AG catalog, compilation of the positions of all stars brighter than the ninth magnitude, compiled by the Astronomische Gesellschaft of Germany. Friedrich W.A. Argelander, founder of the society, proposed the star catalog in 1867, after completing the Bonner Durchmusterung (“Bonn Survey”). The

Johann Elert Bode: …founded in 1774 the well-known Astronomisches Jahrbuch (“Astronomic Yearbook”), 51 yearly volumes of which he compiled and issued. He became director of the Berlin Observatory in 1786 and withdrew from official life in 1825. Among his other publications was Uranographia (1801), a collection of 20 star maps accompanied by a…

astronomy, science that encompasses the study of all extraterrestrial objects and phenomena. Until the invention of the telescope and the discovery of the laws of motion and gravity in the 17th century, astronomy was primarily concerned with noting and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, and

Henry Norris Russell: ) was an American astronomer—one of the most influential during the first half of the 20th century—who played a major role in the establishment of modern theoretical astrophysics by making physics the core of astrophysical practice. Bearing his name is the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, a graph that demonstrates the relationship…

cichlid: …fish spotted with blue-green; the oscar (Astronotus ocellatus), an attractive fish with an orange-ringed black spot on its tail base; and the discus (Symphysodon discus), a very deep-bodied fish streaked with blue. Another popular aquarium fish of this group is the angelfish, or scalare (Pterophyllum). A notable cichlid is Tilapia…

sea star: …arms; among these genera are Astropecten, Psilaster, and Luidia. The largest West Indies sea star, Oreaster reticulatus, is sometimes 50 cm (20 inches) across. Members of the chiefly Indo-Pacific genus Linckia can grow a new individual from a small piece of a single arm.

Astrophel and Stella, an Elizabethan sonnet sequence of 108 sonnets, interspersed with 11 songs, by Sir Philip Sidney, written in 1582 and published posthumously in 1591. The work is often considered the finest Elizabethan sonnet cycle after William Shakespeare’s sonnets. The cycle tells the story

multimessenger astronomy: …have joined to form the Astrophysical Multi-Messenger Observatory Network (AMON), which will provide a central clearinghouse so that when an interesting observation of a messenger happens that is likely to be a multimessenger event, an alert will be sent throughout the network. New, more-sensitive observatories are being built to detect…

astrophysics, branch of astronomy concerned primarily with the properties and structure of cosmic objects, including the universe as a whole. See

bishop’s cap cactus, (Astrophytum myriostigma), species of spineless cactus (family Cactaceae) native to Texas and central Mexico. The plant is a common ornamental species. Bishop’s cap cactus usually reaches no more than 100 cm (39 inches) in height and up to 20 cm (8 inches) in diameter. It has

Houston Astros, American professional baseball team based in Houston that has won two World Series titles (2017 and 2022). The Astros play in the American League (AL) but were members of the National League (NL) for the first 51 seasons of the team’s existence and won an NL pennant in 2005 in

stargazer: …each shoulder, and some (Astroscopus) have electrical organs on top of the head. The largest members of the family grow to about 9 kg (20 pounds) in weight.

Astrodome: AstroTurf, a brand of nylon grass named for the team, was developed when it became apparent that the dome’s Lucite panels prevented the growth of natural grass on the playing field.

Astruc of Lunel was an anti-rationalist Jewish zealot who incited Rabbi Solomon ben Abraham Adret of Barcelona, the most powerful rabbi of his time, to restrict the study of science and philosophy, thereby nearly creating a schism in the Jewish community of Europe. Although Astruc revered

auteur theory: …theories of André Bazin and Alexandre Astruc. A foundation stone of the French cinematic movement known as the nouvelle vague, or New Wave, the theory of director-as-author was principally advanced in Bazin’s periodical Cahiers du cinéma (founded in 1951). Two of its theoreticians—François Truffaut and Jean-Luc

Astruc of Lunel was an anti-rationalist Jewish zealot who incited Rabbi Solomon ben Abraham Adret of Barcelona, the most powerful rabbi of his time, to restrict the study of science and philosophy, thereby nearly creating a schism in the Jewish community of Europe. Although Astruc revered

Reconquista: …about 718, when the Christian Asturians opposed the Moors at the Battle of Covadonga, the impulse toward reconquest was expressed only sporadically through the first three centuries of Muslim hegemony. After a failed invasion of Muslim Spain in 778, in 801 Charlemagne captured Barcelona and eventually established Frankish

Asturias, comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) and historic region of Spain that is coextensive with the northwestern Spanish provincia (province) of Asturias. It is bounded by the autonomous communities of Cantabria to the east, Castile-León to the south, and Galicia to the west. The

Asturias, solo piano piece written in the early 1890s by Catalan composer and pianist Isaac Albéniz, using rolled chords that effectively evoke the strumming of a guitar. In fact, the version usually played is a transcription of the original piano piece for guitar. Despite being called

Lake Apanás: It supplies the Asturias hydroelectric station, the largest in the country and the focus of a power grid serving much of the more densely settled Pacific zone of Nicaragua.

Miguel Ángel Asturias was a Guatemalan poet, novelist, and diplomat, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1967 (see Nobel Lecture: “The Latin American Novel: Testimony of an Epoch”) and the Soviet Union’s Lenin Peace Prize in 1966. His writings, which combine the mysticism of the Maya with

Asturias, solo piano piece written in the early 1890s by Catalan composer and pianist Isaac Albéniz, using rolled chords that effectively evoke the strumming of a guitar. In fact, the version usually played is a transcription of the original piano piece for guitar. Despite being called

Astorga, city, León provincia (province), in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), northwestern Spain, on the left bank of the Tuerto River on a spur of the Manzanal mountain chain. It originated as the Roman Asturica Augusta (called a “magnificent city” by Pliny) and was an

Astyages was the last king of the Median empire (reigned 585–550 bc). According to Herodotus, the Achaemenian Cyrus the Great was Astyages’ grandson through his daughter Mandane, but this relationship is probably legendary. According to Babylonian inscriptions, Cyrus, king of Anshan (in

Astyanax, in Greek legend, prince who was the son of the Trojan prince Hector and his wife Andromache. Hector named him Scamandrius after the River Scamander, near Troy. The Trojans named him Astyanax (“Lord of the City”) as the son of Troy’s greatest warrior. In the sixth book of the Iliad, Homer

cave fish: …of the best known is Astyanax mexicanus (previously Anoptichthys jordani), an eyeless, 7.5-cm characin (family Characidae) found in Mexico and often kept in home aquariums. The gobies in the genus Typhleotris inhabit karst caves in Madagascar. Others include Caecobarbus geertsi, an African member of the minnow family (Cyprinidae), and certain…

Peleus: …by King Acastus, whose wife Astydameia made advances to him. When he refused her, she told Antigone that he wanted to marry her daughter, causing Antigone to hang herself. Peleus later won the sea nymph Thetis by capture, and all the gods except Eris (the goddess of discord) were invited…

Ecija, city, Sevilla provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia, southwestern Spain. It lies along the Genil River east of Sevilla. The city contains the Gothic-style Church of Santiago (15th century) and that of Santa Cruz on the site of a pre-Moorish

frog and toad: Annotated classification: …2 subfamilies: Arthroleptinae (Africa) and Astylosterninae (Africa). Family Dendrobatidae (poison frogs) No fossil record; 8 presacral vertebrae; pectoral girdle completely firmisternal; intercalary cartilages absent; omosternum present; Bidder’s organ absent; maxillary teeth present or absent. Larvae carried on backs of adults; Central and South America; 9 genera, about 162 species; adult

Egypt: Government and society: …Union in 1957—from 1962 the Arab Socialist Union (ASU)—which dominated political life in Egypt for the next 15 years. An interim constitution was promulgated in 1964.

Japanese art: Asuka period: It is named for the Asuka area at the southern end of the Nara (Yamato) Basin (a few miles to the south of the present-day city of Nara), which was the political and cultural centre of the country at the time. From there, the imperial court—which claimed lineage from the…

Asuka period, in Japanese history and art, the era from 552 to 645 ce, which began with the introduction of Buddhism from Korea and culminated in the adoption of a Chinese pattern of government. Initially opposed by conservative clans, Buddhism found favour with the powerful Soga family, which

Asunción, city and capital of Paraguay, occupying a promontory and descending to the Paraguay River near its confluence with the Pilcomayo. The city lies 175 feet (53 metres) above sea level. The city was so named when a stockade was completed there on the Feast of the Assumption (August 15) in

La Asunción, city, capital of Nueva Esparta estado (state), northeastern Venezuela. It is located on Margarita Island in the Caribbean Sea, 12 miles (19 km) off the mainland. Lying in a fertile inland valley in the eastern portion of the island, La Asunción was first settled by Spaniards in 1524.

Paraguay: Education: The two oldest universities—the public National University of Asunción (1890) and the private Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic University (1960)—are located in Asunción, with branches in other towns. Those universities also have specialty schools for engineering, medicine, agriculture, business, and veterinary science. Since the 1990s, the number of private…

Mercosur: …created in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was signed by the heads of state of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Several other countries were later admitted as associate members, and in 2006 the presidents of the four member countries approved full membership for Venezuela, though its final ascent…

asura, in Hindu mythology, class of beings defined by their opposition to the devas or suras (gods). The term asura appears first in the Vedas, a collection of poems and hymns composed 1500–1200 bce, and refers to a human or divine leader. Its plural form gradually predominated and came to

Ashurbanipal was the last of the great kings of Assyria (reigned 668 to 627 bce), who assembled in Nineveh the first systematically organized library in Mesopotamia and the ancient Middle East. The life of this vigorous ruler of an empire ranging initially from the Persian Gulf to Cilicia, Syria,

Ashvaghosha was a philosopher and poet who is considered India’s greatest poet before Kalidasa (5th century) and the father of Sanskrit drama; he popularized the style of Sanskrit poetry known as kavya. Ashvaghosha was born a Brahman. Legend obscures the man, but it is known that he was an

materials science: Materials for ground transportation: …Canada, in a program entitled aluminum structured vehicle technology (ASVT), began to investigate the construction of automobile unibodies from adhesively bonded aluminum sheet. The plastics industry, of course, has a powerful interest in replacing as many metal automobile components as possible, and in order to help bring this about a…

Belarus: Drainage: …the largest lakes are Narach, Osveyskoye, and Drysvyaty.

ashvamedha, grandest of the Vedic religious rites of ancient India, performed by a king to celebrate his paramountcy. The ceremony is described in detail in various Vedic writings, particularly the Shatapatha Brahmana. An especially fine stallion was selected and was allowed to roam freely for a

Aswān, muḥāfaẓah (governorate), Upper Egypt, embracing the Nile River floodplain and immediately adjacent territories. Long and narrow in shape, it is the most southerly Egyptian governorate along the Nile; its short southern boundary forms part of the international frontier with Sudan. The

Aswān, city, capital of Aswān muḥāfaẓah (governorate), Egypt, on the east bank of the Nile River just below the First Cataract. It faces the island of Elephantine (modern Jazīrat Aswān), on which stand the ruins of the ancient city of Yeb. Aswān was the southern frontier of pharaonic Egypt. Its

Nile River: Dams and reservoirs: The first dam at Aswān was constructed between 1899 and 1902; it has a series of four locks to allow navigation. The dam has twice been enlarged—first between 1908 and 1911 and again between 1929 and 1934—thus raising the water level and increasing the dam’s capacity. It is also…

Aswan High Dam, rock-fill dam across the Nile River at Aswān, Egypt, completed in 1970 (and formally inaugurated in January 1971) at a cost of about $1 billion. The Aswan High Dam yields enormous benefits to the economy of Egypt. For the first time in history, the annual Nile flood is under human

Elephantine, island in the Nile opposite Aswān city in Aswān muḥāfaẓah (governorate), Upper Egypt. Elephantine is the Greek name for pharaonic Abu. There the 18th- and 19th-dynasty pharaohs built a large temple to Khnum, the ram god of the cataract region, to his consort, Sati, and to Anuket,

Jessie Daniel Ames: …the CIC, Ames founded the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching (ASWPL) in 1930. She fought to dispel the widely accepted myth that white women needed protection from African American men. She pointed out that the rape of white women by African American men, which was the…

Australia: Finance: …are now traded by the Australian Stock Exchange Limited (ASX), formed in 1987 to amalgamate the six state stock exchanges, via an all-electronic system.

Armenian language: …Modern Armenian, or Ašxarhabar (Ashkharhabar). Modern Armenian embraces two written varieties—Western Armenian (Arewmtahayerên) and Eastern Armenian (Arewelahayerên)—and many dialects are spoken. About 50 dialects were known before 1915, when the Armenian population of Turkey was drastically reduced by means of massacre and forced exodus; some of these dialects were…

asylum, in international law, the protection granted by a state to a foreign citizen against his own state. The person for whom asylum is established has no legal right to demand it, and the sheltering state has no obligation to grant it. The right of asylum falls into three basic categories:

Asylum Records and the Sound of Southern California: The driving force behind Asylum Records, the musical embodiment of the “Me Decade” (writer Tom Wolfe’s characterization of the 1970s), was New York City-born David Geffen, who nurtured most of the major figures in the wave of singer-songwriters who followed Bob Dylan’s lead. Having learned…

The driving force behind Asylum Records, the musical embodiment of the “Me Decade” (writer Tom Wolfe’s characterization of the 1970s), was New York City-born David Geffen, who nurtured most of the major figures in the wave of singer-songwriters who followed Bob Dylan’s lead. Having learned the

public-key cryptography, asymmetric form of cryptography in which the transmitter of a message and its recipient use different keys (codes), thereby eliminating the need for the sender to transmit the code and risk its interception. It is commonly used in cryptocurrency transactions. In 1976, in

computer: Communication devices: Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) modems can be used for transmitting digital signals over a local dedicated telephone line, provided there is a telephone office nearby—in theory, within 5,500 meters (18,000 feet) but in practice about a third of that distance. ADSL is asymmetric because…

public-key cryptography, asymmetric form of cryptography in which the transmitter of a message and its recipient use different keys (codes), thereby eliminating the need for the sender to transmit the code and risk its interception. It is commonly used in cryptocurrency transactions. In 1976, in

Benjamin List: …Chemistry for his work on asymmetric organocatalysis. He shared the prize with British chemist David MacMillan.

formal logic: Classification of dyadic relations: …ϕ is said to be asymmetrical (example: “is greater than”). A relation that is neither symmetrical nor asymmetrical is said to be nonsymmetrical. Thus, ϕ is nonsymmetrical if (∃x)(∃y)(ϕxy · ϕyx) · (∃x)(∃y)(ϕxy · ∼ϕyx) (example: “loves”).

asymmetric synthesis, any chemical reaction that affects the structural symmetry in the molecules of a compound, converting the compound into unequal proportions of compounds that differ in the dissymmetry of their structures at the affected centre. Such reactions usually involve organic compounds

fold: An asymmetrical fold is one in which the axial plane is inclined. An overturned fold, or overfold, has the axial plane inclined to such an extent that the strata on one limb are overturned. A recumbent fold has an essentially horizontal axial plane. When the two…

George A. Akerlof: …Akerlof explained how private or asymmetric information prevents markets from functioning efficiently and examined the consequences. He suggested that many economic institutions had emerged in the market in order to protect themselves from the consequences of adverse selection, including secondhand-car dealers who offered guarantees to increase consumer confidence. In the…

rug and carpet: Materials and technique: The Persian, or asymmetrical, knot is used principally in Iran, India, China, and Egypt. This knot was formerly known as the Senneh (Sehna) knot. The Spanish knot, used mainly in Spain, differs from the other two types in looping around only one warp yarn. After the…

uneven parallel bars, gymnastics apparatus developed in the 1930s and used in women’s competition. The length and construction were formerly the same as for the parallel bars used in men’s gymnastics. In the modern apparatus, the top bar is 2.55 meters (8.36 feet) above the floor, while the lower

formal logic: Classification of dyadic relations: …ϕ is said to be asymmetrical (example: “is greater than”). A relation that is neither symmetrical nor asymmetrical is said to be nonsymmetrical. Thus, ϕ is nonsymmetrical if (∃x)(∃y)(ϕxy · ϕyx) · (∃x)(∃y)(ϕxy · ∼ϕyx) (example: “loves”).

asymmetrical warfare, unconventional strategies and tactics adopted by a force when the military capabilities of belligerent powers are not simply unequal but are so significantly different that they cannot make the same sorts of attacks on each other. Guerrilla warfare, occurring between lightly

amphioxus: …Amphioxus) and Epigonichthyes (also called Asymmetron)—with about two dozen species. The chordate features—the notochord (or stiffening rod), gill slits, and dorsal nerve cord—appear in the larvae and persist into adulthood.

formal logic: Classification of dyadic relations: …ϕ is said to be asymmetrical (example: “is greater than”). A relation that is neither symmetrical nor asymmetrical is said to be nonsymmetrical. Thus, ϕ is nonsymmetrical if (∃x)(∃y)(ϕxy · ϕyx) · (∃x)(∃y)(ϕxy · ∼ϕyx) (example: “loves”).

life: The earliest living systems: …chance, but, once a particular asymmetry was established, it maintained itself. Optical activity accordingly is likely to be a feature of life on any planet. The chances may be equal of finding a given organic molecule or its mirror image in extraterrestrial life-forms if, as Morowitz suspects, the incorporation of…

asymptote, In mathematics, a line or curve that acts as the limit of another line or curve. For example, a descending curve that approaches but does not reach the horizontal axis is said to be asymptotic to that axis, which is the asymptote of the

subatomic particle: Asymptotic freedom: In the early 1970s the American physicists David J. Gross and Frank Wilczek (working together) and H. David Politzer (working independently) discovered that the strong force between quarks becomes weaker at smaller distances and that it becomes stronger as the quarks move apart,…

mammal: Skin and hair: Hairs with determinate growth are subject to wear and must be replaced periodically—a process termed molt. The first coat of a young mammal is referred to as the juvenal pelage, which typically is of fine texture like the underfur of adults and is replaced by a postjuvenile…

computer: Communication devices: Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) modems can be used for transmitting digital signals over a local dedicated telephone line, provided there is a telephone office nearby—in theory, within 5,500 meters (18,000 feet) but in practice about a third of that distance. ADSL is asymmetric because…

pacemaker: …were of a type called asynchronous, or fixed, and they generated regular discharges that overrode the natural pacemaker. The rate of an asynchronous pacemaker may be altered by the physician, but once set it will continue to generate an electric pulse at regular intervals. Most are set at 70 to…

Lawrence Roberts: …produced networking equipment using the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) protocol. In 1993 he became president of ATM Systems. However, ATM was eventually supplanted by networking devices using Internet Protocol (IP), and he left ATM Systems in 1998.

gifted child: …late 20th century, the term asynchrony was used to describe the developmental characteristics of gifted children; that is, their mental, physical, emotional, and social abilities may all develop at different paces.

asyndeton, the omission of the conjunctions that ordinarily join coordinate words or clauses, as in the phrase “I came, I saw, I conquered” or in Matthew Arnold’s poem The Scholar

cerebellar ataxia: Manifestations of ataxia and other symptoms: Asynergia refers to an inability to combine the various components of a movement to create fluid motion. In asynergia, movements appear clumsy, jerky, and abnormal. Those with cerebellar damage may also show signs of hypotonia, or abnormally decreased muscle tone (e.g., floppier motions). Hypotonia, when…

Asyūṭ, capital of Asyūṭ muḥāfaẓah (governorate) and one of the largest settlements of Upper Egypt. It lies on the west bank of the Nile River, almost midway between Cairo and Aswān. The irrigated Nile River valley is about 12 miles (20 km) wide at that point. Known as Syut in ancient Egypt, the

Asyūṭ, muḥāfaẓah (governorate) of Upper Egypt. It lies along the Nile River, between Al-Minyā governorate to the north and Sawhāj governorate to the south. Its settled area, which is limited to the river valley, extends almost 100 miles (160 km) along the river and is about 12 miles (19 km) wide.

Constantin Carathéodory: …engineer with the British Asyūṭ Dam project in Egypt, Carathéodory began his study of mathematics at the University of Berlin in 1900. In 1902 he entered the University of Göttingen, where he received a Ph.D. (1904) under the German mathematician Hermann Minkowski. After teaching at the Universities of Hannover (1909),…

Constantin Carathéodory: …engineer with the British Asyūṭ Dam project in Egypt, Carathéodory began his study of mathematics at the University of Berlin in 1900. In 1902 he entered the University of Göttingen, where he received a Ph.D. (1904) under the German mathematician Hermann Minkowski. After teaching at the Universities of Hannover (1909),…

Egypt: Education: …(1942), ʿAyn Shams (1950), and Asyūṭ (1957). More universities were added to the state system during and since the 1970s. There are also several private universities, the oldest being the American University in Cairo (1919).

Coptic language: Asyūṭic, or Sub-Akhmīmic, spoken around Asyūṭ, flourished in the 4th century. In it are preserved a text of the Gospel According to John and of the Acts of the Apostles, as well as a number of Gnostic documents. Akhmīmic was spoken in and around the…

Aseric was the first bishop of Kalocsa, who played an instrumental role in the foundation of the Hungarian state and church. Aseric left the entourage of St. Adalbert (Vojtěch), bishop of Prague, to undertake an evangelizing mission in the Magyar lands. He accompanied Adalbert to Rome in 994–996,

Tokaji Aszú, a full-bodied sweet dessert wine made from late-ripened grapes affected by Botrytis cinerea, a mold that concentrates grape sugars and flavours into honeylike sweetness. The grapes are from the Hungarian Furmint or Hárslevelű vines, which are grown in the Tokaj wine region in

atomic time, timescale generated by atomic clocks, which furnish time more accurately than was possible with previous astronomical means (measurements of the rotation of the Earth and its revolution about the Sun). International Atomic Time (TAI) is based on a system consisting of about 270

antithrombin (AT), an anticlotting substance occurring in the plasma of blood that functions primarily to block the action of thrombin, an enzyme central to coagulation—the process by which a clot is formed. AT combines with thrombin as well as most of the other activated blood-clotting proteins

astatine (At), radioactive chemical element and the heaviest member of the halogen elements, or Group 17 (VIIa) of the periodic table. Astatine, which has no stable isotopes, was first synthetically produced (1940) at the University of California by American physicists Dale R. Corson, Kenneth R.

Julian Schnabel: … (portrayed by Willem Dafoe) in At Eternity’s Gate (2018).

Kate Chopin: Her first novel, At Fault (1890), was undistinguished, but she was later acclaimed for her finely crafted short stories, of which she wrote more than 100. Two of these stories, “Désirée’s Baby” and “Madame Celestin’s Divorce,” continue to be widely anthologized.

the Allman Brothers Band: The jam-oriented At Fillmore East (1971) established the Allman Brothers as master improvisers, working within the blues-rock vocabulary but augmenting it with elements of jazz, country, and Latin music. Because of the band’s strong Southern roots, its success inspired a host of regional rockers, which in turn…

Vincente Minnelli: Early life and work: His first, At Home Abroad (1935), received positive notices, as did his second effort, the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, with a star-studded roster that included Josephine Baker, Bob Hope, and Eve Arden.

Edward Albee: (The play was retitled At Home at the Zoo in 2009.) The absurdist Me, Myself, & I (2007) trenchantly analyzes the relationship between a mother and her twin sons.

Maya Deren: …film as sole director was At Land (1944). As in Meshes, Deren appeared as the protagonist and used imaginative editing and camera techniques to express a trance state in which time and space are transformed. She described A Study in Choreography for Camera (1945) as a pas de deux for…

the Kingston Trio: …a series of chart-topping albums—including Kingston Trio at Large (1959), Here We Go Again (1959), and String Along (1960)—before breaking up in 1967.

Peter Bogdanovich: Films: Even less successful was At Long Last Love (1975), a lavish homage to the musical romances of the 1930s, complete with a number of songs by Cole Porter. The film was widely panned, with the acting by Shepherd and Burt Reynolds especially criticized. In 1976 Bogdanovich directed and cowrote…

William J. Glackens: Among Glackens’s major early paintings, At Mouquin’s (1905) shows a lively New York restaurant in a vivid and robust manner. Later, he became interested in Impressionism and was particularly influenced by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. During the last two decades of his life, Glackens became a regular traveler to Europe, spending much…

Peter Matthiessen: The acclaimed At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1965; film 1991) investigates the cataclysmic convergence of the lives of missionaries, mercenaries, and an isolated tribe of Indians modeled on the Yanomami. Far Tortuga (1975) concerns the events leading up to the death of the crew…

Alice Hoffman: In At Risk (1988), Hoffman wrote about a young girl with AIDS who sparks varied reactions from her family and community. Seventh Heaven (1990) concerns an unconventional divorcée in a Long Island suburb in 1959–60, and Turtle Moon (1992) contemplates the status of single mothers. Practical…

Janis Ian: At Seventeen and professional hardship: …and included the song “At Seventeen,” a poignant portrayal of adolescent pain, rejection, and cruelty. In 1976 she won her first Grammy Award, for best female pop vocal performance, for the song.