael Douglas) and a lobbyist (Annette Bening). About this time Sorkin also made uncredited contributions to several other film scripts.

American voters went to the polls on November 6, 2012, to determine—for the 57th time—their country’s president for the next four years. Incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama’s reelection bid was, from the outset, expected to be closely contested as the United States faced a number of

Mary Oliver: Oliver’s volume American Primitive (1983), which won a Pulitzer Prize, glorifies the natural world, reflecting the American fascination with the ideal of the pastoral life as it was first expressed by Henry David Thoreau. In House of Light (1990) Oliver explored the rewards of solitude in nature.…

William Billings: …foremost composer of the early American primitive style, whose works have become an integral part of the American folk tradition. A tanner by trade, he was self-taught in music. Among his friends were many prominent figures of the American Revolution, including Samuel Adams and Paul Revere.

Louisville: The American Printing House for the Blind (1858), which publishes books in Braille, is located in Louisville, as is the headquarters of the Hillerich & Bradsby Company, makers of the famed Louisville Slugger baseball bats (although most bats are now made elsewhere).

baseball: Fantasy baseball: …entrepreneur Dick Seitz, known as APBA (American Professional Baseball Association). A similar game called Strat-o-matic first appeared in the 1960s. Having purchased the APBA or Strat-o-matic board game, players annually ordered cards that listed the statistical data for the ballplayers from the prior season. A combination of data given on…

National Football League (NFL), major American professional football organization, founded in 1920 in Canton, Ohio, as the American Professional Football Association. Its first president was Jim Thorpe, an outstanding American athlete who was also a player in the league. The NFL’s present name was

American literature, the body of written works produced in the English language in the United States. Like other national literatures, American literature was shaped by the history of the country that produced it. For almost a century and a half, America was merely a group of colonies scattered

American Protective Association (APA), in U.S. history, an anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant group that briefly acquired a membership greater than 2,000,000 during the 1890s. A successor in spirit and outlook to the pre-Civil War Know-Nothing Party, the American Protective Association was founded by

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: In 1980 the American Psychiatric Association (APA) replaced these terms with attention deficit disorder (ADD). Then in 1987 the APA linked ADD with hyperactivity, a condition that sometimes accompanies attention disorders but may exist independently. The new syndrome was named attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

Christian Bale: …serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (2000) brought Bale additional attention.

American Psycho, novel by Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. A successful movie version of the novel, starring Christian Bale in the lead role, appeared in 2000. Improbably, perhaps, it was also made into a musical that ran for only 81 performances on Broadway in 2016 before closing in the face

American Psychological Association (APA), professional organization of psychologists in the United States founded in 1892. It is the largest organization of psychologists in the United States as well as in the world. The American Psychological Association (APA) promotes the knowledge of psychology

Patricia Schroeder: …and chief executive of the Association of American Publishers in 1997 and served until 2008.

aspen: tremula) and the American quaking, or trembling, aspen (P. tremuloides) are similar, reaching a height of 27 metres (90 feet). P. tremuloides is distinguished by its leaves, which have more pointed tips, and it grows by root suckers. Individual clones of the plants persist for thousands of years even…

American Quarter Horse, one of the oldest recognized breeds of horses in the United States. The breed originated about the 1660s as a cross between native horses of Spanish origin used by the earliest colonists and English horses imported to Virginia from about 1610. By the late 17th century, these

Amarillo: …is the headquarters of the American Quarter Horse Association, which has a noteworthy museum. West Texas A&M University (1909) is at nearby Canyon. Palo Duro Canyon State Park is 16 miles (26 km) southeast, and Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, the wintering ground for thousands of waterfowl, is southwest. Inc.…

American Quartet, string quartet by Bohemian composer Antonín Dvořák. Written during the composer’s residency in the United States, it premiered on January 1, 1894, in Boston. Although he quotes no actual American melodies, in his American Quartet Dvořák set out to capture the spirit of American

Margaret Bryan Davis: …served as president of the American Quaternary Association from 1978 to 1980, and she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1982.

quilting: The quilt revival: …Quilts, Quilt World, and the American Quilter. The latter promotes the American Quilter’s Society, founded by William and Meredith Schroeder in 1984, with an annual contest and show in Paducah, Kentucky.

REA Express, Inc., American company that at one time operated the nation’s largest ground and air express services, transporting parcels, money, and goods, with pickup and delivery. American Railway Express Company was established by the U.S. government in 1918, during World War I, at the same time

Eugene V. Debs: …(1893) of the newly established American Railway Union. Debs successfully united railway workers from different crafts into the first industrial union in the United States. At the same time, industrial unionism was also being promoted by the Knights of Labor.

Johnny Cash: …after signing with Rick Rubin’s American Recordings, which was best known for its metal and rap acts. Cash’s first release on the label, the acoustic American Recordings, was a critical and popular success, and it won him a new generation of fans. Later records included Unchained (1996), American III: Solitary…

Johnny Cash: …on the label, the acoustic American Recordings, was a critical and popular success, and it won him a new generation of fans. Later records included Unchained (1996), American III: Solitary Man (2000), American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002), and the posthumous American V: A Hundred Highways (2006). The recipient…

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), legislation, enacted by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by Pres. Barack Obama in 2009, that was designed to stimulate the U.S. economy by saving jobs jeopardized by the Great Recession of 2008–09 and creating new jobs. In December 2007 the U.S.

American Red Cross, U.S. humanitarian and disaster-relief organization, a national affiliate of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. In 1881, after observing the success of the International Red Cross in Europe, social reformer and nursing pioneer Clara Barton founded the American

elderberry: Major species and uses: Red-berried, or American red, elder (S. pubens), with dark pith, is a similar North American species. Danewort, or dwarf, elderberry (S. ebulus), widespread in Eurasia and North Africa, is a perennial with annually herbaceous growth to 1 metre (3 feet). Its clusters of black berries…

redstart: The common, or American, redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) breeds from Canada to the southern United States and winters in tropical America; the male is mostly black, with red wing and tail markings. Another strikingly marked form is the painted redstart (S. picta), found from southern Arizona to Nicaragua. Both…

B-film: Studios such as American International Pictures emerged during the 1950s to offer cheaply produced exploitation movies, which were targeted to specific audiences or low-rent exhibitors. These films, which were not necessarily exhibited with an A-picture, were also dubbed B-films. It was at this juncture that the term B-movie…

20th-century international relations: Allied approaches to the Bolsheviks: (In 1921 the American relief commission nonetheless began distribution of food that saved countless Russians from starvation.)

Harold Bloom: …books—including Kabbalah and Criticism (1975), The American Religions (1992), Omens of Millennium (1996), Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine (2005), and the novel The Flight to Lucifer (1979)—to deal with religious subjects.

American Renaissance, period from the 1830s roughly until the end of the American Civil War in which American literature, in the wake of the Romantic movement, came of age as an expression of a national spirit. The literary scene of the period was dominated by a group of New England writers, the

Orestes Augustus Brownson: … (1854); The Convert (1857); and The American Republic (1865), in which he based government on ethics, declaring the national existence to be a moral and even a theocratic entity, not depending for validity upon the sovereignty of the people.

United States: Economic recovery, the American Rescue Plan Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the failure of Build Back Better: …it was focused on the American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan that was the first legislative priority of the Biden administration. Democrats intended the legislation to fund mitigation of the pandemic, shore up the struggling economy, and protect the most vulnerable Americans. Republicans argued that the economy…

National Symphony Orchestra: …participated in the Kennedy Center’s American Residencies outreach program. Through this initiative, the orchestra offers an array of performances, workshops, school presentations, and other events during one or more periods of “residency” in a selected state. By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the orchestra had…

checkers: The three-move, or American, restriction is an extension of the two-move to black’s second move, with about 300 prescribed openings. Eleven-man ballot is a less popular method, in which one piece is removed by lot from each side before the start of a game. The original…

The American Revolution was an insurrection carried out by 13 of Great Britain’s North American colonies that began in 1775 and ended with a peace treaty in 1783. The colonies won political independence and went on to form the United States of America. The war followed more than a decade of growing

Richard B. Morris: The American Revolution Reconsidered (1967), a detailed examination of the long-term effects of both the French and American revolutions, presents his theory that the American Revolution was the true social revolution, in comparison with the more ephemeral influence of the French Revolution.

The American Revolution was an insurrection carried out by 13 of Great Britain’s North American colonies that began in 1775 and ended with a peace treaty in 1783. The colonies won political independence and went on to form the United States of America. The war followed more than a decade of growing

rhinoceros beetle: The American rhinoceros beetle (Xyloryctes jamaicensis) is a dark brown scarab a little more than 25 mm (1 inch) long. The male possesses a single upright horn; the female has only a small tubercle. One European species, Oryctes nasicornis, has rear-pointing horns. The eastern Hercules beetle…

minnow: The golden shiner, or American roach (Notemigonus cryseleucas), a larger, greenish and golden minnow attaining a length of 30 cm and a weight of 0.7 kg (1.5 pounds), is both edible and valuable as bait.

robin: The American robin (Turdus migratorius), a large North American thrush, is one of the most familiar songbirds in the eastern United States. Early colonial settlers named it robin because its breast colour resembled that of a smaller thrush, the European robin (Erithacus rubecula).

Armco Inc., American corporation first incorporated, as the American Rolling Mill Company, on Dec. 2, 1899. It was newly incorporated on June 29, 1917, and was subsequently renamed (using an acronym of the original) in 1948 and 1978 to reflect its diversified interests. Headquarters are in

American round, in archery, a target-shooting event consisting of five ends (six arrows each), shot from distances of 60, 50, and 40 yards (55, 46, and 37 m). Two American rounds and two York rounds, consisting of 12 ends of 6 arrows each, constituted the U.S. men’s championship until 1968, when

Henley Royal Regatta: The American Rowing Association, founded in 1902 to stimulate intercollegiate competition in the U.S., ends its season each year with a regatta at the regulation Henley distance, alternately at Philadelphia and Boston, that has become known as the American Henley. A similar event called the Royal…

marten: The American marten (M. americana) is a North American species that inhabits northern wooded regions from Alaska to Newfoundland and Labrador. It is also called the pine marten. Its fur is sometimes sold as American, or Hudson Bay, sable. Its adult length is 35–43 cm (14–17…

American Saddlebred horse, breed of riding horse possessing several easy riding gaits and great vigour and style. It is the prevailing riding horse of horse shows in the United States. The Thoroughbred, Morgan, Standardbred, Arabian, pacers, and easy riding horses of a mixed background contributed

American Saddlebred horse, breed of riding horse possessing several easy riding gaits and great vigour and style. It is the prevailing riding horse of horse shows in the United States. The Thoroughbred, Morgan, Standardbred, Arabian, pacers, and easy riding horses of a mixed background contributed

American Samoa, unincorporated territory of the United States consisting of the eastern part of the Samoan archipelago, located in the south-central Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1,600 miles (2,600 km) northeast of New Zealand and 2,200 miles (3,500 km) southwest of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The

U.S. territorial flag consisting of a blue field (background) and a white isosceles triangle with its base at the fly end and its apex touching the centre of the hoist, the triangle bordered in red on its longest sides and bearing an American bald eagle. The flag’s width-to-length ratio is 10 to

National Park of American Samoa, tropical preserve of rainforest and coral reef in the south-central Pacific Ocean islands of the U.S. territory of American Samoa. The park was established in 1988 and covers 14 square miles (36 square km) in three separate sections: the north-central part of the

American Samoa, unincorporated territory of the United States consisting of the eastern part of the Samoan archipelago, located in the south-central Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1,600 miles (2,600 km) northeast of New Zealand and 2,200 miles (3,500 km) southwest of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The

Brad Paisley: …album Play (2008), Paisley recorded American Saturday Night (2009), which earned critical plaudits for its casual embrace of attitudes not typically associated with country music. The title track, for instance, was a sly paean to multiculturalism, and on “Welcome to the Future,” which Paisley claimed was inspired by the election…

Social Realism: …American life usually categorized as American Scene painting and Regionalism, which may or may not manifest socially critical comment.

history of publishing: The United States: …faculty of Columbia University; the American Scholar (founded 1932), “a quarterly for the independent thinker” edited by the united chapters of Phi Beta Kappa; Foreign Affairs (founded 1922), a quarterly dealing with the international aspects of America’s political and economic problems; and Arts in Society (founded 1958), a forum for…

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Mature life and works: In a lecture entitled “The American Scholar” (August 31, 1837), Emerson described the resources and duties of the new liberated intellectual that he himself had become. This address was in effect a challenge to the Harvard intelligentsia, warning against pedantry, imitation of others, traditionalism, and scholarship unrelated to life. Emerson’s…

Phi Beta Kappa: …honour society’s award-winning quarterly magazine—The American Scholar, published since 1932—covers public affairs, literature, science, history, and culture.

Fannie Fern Phillips Andrews: …and pacifism in organizing the American School Peace League. Through her remarkable talents for publicizing and enlisting support, the league grew rapidly throughout the country. Pacifist literature and study courses produced by the league, much of the material written by Andrews, were circulated widely and in 1912 began to be…

West Hartford: … and the seat of the American School for the Deaf (the oldest institution of its kind in the country), founded in 1817 by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. The University of Hartford (formed in 1957 by the union of three colleges, one of which dates from 1877) and the University of Saint…

Charles Cutler Torrey: …of Archaeology (later renamed the American School of Oriental Research) at Jerusalem.

Athens: The Agora of Athens: …to the Agora, which the American School of Classical Studies started restoring in 1931, paying $2.5 million compensation to the several hundred families living there. Financed by, among others, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Marshall Plan, and the Greek government, the work went on until 1960. It includes what has been…

Charles Cutler Torrey: …of Archaeology (later renamed the American School of Oriental Research) at Jerusalem.

Fannie Fern Phillips Andrews: …and pacifism in organizing the American School Peace League. Through her remarkable talents for publicizing and enlisting support, the league grew rapidly throughout the country. Pacifist literature and study courses produced by the league, much of the material written by Andrews, were circulated widely and in 1912 began to be…

Australian literature: Literature in the 21st century: …in the new millennium were American Scoundrel (2002), a biography of the infamous American politician and Civil War general Daniel Sickles; The Daughters of Mars (2012), a novel about volunteer nurses during World War I; and Shame and the Captives (2013), a fictionalized account of prison breakouts by Japanese prisoners…

sea rocket: American sea rocket (C. edentula) is a similar plant native to North American seashores and the Great Lakes. In some areas of North America, European sea rocket has displaced native sea rockets and become an invasive species.

horse racing: Racing strategy: …and a crouching posture—this “American seat” eventually became standard worldwide for all distances. As longer, elliptical racetracks were built in New York and throughout the South, a greater onus was placed on jockeys to pace their horses. Because Thoroughbred horses are capable of running only about a quarter of…

shad: The American shad (Alosa sapidissima), formerly found only on the Atlantic coast from Florida to Newfoundland, was introduced into the Pacific Ocean in 1871 and now ranges from San Diego to British Columbia. It is a migratory plankton eater and evidently enters deep water in fall.…

Morris Carnovsky: …John Houseman to join the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Conn., where he appeared in such parts as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and as Lear in King Lear. He later made two more motion pictures, A View from the Bridge (1962) and The Gambler (1974). He was inducted…

Norman Shaw: …in the development of the American Shingle style. Shaw was also chosen to design the castle-like New Scotland Yard building in Whitehall, London, which opened in 1890. It was renamed the Norman Shaw Building after the present Scotland Yard edifice was opened in 1967.

mole: Mole diversity: The smallest mole is the American shrew mole (Neurotrichus gibbsii), which weighs only 7 to 11 grams (0.25 to 0.39 ounce) and has a body 3 to 4 cm (less than 2 inches) long and a slightly shorter tail. The largest is the Russian desman (Desmana moschata) of central Eurasia,…

American Sign Language (ASL), visual-gestural language used by most of the deaf community in the United States and Canada. ASL is a natural language with a structure quite different from spoken English. It is not a manual-gestural representation of spoken English, nor is it pantomime. Instead, ASL

Bruce Springsteen: Without The Big Man: …of Tom Joad” and “American Skin (41 Shots).” The latter song—a complex exploration of the death in 1999 of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed Guinean immigrant who was shot repeatedly by New York City police officers who thought he was going for a gun when he reached for his wallet—took…

smelt: The American smelt (Osmerus mordax) has been introduced from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes and supports a sizable commercial fishery. The largest smelt, about 37.5 cm (15 inches) long, spawns in late winter or spring, its sticky eggs adhering to objects they touch. The…

Rita Dove: …Bus with Rosa Parks (1999), American Smooth (2004), Collected Poems: 1974–2004 (2016), and Playlist for the Apocalypse (2021). In 1993 Dove was appointed poet laureate of the United States by the Library of Congress, becoming the youngest person and the first African American to hold the post.

Clint Eastwood: 2000 and beyond: …a Navy SEAL sniper’s memoir, American Sniper (2014), was lauded for the finesse with which it depicted both the violence of the Iraq War and the difficulty of a soldier’s adjustment to civilian existence. The film received an Academy Award nomination for best picture. Eastwood continued to draw inspiration from…

American Colonization Society, American organization dedicated to transporting freeborn blacks and emancipated slaves to Africa. It was founded in 1816 by Robert Finley, a Presbyterian minister, and some of the country’s most influential men, including Francis Scott Key, Henry Clay, and Bushrod

horticulture: Horticultural education and research: The American Society for Horticultural Science was established in 1903 and became perhaps the most widely known scientific society devoted to horticulture. The International Society for Horticultural Science, formed in 1959 in Belgium, sponsors international congresses every four years. Most societies and horticultural organizations publish periodicals,…

cement: Strength: The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) specification requires tensile tests on a 1:3 cement-sand mortar and compressive tests on a 1:2.75 mortar. The British Standards Institution (BSI) gives as alternatives a compressive test on a 1:3 mortar or on a concrete specimen. An international…

cruelty to animals: …in England in 1824; the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was chartered in 1866. In varying degrees, cruelty to animals is illegal in most countries, and interest in endangered species gave further impetus to the anticruelty movement in the late 20th century. Reflecting such interest, many…

map: Government and other mapping agencies: …American Society of Photogrammetry, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and others, lend their support to mapping programs and activities. They issue technical papers and hold frequent meetings where new processes and instrumentation are discussed and displayed. The Manual of Photogrammetry and Journal, produced by the American Society of Photogrammetry,…

ASCAP, American organization, established in 1914, that was the first such body formed to protect the rights of composers and collect fees for the public performances of their music. In accordance with intellectual-property and copyright laws, it collects royalties and licensing fees from music

crime laboratory: Crime laboratory issues: …by an arm of the American Society of Crime Lab Directors. That accreditation signifies that the lab meets certain minimum standards in physical plant, documentation, analytical processes, and personnel but does not assess the qualifications and competency of the employees. Additionally, as many state or provincial and municipal labs are…

industrial design: Modern design in the United States: …eventually merged to form the Industrial Designers Society of America (1965). As with the Deutscher Werkbund and most professional organizations, these served to validate the profession in the view of the public and to facilitate communication among their members.

James Brown Scott: …and president (1929–39) of the American Society of International Law, he also served as editor in chief of its journal, the first English-language periodical of its kind. He was a delegate to the peace conferences at The Hague (1907) and Paris (1919).

map: Government and other mapping agencies: …on Surveying and Mapping, the American Society of Photogrammetry, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and others, lend their support to mapping programs and activities. They issue technical papers and hold frequent meetings where new processes and instrumentation are discussed and displayed. The Manual of Photogrammetry and Journal, produced by…

Mary Adelaide Nutting: …for Nursing Education; now the National League for Nursing) and twice served as president.

sociology: Academic status: Ten years later the American Sociological Society was organized, also to be followed by a large number of national, regional, international, and specialized sociological organizations. These groups institutionalized the subject and continue to guide its directions and define its boundaries. Eventually in 1949 the International Sociological Association was established…

sociology: Academic status: Ten years later the American Sociological Society was organized, also to be followed by a large number of national, regional, international, and specialized sociological organizations. These groups institutionalized the subject and continue to guide its directions and define its boundaries. Eventually in 1949 the International Sociological Association was established…

pleuronectiform: Annotated classification: …20 species Family Achiridae (American soles) Eyes small, dextral; sensory papillae on head; margin of preoperculum represented by a superficial groove; dorsal and anal fins free from caudal fin; right pelvic fin attached to anal fin. 7 genera and about 30 species. Marine and freshwater, along the Atlantic and…

Newt Gingrich: 2012 presidential campaign: In 2007 he founded American Solutions for Winning the Future, a public policy organization. Amid speculation that he would run for president in 2012, Fox terminated his contract in May 2011. Shortly thereafter Gingrich announced his candidacy. Gingrich’s campaign was almost over before it began, however, when many of…

speech disorder: Development of speech correction: The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), founded in 1925 in New York City as the American Academy of Speech Correction, became the organizing, examining, and supervisory body for a rapidly growing membership, which surpassed 130,000 by 2008. Many colleges and universities in the United States are accredited…

Noah Webster: …American lexicographer known for his American Spelling Book (1783) and his American Dictionary of the English Language, 2 vol. (1828; 2nd ed., 1840). Webster was instrumental in giving American English a dignity and vitality of its own. Both his speller and dictionary reflected his principle that spelling, grammar, and usage…

spider beetle: … (Ptinus fur) and the shiny American spider beetle (Mezium americanum) are household pests in North America.