For some time the question of the religious faith of the Founding Fathers has generated a culture war in the United States. Scholars trained in research universities have generally argued that the majority of the Founders were religious rationalists or Unitarians. Pastors and other writers who

The Fourth Industrial Revolution heralds a series of social, political, cultural, and economic upheavals that will unfold over the 21st century. Building on the widespread availability of digital technologies that were the result of the Third Industrial, or Digital, Revolution, the Fourth

Somewhere along the path toward becoming a franchisee, you’ll come across a comprehensive document that outlines almost everything you need to know about the business you’re looking to purchase. It’s called the franchise disclosure document, aka the FDD. The FDD is a legal disclosure

Les Murray: In 2002 he published The Full Dress, which pairs poems with selections of art from the National Gallery of Australia, and Poems the Size of Photographs, a collection of short-form verse. His 2010 collection, Taller When Prone, celebrates ordinary Australians, often with a healthy dose of humour. The poems…

The Gherkin, skyscraper in London that was designed by the architecture firm Foster and Partners and completed in 2004. Formally known as 30 St Mary Axe, the building has become better known by its colloquial name “The Gherkin,” which comes from its shape being similar to a gherkin fruit. It was

the Go-Go’s, American all-female post-punk rock band that emerged during the late 1970s, known for mixing pop melodies and punk rhythms and for pioneering the establishment of women in new wave and in the music industry at large. The Go-Go’s were remarkable for being the first commercially

If the economy were a house, then production, consumption, investment, and savings would be the juices flowing through its pipes to make things run. And the economy—just like the pipes in your home—needs knobs and gauges to control and monitor the temperature and flow. In the U.S., those knobs and

Apple. Microsoft. IBM. Amazon. The legends of American business are pretty much all publicly traded companies—and at one time, they were all quite small. The traditional way for companies to get listed and begin trading on a stock exchange is via an initial public offering (IPO), a process that

Growth versus value: It’s the ultimate argument among stock investors, and over long time periods, they duke it out for market dominance. Those in the growth stock camp happily pay up for stocks with low but fast-growing earnings, with the expectation that earnings will accelerate in the years to

The Great Train Robbery, American silent western film, released in 1903, that is historically significant for its innovative approach to film editing and narration. The Great Train Robbery is acknowledged as the first narrative film to successfully establish continuity of action (the process of

Suppose a stock that’s been hyped on social media goes viral, infecting the social trading space with a severe case of FOMO (fear of missing out). Now, everyone’s talking about it, and soon people begin buying in droves, clogging up the digital order flow space with a frenzied folly of bids. The

The Hay Wain, oil painting created in 1821 by English landscape artist John Constable. It is not only the best known work by Constable, it is also one of the most popular English paintings. The son of a prosperous miller, Constable was born in rural Suffolk, England, an area of idyllic scenery to

Bronson Howard: The Henrietta (1887), a satire on business, and Shenandoah (1889), which established Charles Frohman as a producer and made a fortune for both producer and author, were also great successes. Howard’s other plays include The Banker’s Daughter (1878), first produced in 1873 as Lillian’s Last…

First and foremost, we should fight for the universalization of the Ottawa land mine ban treaty. The Ottawa Convention, which became international law in March 1999, prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel mines. Member states must also destroy existing

One of history’s darkest chapters, the Holocaust was the systematic killing of six million Jewish men, women, and children and millions of others by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II (1939–45). Slavs, Roma, gay people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others also were singled out for

The Holy Virgin Mary, mixed-media painting on linen that was created in 1996 by British artist Chris Ofili. The painting, one of Ofili’s earliest artworks, created a sensation and brought the artist both fame and notoriety. Ofili, whose parents had immigrated to Britain from Nigeria, attended Roman

The Home Depot, Inc. is the largest retail home improvement and construction supply company in the world, with more than 2,300 stores in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The company was established in 1978, and today employs nearly 475,000 workers. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. HD

The Horse Fair, large oil painting created in 1852–55 by French realist artist Rosa Bonheur. Bonheur, who learned the fundamentals of art from her father, artist Raymond Bonheur, was famed for her paintings of animals, and The Horse Fair is widely regarded as her masterpiece. Bonheur’s style

The Hungarian football team, which dominated Europe in the 1950s, came into the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland, as the clear favorite. The players did not disappoint—indeed, the tournament appeared to be only a formality for the “Magnificent Magyars.” Wins over Romania and then Italy

The Hunger Games, series of dystopian best-selling young adult novels by American author Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009), and Mockingjay (2010) became international bestsellers, each book selling more than 100 million copies in print and digital formats. The books,

Do you own your own business, or shares of stock in some of your favorite companies? That’s great, but how can you tell if these businesses are doing well? You need to know if a company is making any money—and whether it’s more than they spend to run the place. For companies big and small,

More than a year after Woodstock, the third Isle of Wight Pop Festival was held August 26–31, 1970, on the island of the same name off the coast of southern England. The previous year’s festival had attracted about 200,000 people, most of them drawn by the opportunity to see and hear Bob Dylan,

The 1964 Games in Tokyo saw the introduction of volleyball as an Olympic event. The sport enjoyed wide popularity in the host country, so expectations were high. Chosen to represent Japan was the country’s best women’s team, the Kaizuku Amazons, sponsored by the Dai Nippon spinning mill located

The Kennedy Center, large cultural complex in Washington, D.C., that hosts a variety of theater, dance, and musical performances, both national and international, and is the home of the National Symphony Orchestra. Created by the National Cultural Center Act of 1958, the Kennedy Center was renamed

The King and I, American musical film, released in 1956, that was scored by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein and features a signature performance by Yul Brynner, who had earlier starred in the hit Broadway adaptation. Brynner portrayed the king of Siam, an imperious monarch who is seen as

The Kiss, oil and gold painting by Gustav Klimt that was completed in 1908. It is considered to be one of the best paintings of the Vienna Sezession and is perhaps the most popular of Klimt’s works. Klimt studied at the Vienna School of Decorative Arts, and his early work was typical of the

The Lady from Shanghai, American film noir, released in 1947, that was adapted from the Sherwood King novel If I Die Before I Wake. Director, writer, and star Orson Welles cast his estranged wife, Rita Hayworth, opposite himself in a film that became famous for its confounding plot and for the

The Laughing Cavalier, oil painting created in 1624 by Dutch artist Frans Hals. This painting belongs to the artist’s middle period, when the joie de vivre that characterized his early work had begun to disappear, and it gained its title when it was exhibited in London in the 1870s. Hals was born

When Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda for the Japanese market in 1986, it marked a new era in the culture, technology, and business of video games. The game’s designer, Miyamoto Shigeru, was already a star, having produced Donkey Kong and the Mario Brothers series. Now he wanted to push

Financial trading on today’s platforms looks easy. Log into your account, hit that big green BUY button, and you’ve just exchanged money for shares of a stock. On the surface, that’s how it appears the market works. Behind that smooth transaction, however, is a web of complex systems that ensures

In the 1940s, economist Franco Modigliani was researching how increases in income affect economic growth, and he was struck by how variable it was. It wasn’t clear how much a change in income would translate to changes in consumer spending and savings, and that made economic forecasting difficult.

Germany’s annual Love Parade was the temporary centre of the world of electronic dance music during its two-decade run. First organized in 1989 in West Berlin by planetcom, a company affiliated with the defunct E-Werk club, the parade was registered with the city as a political demonstration for

Held in Monterey, California, on June 16–18, 1967, the Monterey Pop Festival was the first commercial American rock festival. Dunhill Records executive Lou Adler and John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas organized the festival around the concept of the successful Monterey Jazz Festival and

As more consumers weigh the environmental and health consequences of traditional funeral practices, green burials have naturally been attracting more interest. Unlike ordinary burials, which often involve embalming fluids, concrete vaults, and nonbiodegradable caskets and/or grave liners, green

As massive social, technological, and economic changes continue to unfold over the coming decades, our single greatest challenge will be to compose a new civilizational story line that will guide the evolution of our species. Just as religious narratives led humanity through the agrarian era, and

Starting a new job? Bring a pen and perhaps a financial plan. You’ve got a few forms to fill out and decisions to make. Even if it’s not your first new job, the W-4 form isn’t what it used to be, and there’s a brand new I-9 as of August 2023. Do you have a strategy for your company 401(k) (or

The Nightmare, oil painting that was created in 1781 and is Swiss-born artist Henry Fuseli’s most famous painting, as well as a landmark in the development of the Romantic movement. It has become an iconic image that is familiar in popular culture and much parodied. Fuseli studied theology in

Millennium Dome, massive construction project and tourist attraction in Greenwich, London, England. It was initiated to house an exhibition for the approach of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium ce (the official start of which was January 1, 2001). The central structure is the largest dome in

The Office, British sitcom series that was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and aired on BBC Television between 2001 and 2003. The show follows the daily work life of employees at a regional branch of a fictional paper supply company that is threatened with downsizing. The series was

The Office, popular American television situation comedy series following the daily lives of a group of employees working at the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, that aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) network from 2005 to 2013. Although The Office

The Old Testament Trinity, tempera icon created about 1410 by Andrey Rublyov, who is regarded as one of the greatest medieval Russian painters of icons and frescoes. The Old Testament Trinity is perhaps the most revered and valued icon in Russia. Rublyov is thought to have received his training

The creation of the Ekecheiria, the Olympic truce, lies within the traditional story of the founding of the ancient Olympic Games. Two warring kings of the area around Olympia, Iphitos and Cleomenes, joined with the Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus in an agreement to hold the Games and to enact and

Explore other Botanize! episodes and learn more about orchids and fungi. Melissa Petruzzello: Welcome, listeners! Thanks for tuning in to Botanize! I’m your host, Melissa Petruzzello, Encyclopædia Britannica’s plant and environmental science editor. Today we are going to be talking about orchids,

In the long history of the relationship between Native Americans and the European settlers and their descendents who so widely displaced North America’s Indigenous people, there has been much injustice and tragedy. Stories of violence and broken treaties, mendacity, mistreatment, and massacres have

The Painter’s Studio, oil painting created in 1854–55 by French artist Gustave Courbet. The most mysterious of his paintings, this relatively early work initially garnered the praise of Eugène Delacroix alone. When this painting was rejected for the Universal Exposition, Courbet opened his own

The paradox of thrift is a concept developed by legendary economist John Maynard Keynes. He noted that, during a recession, individuals tend to save money so they can manage through a tough time—when what the economy needs is for people to spend and invest. After all, historically, recessions, and

Did you take out parent PLUS loans to help finance your child’s education? Although these loans offer one way to pay for college, they might be one of the last resorts. Loan forgiveness and income-driven repayment (IDR) options are generally limited with parent PLUS loans unless you take specific

The Mimi of Nachtigal and the Mimi of Gaudefroy-Demombynes, both of whom speak a Maban language of the Nilo-Saharan language family, are identified by the names of their first investigators: Gustav Nachtigal and Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes, respectively. The name Mimi sometimes is applied to a

the personal is political, political slogan expressing a common belief among feminists that the personal experiences of women are rooted in their political situation and gender inequality. Although the origin of the phrase “the personal is political” is uncertain, it became popular following the

The Phantom of the Opera, award-winning stage musical by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricists Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe, adapted from Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel of the same name. A romantic melodrama, The Phantom of the Opera premiered in London’s West End on October 9, 1986, and began

From the oral culture of its distant past to its vibrant present and buoyed by its scholarly discourses, Yoruba philosophy is best understood as a folk philosophy, a set of narratives and cultural practices that attempt to explain the causes and the nature of things affecting the corporeal and the

Holocaust: Artistic responses to the Holocaust: …adaptation of Władysław Szpilman’s autobiography, The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw, 1939–45 (1999); The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (2013), a short documentary focusing on the world’s oldest living Holocaust survivor at the time of the film’s release; and Saul fia (2015;…

The Princess Bride, is an American romantic comedy adventure film released in 1987 that was produced and directed by Rob Reiner. It was adapted for the screen by author William Goldman from his 1973 novel entitled The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure,

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, (1904–05), thesis by Max Weber that asserts a connection between success in capitalist ventures and the accidental psychological consequences of Calvinist Christian doctrines, especially predestination. Weber began his thesis by noting the

The Protestant Heritage, Protestantism originated in the 16th-century Reformation, and its basic doctrines, in addition to those of the ancient Christian creeds, are justification by grace alone through faith, the priesthood of all believers, and the supremacy of Holy Scripture in matters of faith

The stock market has historically risen over time, but it also goes through significant cycles of bull and bear markets. And if you know the basics of trading options, you know that put and call options may be used to—among other things—speculate on the market’s direction. Put options in particular

In the 2010s Australia’s Indigenous population constituted approximately 3 percent of the country’s total population, with some 745,000 people identifying themselves as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin. This total represented a considerable increase over the comparable

The Rape of Europa, oil painting created in 1559–62 by the Venetian artist Titian. It is a superb example of Titian’s late style and demonstrates his full power as a painter. The oeuvre of Titian was subject to a number of shifts in import and sensibility over the course of his career. Whereas the

The Red Studio, oil painting created in 1911 by French artist Henri Matisse. It is a challenging painting that has confounded critics and viewers and is regarded as a foundational piece of modern art. Matisse is known as the great colourist of the 20th century, and The Red Studio is one of the best

As rock and roll made its way to continental Europe in the late 1950s, several nightclub owners in the red-light district of Hamburg, West Germany—the Reeperbahn, named for the street that was its main artery—decided that the new music should supplant the jazz they had been featuring. British

The Renaissance was a period in European history when new ideas about art and science were developed and when new technologies, such as paper and gunpowder, were widely adopted. It began in Italy during the 14th century, and it marked the end of the Middle Ages. The Renaissance’s influence spread

The Republic, one of the most important dialogues of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, renowned for its detailed expositions of political and ethical justice and its account of the organization of the ideal state (or city-state)—hence the traditional title of the work. As do other dialogues from

In the 1980s and ’90s, the Sistine Chapel underwent a long and elaborate restoration scheme sponsored by a Japanese television corporation and carried out by top Italian and international experts. The cleaning removed centuries of grime, dust, and candle smoke from the frescoes and revealed

Are you ready for retirement? You’re in the homestretch when the kids have flown the coop, your mortgage has been paid down (or if you’re lucky, paid off in full), and you’re thinking a pullback from the labor force might be in your future. Key Points Choosing an annuityIn search of retirement

The Rise of Andrew Jackson, This detailed original account of the life of Andrew Jackson written for Encyclopædia Britannica by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, authors of The Rise of Andrew Jackson: Myth, Manipulation, and the Making of Modern Politics (2018), describes how the seventh

Tech industry insiders have been talking about “hyperscalers” since at least the early 2010s, but only recently has the term gone mainstream. Now, financial and tech reporters are increasingly pointing to these powerful companies as the backbone of tomorrow’s digital economy. As an investor, you’re

Although the animals that live in rainforests on different continents can differ significantly, the environments they live in are very similar. These environments, therefore, exert similar pressures on the evolution of the animals living in each. As a result, unrelated species may be similar in

From precolonial times to the early 21st century, the role and status of women in Nigeria have continuously evolved. However, the image of a helpless, oppressed, and marginalized group has undermined their proper study, and little recognition has been granted to the various integral functions that

Have you ever wondered whether it’s possible to withdraw some of your 401(k) savings before you turn 59 1/2 without paying a penalty? The happy answer is yes, thanks to the so-called rule of 55. Key Points Of course, as with all things that involve retirement plans (and the IRS), you need to

If your kids—including adult children—still need you at the same time your aging parents need support, you’re likely part of the sandwich generation. Many adults, particularly those in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, find themselves giving time, mental and physical energy, and often financial resources to

The Sea, The Sea, novel by British writer Iris Murdoch. Published in 1978, it was her 19th novel and her only work to win the Booker Prize. The Sea, The Sea is written in the first person, narrated by Charles Arrowby, a noted and self-satisfied thespian who retires from London to a dilapidated and

At the beginning of Elizabeth II’s reign, colour-coded maps provided a quick guide to the far-flung colonial possessions of Europe’s empires. By the 1960s and ’70s, however, nationalist independence movements had helped bring about widespread decolonization of British, French, Dutch, Belgian, and

The Shard, skyscraper in London that was designed by architect Renzo Piano and completed in 2012. Piano took its inspiration from church spires and ships’ masts, but the Shard’s appearance better resembles the shaft of a stiletto switchblade. At a height of 1,016 feet (309.6 meters) with 95 stories

Empowered by the Clean Air Act of 1970, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quickly established air quality standards to protect public health and the environment. Focusing on six “criteria” air pollutants—sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, and

The Sleeping Gypsy, oil painting created in 1897 by French naïve artist Henri Rousseau. This work is perhaps the most important of the period when Rousseau began to receive recognition as an artist and is one of the most famous images of the modern era. Rousseau was entirely self-taught and did not

Your age when you start taking Social Security has a big impact on how much you receive in benefits each month. That’s because the Social Security Administration (SSA) pays a different amount depending on whether you start at age 62; at age 67 (that’s the full retirement age, or “FRA” for anyone

It happens: At a certain point—maybe after the birth of a child, a layoff, or an illness—one spouse might have to stop working for a time. The good news is that a hiatus from the workforce doesn’t have to derail that spouse’s retirement savings. An unmarried person who doesn’t work cannot

The Starry Night was painted by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh in 1889 during his stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France. Van Gogh observed the night sky from his barred bedroom window and became preoccupied by the challenges of painting a nighttime landscape.

The Station nightclub fire, fire on February 20, 2003, that destroyed The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, U.S., and killed 100 people. When it was announced that the hard rock act Great White would be headlining an evening of 1980s retro rock music at The Station, fans turned out

The battle for market share often takes place within a relatively saturated and competitive environment. So you might assume that business success and competitiveness go hand in hand—the more market share a company wants to win, the more it’ll have to fight for it. But this isn’t always the case.

As you prepare for the high school homestretch, figuring out how to pay for college is perhaps the biggest thing to nail down. You’ve heard of the dream school, safety school, and that “reach” school that might push the acceptance boundary given your test scores, class rank, and other admission

Suppose a company has a pile of long-term, fixed-rate debt, and they would prefer that some of it be of shorter duration and tied to a short-term interest rate. Meanwhile, the bank next door earns fixed-rate payments from loans it’s made, and pays depositors on a floating-rate basis. Wouldn’t it be

The Sweet Hereafter, Canadian dramatic film, released in 1997, about a lawyer (Ian Holm) who comes to a small town to sign clients for a lawsuit after a school bus accident. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes film festival and received Academy Award nominations for best director (Atom

The Swing, oil painting created about 1767 by French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard. This is Fragonard’s most celebrated painting, as well as one of the best-known images in 18th-century art. It illustrates the elegance and playfulness of the Rococo style, which dominated French art during this

the Smiths: …Marr joined Matt Johnson in The The, where his signature sound drove two of that band’s most successful albums—Mind Bomb (1989) and Dusk (1991). Marr teamed with Bernard Sumner of New Order in the supergroup Electronic. Although Marr and Sumner had initially conceived their partnership to be temporary, the success…

The Third of May 1808, oil painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya that was completed in 1814. It evokes the horrors of war with great emotional force and is stylistically revolutionary. On March 17, 1808, the Revolt of Aranjuez ended the reign of King Charles IV of Spain and his wife, María

The Tribute Money, fresco created about 1426 in the Brancacci Chapel of Santa Maria del Carmine basilica in Florence, Italy, by Florentine artist Masaccio. The Tribute Money is part of a group of early Renaissance frescoes in that chapel that revolutionized Florentine painting and were highly

The Trinity, fresco created about 1427 in the Church of Santa Maria Novella by the early Renaissance Florentine artist Masaccio. It is likely to be the artist’s final work in Florence. The Trinity is often cited as the first major painting to use one-point linear perspective. Had Masaccio not died

In 1975 New York’s high society was the talk of the town—for all the wrong reasons. That year Esquire magazine published “La Côte Basque, 1965,” a scandalous chapter from Truman Capote’s unfinished roman à clef Answered Prayers. In the tell-all excerpt, he skewered his inner circle of socialite

The arrival of the U.S. men’s basketball team at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, proved a major milestone in two notable trends in modern sports: the demise of the amateur athlete in Olympic competition and the remarkable rise in the popularity of basketball worldwide. The United States

The Valpinçon Bather, oil painting created in 1808 by French Neoclassical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. It depicts a female nude and is a masterpiece of light and harmony. The painting was originally entitled Seated Woman but in time acquired its present name after one of its later owners.

Vietnam became a subject of large-scale news coverage in the United States only after substantial numbers of U.S. combat troops had been committed to the war in the spring of 1965. Prior to that time, the number of American newsmen in Indochina had been small—fewer than two dozen even as late as

The most important development of the 20th century was the spread of democracy. The most important lesson was that the tides of freedom will always be opposed. Now and in the future, this warning should be on our minds because democracy is undergoing a new and rigorous round of tests. (Read

While go-go was the rage in Washington, D.C., and hip-hop was ascendant in New York City, gay Chicago was laying the foundation for the most lastingly influential of early 1980s African-American dance musics, house. The name came from a club, the Warehouse, where deejay Frankie Knuckles eschewed

The Way International, Christian evangelical group founded in 1942 as Vesper Chimes, a radio ministry broadcast from Lima, Ohio, by Victor Paul Wierwille (1916–85). Its current headquarters are in New Knoxville, Ohio; estimates of its membership range from 3,000 to 20,000. As a minister in the

Lois Lowry: Books of the 21st century: …include The Silent Boy (2003), The Willoughbys (2008), Like the Willow Tree (2011), and The Windeby Puzzle (2023).

The most famous of the 1960s rock festivals, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held on a farm property in Bethel, New York, August 15–17, 1969. It was organized by four inexperienced promoters who nonetheless signed a who’s who of current rock acts, including Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family

tea plant, (Camellia sinensis), evergreen flowering plant valued for its young leaves and leaf buds, from which the tea beverage is produced. Two principal varieties are used commercially, the small-leaved China plant (Camellia sinensis, variety sinensis) and the large-leaved Assam plant (C.

Theaceae, the tea family of plants in the order Theales. The Theaceae comprises about 40 genera of trees or shrubs native to temperate and tropical regions of both hemispheres, including several ornamental plants, one that is the source of tea. Members of the family have evergreen leaves and

Plato: Late dialogues of Plato: The Theaetetus considers the question “What is knowledge?” Is it perception, true belief, or true belief with an “account”? The dialogue contains a famous “digression” on the difference between the philosophical and worldly mentalities. The work ends inconclusively and may indeed be intended to show the…