Muḥammad al-Idrīsī: …of descriptive geography, known as Kitāb nuzhat al-mushtāq fī ikhtirāq al-āfāq and also as Kitā Rujār, or Al-Kitāb al-Rujārī (“The Book of Roger”). In compiling it, al-Idrīsī combined material from Arabic and Greek geographic works with information obtained through firsthand observation and eyewitness reports. The king and his Muslim geographer…

Kitāb al-shifāʾ, a voluminous philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia by the Muslim philosopher and physician Avicenna. It treats logic, the natural sciences, psychology, the quadrivium (geometry, astronomy, mathematics, and music), and metaphysics and is a major work of medieval Muslim

Fakhr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī: …attested by such works as Mafāṭīḥ al-ghayb or Kitāb at-tafsīr al-kabīr (“The Keys to the Unknown” or “The Great Commentary”) and Muḥaṣṣal afkār al-mutaqaddimīn wa-al-mutaʾakhkhirīn (“Collection of the Opinions of Ancients and Moderns”).

Ibn Janāḥ: …preserved in his principal work, Kitāb at-tanqiḥ (“Book of Exact Investigation”). In the first of its two parts, Kitāb al-luma (“Book of the Many-Coloured Flower Beds”), Ibn Janāḥ dealt in large measure with grammar proper and included discussions of parts of speech and prefixes and provided a detailed outline of…

Sībawayh: His monumental work is al-Kitāb fī an-naḥw (“The Book on Grammar”) or, more simply, al-Kitāb (“The Book”). The work was frequently used by later scholars.

Arabic literature: Al-Jāḥiẓ and Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī: …on cultural and political infighting, Kitāb mathālib al-wazīrayn (“Book on the Foibles of the Two Ministers”), provide ample justification for his reputation as one of Arabic’s greatest stylists.

Muḥammad al-Idrīsī: …of descriptive geography, known as Kitāb nuzhat al-mushtāq fī ikhtirāq al-āfāq and also as Kitā Rujār, or Al-Kitāb al-Rujārī (“The Book of Roger”). In compiling it, al-Idrīsī combined material from Arabic and Greek geographic works with information obtained through firsthand observation and eyewitness reports. The king and his Muslim geographer…

al-Khwārizmī: …of the Earth”; translated as Geography), which presented the coordinates of localities in the known world based, ultimately, on those in the Geography of Ptolemy (flourished 127–145 ce) but with improved values for the length of the Mediterranean Sea and the location of cities in Asia and Africa. He also…

Saʿadia ben Joseph: Saʿadia’s works.: …(“Refutation of Ibn Sākawayhī”) and Kitāb taḥṣīl ash-sharāʾiʿ as-samāʿīyah (“Book Concerning the Sources of the Irrational Laws”). In the latter work the Gaon contends that matters pertaining to the irrational commandments of the Mosaic Law may never be decided by means of analogy but only by the regulations transmitted through…

Ibn Miskawayh: Margoliouth, The Eclipse of the Abbasid Caliphate, 1921), was noted for its use of all available sources and greatly stimulated the development of Islamic historiography.

encyclopaedia: The Arab world: …arrangement and contents of his Kitāb ʿuyūn al-akhbār (“The Book of Choice Narratives”) set the pattern for many later encyclopaedias. The 10 books were arranged in the following order: power, war, nobility, character, learning and eloquence, asceticism, friendship, prayers, food, women. Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih of Córdoba improved on Ibn Qutaybah’s…

Sībawayh: His monumental work is al-Kitāb fī an-naḥw (“The Book on Grammar”) or, more simply, al-Kitāb (“The Book”). The work was frequently used by later scholars.

Turkish literature: Epic and the emergence of the âşik: The Book of Dede Korkut), which has survived in two 16th-century manuscripts. The actual date of the work is unknown. At least one of the tales was already circulating in written form in the early 14th century, and Central Asian sources suggest that the shaman-bard…

Kitabatake Chikafusa was a Japanese warrior, statesman, and author of the influential politico-historical treatise Jinnō shōtōki (“Record of the Legitimate Succession of the Divine Emperors”), which set forth the mystic and nationalist doctrine that Japan had a unique superiority among nations

Utamaro was a Japanese printmaker and painter who was one of the greatest artists of the ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”) movement; he is known especially for his masterfully composed portraits of sensuous female beauties. Probably born in a provincial town, he went to Edo (now Tokyo)

Utamaro was a Japanese printmaker and painter who was one of the greatest artists of the ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”) movement; he is known especially for his masterfully composed portraits of sensuous female beauties. Probably born in a provincial town, he went to Edo (now Tokyo)

Kitahara Hakushū was a Japanese poet who was a major influence in modern Japanese poetry with his aesthetic and symbolic style. In 1906 he joined the Shinshisha (New Poetry Association) and published poems in its magazine Myōjō (“Bright Star”) that brought him instant fame as a rising young poet.

Kitahara Hakushū was a Japanese poet who was a major influence in modern Japanese poetry with his aesthetic and symbolic style. In 1906 he joined the Shinshisha (New Poetry Association) and published poems in its magazine Myōjō (“Bright Star”) that brought him instant fame as a rising young poet.

Cathay, name by which North China was known in medieval Europe. The word is derived from Khitay (or Khitan), the name of a seminomadic people who left southeastern Mongolia in the 10th century ce to conquer part of Manchuria and northern China, which they held for about 200 years. By the time of

Kitaibaraki, city, northeastern Ibaraki ken (prefecture), northeast-central Honshu, Japan. It lies on the Pacific Ocean, about 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Hitachi. The western part of the city occupies hills that slope toward the rest of the city on the coast. Agriculture (rice) and fishing

R.B. Kitaj was an American-born painter noted for his eclectic and original contributions to Pop art. Kitaj studied art at the Cooper Union in New York City and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. After working as a merchant seaman and serving in the U.S. Army (1955–57), he settled in England

R.B. Kitaj was an American-born painter noted for his eclectic and original contributions to Pop art. Kitaj studied art at the Cooper Union in New York City and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. After working as a merchant seaman and serving in the U.S. Army (1955–57), he settled in England

Kitakami Mountains, range in northeastern Honshu, Japan, in the Tōhoku region. It parallels the Pacific Ocean coast and extends southward for about 155 miles (250 km) from southern Aomori prefecture, through Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, to terminate in the Oshika Peninsula. The range has a maximum

Kitakami Mountains, range in northeastern Honshu, Japan, in the Tōhoku region. It parallels the Pacific Ocean coast and extends southward for about 155 miles (250 km) from southern Aomori prefecture, through Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, to terminate in the Oshika Peninsula. The range has a maximum

Kitakami Mountains, range in northeastern Honshu, Japan, in the Tōhoku region. It parallels the Pacific Ocean coast and extends southward for about 155 miles (250 km) from southern Aomori prefecture, through Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, to terminate in the Oshika Peninsula. The range has a maximum

Kitakyūshū, city, northern Fukuoka ken (prefecture), northern Kyushu, Japan. It is situated on the Tsushima and Kanmon (Shimonoseki) straits (west and north, respectively) and the Inland Sea (east), the narrow Kanmon strait linking the two larger marine features. The city was created in 1963 by the

Kitami, city, northeastern Hokkaido, northern Japan. It occupies a long corridor of land that stretches roughly southwest-northeast from the Kitami Mountains to the Sea of Okhotsk. The city centre is at the confluence of the Muka River with the Tokoro River. Originally, there was an Ainu settlement

Kitami Mountains, mountain range in northeastern Hokkaido, northern Japan. It extends generally northwest-southeast along the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk before broadening southward into the rugged Daisetsu volcanic group in the interior of the island. The total length of the range is about 180

Kitami Mountains, mountain range in northeastern Hokkaido, northern Japan. It extends generally northwest-southeast along the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk before broadening southward into the rugged Daisetsu volcanic group in the interior of the island. The total length of the range is about 180

Tenshō Kōtai Jingū-kyō: It was founded by Kitamura Sayo (1900–67), a peasant of Yamaguchi Prefecture, whose charismatic preaching took the form of rhythmic singing and dancing. She had a revelation in 1945 that she was possessed by a Shintō deity, Tenshō-Kōtaijin (another name for the Shintō sun goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami). She traveled…

Serrano: One band, the Kitanemuk, lived in the Kern and San Joaquin river basins; another band, the Vanyume, resided along the Mojave River; and a third, the Serrano proper, held the San Bernardino Mountains, adjacent valleys, and a portion of the Mojave Desert.

Kitano Takeshi is a Japanese actor, director, writer, and television personality who is known for his dexterity with both comedic and dramatic material. Kitano was born into a working-class family in Tokyo. He planned to become an engineer but dropped out of college to enter show business in 1972.

Japanese art: Ceramics: Kitaōji Rosanjin was the major exponent of highly decorated work in the Kutani and later kyōyaki traditions. His role was largely as designer and production manager. Long associated with a well-known restaurant in Tokyo, he was most conscious of the choreography of a total sensory…

Nyoro, an Interlacustrine Bantu people living just east of Lake Albert (also called Lake Mobutu Sese Seko), west of the Victoria Nile, in west central Uganda. In precolonial times, the Nyoro formed one of the most powerful of a number of kingdoms in the area. Until the 18th century the Bunyoro

Kitasato Shibasaburo was a Japanese physician and bacteriologist who helped discover a method to prevent tetanus and diphtheria and, in the same year as Alexandre Yersin, discovered the infectious agent responsible for the bubonic plague. Kitasato began his study of medicine at Igakusho Hospital

Kitay-gorod, rayon (sector) of the city of Moscow, bordering the Kremlin on the east, Staraya and Novaya squares on the west, and the Moskva River on the south and including the area known as Red Square (q.v.). Settlement in Kitay-gorod began in the 11th century. As a suburb of Moscow, it became a

Battle of ʿAyn Jālūt: …led by the Christian Turk Kitbuga, moved into Syria, took Damascus and Aleppo, and reached the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The Mongols then sent an envoy to Cairo in 1260 to demand the submission of al-Muẓaffar Sayf al-Dīn Quṭuz, the Mamlūk sultan, whose reply was the execution of the…

Carolee Schneemann: …her relationship with Tenney, and Kitch’s Last Meal (1973–78), chronicling the day-to-day life of her cat, Kitch, until he died.

Eritrea: Cultural life: …wheat, or sorghum flour, and kitcha, an unleavened bread. Meals typically are served on a communal platter, and diners use bread, rather than utensils, to serve themselves portions of such dishes as zigni (a stew made of fish, vegetables, and meat), ful (baked beans), dorho (roasted chicken), ga’at (porridge), and…

Banana Yoshimoto: …wrote the novella Kitchin (Kitchen), published in 1988. Two more books—Kanashii yokan (“Sad Foreboding”) and Utakata/Sankuchuari (“Bubble/Sanctuary”)—were published in Japan that year. Kitchin was translated into Chinese in 1989. A translation of Tsugumi (1989; Goodbye, Tsugumi) appeared the following year in South Korea. Her first book published in English…

construction: Interior finishes: In wet areas such as kitchens and bathrooms, water-resistant gypsum board is used, sometimes with the addition of adhesive-applied ceramic tile.

Thomas Demand: Kitchen (2004) reconstructs the kitchen in the hideout of Ṣaddām Ḥussein, former president of Iraq, before his 2003 capture.

tactical weapons system: Air-to-surface systems: The Soviet AS-4 missile is more than 36 feet (11 m) long and is launched by a Tupolev bomber. It is presumed to be inertially guided until it approaches its selected target, when it homes in on the target. The French Belouga system is a cluster of…

Anthony Bourdain: …article into the popular memoir Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (2000), which contained not only additional accounts of the inner workings of restaurant kitchens but intimate details of Bourdain’s personal life as well, including his long battle with heroin addiction. The memoir established Bourdain as one of the…

purslane: oleracea sativa, known as kitchen garden pusley, is grown to some extent as a potherb, mostly in Europe. Rose moss (P. grandiflora), a trailing fleshy species, is cultivated as a garden ornamental for its brightly coloured, sometimes doubled flowers. All plants of the genus are known for their persistence;…

Kailyard school, late 19th-century movement in Scottish fiction characterized by a sentimental idealization of humble village life. Its name derives from the Scottish “kail-yard,” a small cabbage patch usually adjacent to a cottage. The Kailyard novels of prominent writers such as Sir James Barrie,

Zao Shen, in Chinese religion, the Kitchen God (literally, “god of the hearth”), who is believed to report to the celestial gods on family conduct and to have it within his power to bestow poverty or riches on individual families. Because he is also a protector of the home from evil spirits, his

Amy Tan: Her second novel, The Kitchen God’s Wife (1991), was inspired by her mother’s history; it concerns a Chinese mother who accepts American ways clumsily and her relationship to her thoroughly Americanized daughter. In The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), an American woman gradually learns to appreciate her Chinese half…

construction: Plumbing: …widely used plumbing fixtures include kitchen sinks, usually of cast iron or pressed steel with a ceramic porcelain coating, or of stainless steel; automatic dishwashing machines; and automatic washing machines for laundry. Kitchen sinks can be fitted with garbage disposals, which grind solid waste into a fluid slurry that is…

John Randall Bratby: …as a member of the Kitchen Sink School, a group of British social-realist artists who paralleled the literary Angry Young Men of the decade.

Carrie Mae Weems: Her seminal work, The Kitchen Table Series (1990), a narrative cycle of staged photographs, depicts seemingly mundane episodes from a woman’s life within the space of her kitchen.

restaurant: French restaurants of the 19th century: …so-called brigade de cuisine, or kitchen team, consisting of highly trained experts each with clearly defined duties. These teams included a chef, or gros bonnet, in charge of the kitchen; a sauce chef, or deputy; an entremettier, in charge of preparation of soups, vegetables, and sweet courses; a rôtisseur to…

Tiffany Haddish: …Part, and the mob drama The Kitchen. That year she emceed the comedy special Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready; was cast as the host of the updated TV show Kids Say the Darndest Things; and did the stand-up comedy special Black Mitzvah, which was subsequently adapted into a Grammy Award-winning…

Johannes Vermeer: Themes: 1662/65), and Woman in Blue Reading a Letter (c. 1663; also called Woman in Blue Reading a Letter), he utilized the laws of perspective and the placement of individual objects—chairs, tables, walls, maps, window frames—to create a sense of nature’s underlying order. Vermeer’s carefully chosen objects are…

English literature: Drama: …move toward what critics called “kitchen-sink” drama. Shelagh Delaney (with her one influential play, A Taste of Honey [1958]) and Arnold Wesker (especially in his politically and socially engaged trilogy, Chicken Soup with Barley [1958], Roots [1959], and I’m Talking About Jerusalem [1960]) gave further impetus to this movement, as…

Kitchener, city, regional municipality of Waterloo, southeastern Ontario, Canada. It is situated in the Grand River valley, 60 miles (95 km) west-southwest of Toronto. Founded by Bishop Benjamin Eby and settled by German immigrants about 1807, the community was known successively as Sand Hill,

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener was a British field marshal, imperial administrator, conqueror of the Sudan, commander in chief during the South African War, and (perhaps his most important role) secretary of state for war at the beginning of World War I (1914–18). At that time he

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener was a British field marshal, imperial administrator, conqueror of the Sudan, commander in chief during the South African War, and (perhaps his most important role) secretary of state for war at the beginning of World War I (1914–18). At that time he

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener was a British field marshal, imperial administrator, conqueror of the Sudan, commander in chief during the South African War, and (perhaps his most important role) secretary of state for war at the beginning of World War I (1914–18). At that time he

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener was a British field marshal, imperial administrator, conqueror of the Sudan, commander in chief during the South African War, and (perhaps his most important role) secretary of state for war at the beginning of World War I (1914–18). At that time he

Julian Fellowes is a British actor, producer, novelist, and screenwriter best known for creating the television series Downton Abbey (2010–15). Fellowes was born in Egypt, where his father was with the British embassy. While attending Magdalene College, Cambridge, he joined the Footlights comedy

philosophy of biology: Molecular biology: …critique by the Australian philosopher Philip Kitcher, who denied the possibility, in practice and in principle, of any theoretical reduction of the sort envisioned by the logical positivists. In particular, no scientific theory is formalized as a hypothetico-deductive system as the positivists had contended, and there are no genuine “bridge…

nature worship: Nature as a sacred totality: …numerous manitous (powers), with a Great Manitou (Kitchi-Manitou) at the head. These manitous may even be designated as protective spirits akin to those of other North American Indians, such as the digi of the Apache, boha of the Shoshone, and maxpe of the Crow, as well as the sila of…

Banana Yoshimoto: …wrote the novella Kitchin (Kitchen), published in 1988. Two more books—Kanashii yokan (“Sad Foreboding”) and Utakata/Sankuchuari (“Bubble/Sanctuary”)—were published in Japan that year. Kitchin was translated into Chinese in 1989. A translation of Tsugumi (1989; Goodbye, Tsugumi) appeared the following year in South Korea. Her first book published in English…

kite, any of numerous birds of prey belonging to one of three subfamilies (Milvinae, Elaninae, Perninae) of the family Accipitridae. Typically, a kite is lightly built, with a small head, partly bare face, short beak, and long narrow wings and tail. Kites occur worldwide in warm regions. Some kites

kite, oldest known heavier-than-air craft designed to gain lift from the wind while being flown from the end of a flying line, or tether. Over the millennia, kites have been used to ward off evil, deliver messages, represent the gods, raise banners, discover natural phenomena, propel craft, drop

measurement system: The Egyptians: …on a unit called the kite, with a decimal ratio, 10 kites equaling 1 deben and 10 debens equaling 1 sep. Over the long duration of Egyptian history, the weight of the kite varied from period to period, ranging all the way from 4.5 to 29.9 grams (0.16 to 1.05…

The Kite Runner, novel by Khaled Hosseini, published in 2003. It follows the journey of Amir, a young boy from Kabul, and is set against the tumultuous background of Afghanistan’s history, from the fall of the monarchy through to the rise of the Taliban regime. The novel delves into the themes of

W.O. Mitchell: His novel The Kite (1962) is about a newsman’s interview with “Daddy Sherry,” supposedly the oldest and wisest man in western Canada. Another novel, The Vanishing Point (1973), deals with a teacher’s involvement with Indians in southwest Alberta.

Gitega, town, central Burundi. The town lies about 40 miles (65 km) east of the national capital of Bujumbura. For centuries Gitega was the seat of the Burundian mwami (king) and the capital of the kingdom of Burundi. It also served as an administrative centre when Burundi was under colonial rule.

Sohn Kee-Chung: The Defiant One: Officially known at the 1936 Berlin Games as Son Kitei, marathon runner Sohn Kee-Chung symbolized the fierce nationalistic tensions of the era. A native Korean, Sohn lived under the rule of Japan, which had annexed Korea in 1910. From an early age Sohn had chafed…

Ethiopia: Daily life and social customs: Other popular dishes include kitfo, chopped raw beef served with berbere.

Cithaeron, mountain range in Greece, separating Boeotia from Megaris and Attica (Modern Greek: Attikí). Its western end reaches the Gulf of Corinth (Korinthiakós). The range has a maximum elevation of 4,623 feet (1,409 meters). In ancient times, the road from Athens to Thebes crossed the range via

kithara, stringed musical instrument, one of the two principal types of ancient Greek lyres. It had a wooden soundboard and a box-shaped body, or resonator, from which extended two hollow arms connected by a crossbar. Three, originally, but later as many as 12 strings ran from the crossbar to the

Cythera, island, southernmost and easternmost of the Ionian Islands, off the southern Peloponnesus (Pelopónnisos). It is an eparkhía (eparchy) of Attiki nomós (department), Greece. A continuation of the Taiyetos Range, the island has a mountainous interior, rising to 1,663 feet (507 metres). The

Lata Mangeshkar: …for Vasant Joglekar’s Marathi film Kiti Hasaal, though her song did not make the final edit. Mangeshkar was trained from age five by her father, a disciple of the Gwalior gharana (a community of performers who share a distinctive musical style), and she was also tutored by maestros such as…

Wichita, North American Indian people of Caddoan linguistic stock who originally lived near the Arkansas River in what is now the state of Kansas. They were encountered by the Spanish in the mid-16th century and became the first group of Plains Indians subject to missionization. Like most Caddoans,

Kitikmeot, westernmost of the three regions of Nunavut territory, Canada. It was designated the Central Arctic region of the Northwest Territories in 1981, being formed from the northern part of Fort Smith region. In 1982 it received its present name, which is the traditional Inuit word for the

Kitimat, district municipality, on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. It lies at the head of the Douglas Channel, a deepwater fjord extending inland from Hecate Strait for 80 miles (129 km). Named for a nearby Indian village, Kitimat and its deepwater anchorage came to prominence in 1951,

Citium, principal Phoenician city in Cyprus, situated on the southeast coast near modern Larnaca. The earliest remains at Citium are those of an Aegean colony of the Mycenaean Age (c. 1400–1100 bce). The biblical name Kittim, representing Citium, was also used for Cyprus as a whole. A Phoenician

Luba: …living, the main figures are kitobo or nsengha (priest), the nganga (healer), and the mfwintshi (the witch, the embodiment of evil and the antithesis of the will of the ancestors).

Stone Age: Asian cultures: (3) Kitoi, placed before the middle of the 2nd millennium bce, shows a variety of more developed forms of equipment; the great number of fishhooks found in the graves indicates that subsistence was now based primarily on fishing instead of hunting; sculptures of human faces in…

Yiddish literature: The classic writers: Kitser masoes Binyomen hashlishi (1878; “The Brief Travels of Benjamin the Third”) is Abramovitsh’s parody of Cervantes’s Don Quixote. In place of a Spanish gentleman who longs to be a heroic knight is a mock-heroic Jew who longs for adventure. His quest for the Holy…

lighthouse: Oil lamps: In 1901 the Briton Arthur Kitson invented the vaporized oil burner, which was subsequently improved by David Hood of Trinity House and others. This burner used kerosene vaporized under pressure, mixed with air, and burned to heat an incandescent mantle. The vaporized oil burner was six times more powerful…

kitsune, trickster foxes from traditional Japanese folklore. They are a type of yōkai, a class of supernatural creatures with godlike powers, often equated to the English ghoul or demon. Kitsune are noted for their paranormal abilities, particularly metamorphosis. As they age, these abilities can

Mendele Moykher Sforim: …Kitsur massous Binyomin hashlishi (1875; The Travels and Adventures of Benjamin the Third), is a kind of Jewish Don Quixote. After living from 1869 to 1881 in Zhitomir (where he was trained as a rabbi), he became head of a traditional school for boys (Talmud Torah) at Odessa and was…

Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), astronomical observatory located on the Papago Indian Reservation 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Tucson, Ariz., U.S., at an elevation of 6,888 feet (2,100 metres). It was established in 1958 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in response to a long-felt

Eartha Kitt was an American singer and dancer noted for her sultry vocal style and slinky beauty who also achieved success as a dramatic stage and film actress. Kitt was the daughter of a Cherokee and Black mother and a white father she never knew. From the age of eight she grew up with relatives

Eartha Kitt was an American singer and dancer noted for her sultry vocal style and slinky beauty who also achieved success as a dramatic stage and film actress. Kitt was the daughter of a Cherokee and Black mother and a white father she never knew. From the age of eight she grew up with relatives

Armstrong: Kittanning is the county seat. Some other communities are Ford City, Freeport, and Apollo.

Ridge and Valley: …York border and southwestward along Kittatinny Mountain into eastern Pennsylvania. The Middle section curves through central Pennsylvania, western Maryland, and eastern West Virginia to the Tennessee Valley Divide in western Virginia and includes the renowned Shenandoah Valley of northern Virginia. The Great Valley that is central to this section continues…

kittel, in Judaism, a white robe worn in the synagogue on such major festivals as Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The rabbi wears it, as does the cantor, the blower of the shofar (ritual ram’s horn), and male members of Ashkenazi (German-rite) congregations. Before a Seder dinner, the leader of the

August Wilson was a playwright who penned an acclaimed cycle of plays, each set in a different decade of the 20th century, about Black American life. He won Pulitzer Prizes for two of them: Fences and The Piano Lesson. Wilson grew up in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, a lively poor neighbourhood

biblical literature: Printed editions: …Biblica Hebraica (1906, 1912) by Rudolf Kittel and Paul Kahle, two German biblical scholars. The third edition of this work, completed by Albrecht Alt and Otto Eissfeldt (Stuttgart, 1937), finally abandoned Ben Hayyim’s text, substituting that of the Leningrad Codex (B 19a). It has a dual critical apparatus, with textual…

softball, a variant of baseball and a popular participant sport, particularly in the United States. It is generally agreed that softball developed from a game called indoor baseball, first played in Chicago in 1887. It became known in the United States by various names, such as kitten ball, mush

Kittery, town, York county, southwestern Maine, U.S., at the mouth of the Piscataqua River, on the Atlantic coast opposite Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The town includes the communities of Kittery and Kittery Point. Settled in 1623, it was incorporated (1647) as Piscataqua Plantation, Maine’s first

Citium, principal Phoenician city in Cyprus, situated on the southeast coast near modern Larnaca. The earliest remains at Citium are those of an Aegean colony of the Mycenaean Age (c. 1400–1100 bce). The biblical name Kittim, representing Citium, was also used for Cyprus as a whole. A Phoenician

kittiwake, (Rissa tridactyla), oceanic gull, a white bird with pearl-gray mantle, black-tipped wings, black feet, and yellow bill. It nests on the North and South Atlantic coasts. Kittiwakes have evolved a number of behavioral and structural modifications for nesting on narrow cliff ledges. A close

Emmy Destinn was a Czech soprano noted for the power and vibrant richness of her voice and for her great intelligence and dramatic gifts. She adopted the name of her singing teacher, Maria Loewe-Destinn. Destinn made her debut in Berlin in 1898 as Santuzza in Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana.

murrelet: …far south as California, and Kittlitz’s murrelet, (B. brevirostris), which reaches Japan. Most southerly is Xantus’s murrelet (Endomychura hypoleucus), which nests on the hot coast of Baja California and (like some gulls of the region) travels north in winter.