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The American Heritage Dictionary Of The English Language
''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (''AHD'') is a dictionary of American English published by HarperCollins. It is currently in its fifth edition (since 2011). Before HarperCollins acquired certain business lines from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2022, the family of American Heritage dictionaries had long been published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and its predecessor Houghton Mifflin. The first edition appeared in 1969, an outgrowth of the editorial effort for Houghton Mifflin's ''American Heritage'' brand of history books and journals. The dictionary's creation was spurred by the controversy during the 1960s over the perceived permissiveness of the ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary'' (1961). A college dictionary followed several years later. The main dictionary became the flagship title as the brand grew into a family of various dictionaries, a dictionary-thesaurus combination, and a usage (language), usage guide. History James Parton ( ...
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Eudora Welty
Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short-story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel '' The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Order of the South. She was the first living author to have her works published by the Library of America. Her house in Jackson, Mississippi has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and is open to the public as a house museum. Biography Eudora Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi, on April 13, 1909, the daughter of Christian Webb Welty (1879–1931) and Mary Chestina (Andrews) Welty (1883–1966). She grew up with younger brothers Edward Jefferson and Walter Andrews. Her mother was a schoolteacher. Her family were members of the Methodist church. Her childhood home is still standing and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 prior to being ...
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Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychology, cognitive psychologist, psycholinguistics, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind. Pinker is the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He specializes in visual cognition and developmental linguistics, and his experimental topics include mental imagery, shape recognition, visual attention, regularity and irregularity in language, the neural basis of words and grammar, and childhood language development. Other experimental topics he works on are the psychology of cooperation and of communication, including emotional expression, euphemism, innuendo, and how people use "common knowledge", a term of art meaning the shared understanding in which two or more people know something, know that the other one knows, know the other one knows that they know, and so on. ...
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Anne Curzan
Anne Curzan is a professor of English at the University of Michigan since 2012 and served as the dean of its College of Literature, Science, and the Arts from 2019-2024. Biography Curzan received a bachelor of arts in linguistics ''summa cum laude'' from Yale University in 1991. She received a master of arts and a doctor of philosophy in English language and literature from the University of Michigan in 1995 and 1998, respectively. Curzan is a member of the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel and the American Dialect Society, which votes on the Word of the Year. She co-hosts the weekly Michigan Public radio segment ''That's What They Say'' with Rebecca Kruth and has written for the Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is an American newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals, including staff members and administrators. A subscriptio ...'s ''Lingua F ...
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Robert J
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, renown, godlike" and ''berht'' "bright, light, shining"). It is the second most frequently used given name of ancient Germanic origin.Reaney & Wilson, 1997. ''Dictionary of English Surnames''. Oxford University Press. It is also in use as a surname. Another commonly used form of the name is Rupert. After becoming widely used in Continental Europe, the name entered England in its Old French form ''Robert'', where an Old English cognate form (''Hrēodbēorht'', ''Hrodberht'', ''Hrēodbēorð'', ''Hrœdbœrð'', ''Hrœdberð'', ''Hrōðberχtŕ'') had existed before the Norman Conquest. The feminine version is Roberta. The Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish form is Roberto. Robert is also a common name in many Germanic languages, including En ...
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William F
William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will (given name), Will or Wil, Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill (given name), Bill, Billie (given name), Billie, and Billy (name), Billy. A common Irish people, Irish form is Liam. Scottish people, Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie). Female forms include Willa, Willemina, Wilma (given name), Wilma and Wilhelmina (given name), Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the German language, German given name ''Wilhelm''. Both ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic ''*Wiljahelmaz'', with a direct cognate also in the Old Norse name ''Vilhjalmr'' and a West Germanic borrowing into Medieval Latin ''Wil ...
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Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world". After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995. Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "School of Resentment" (which included multiculturalism, feminism, and Marxism). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University. Early life and education ...
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Susan Stamberg
Susan Stamberg (born September 7, 1938) is an American radio journalist. Stamberg was co-host of NPR's flagship program ''All Things Considered'' from 1972 to 1986. In that role Stamberg was the first female host of a national news broadcast. She's considered one of NPR's "Founding Mothers" along with Nina Totenberg, Linda Wertheimer and the late Cokie Roberts. After nearly 50 years at the network, Stamberg is a Special Correspondent and her reports appear weekly on NPR's ''Morning Edition.'' Early life Susan Stamberg was born Susan Levitt in Newark, New Jersey. She graduated Barnard College in 1959. Career For 14 years, beginning in 1972, Stamberg served as co-host of ''All Things Considered'', the evening news magazine. She was the first woman to hold a full-time position as anchor of a national nightly news broadcast in the United States. She was awarded the Edward R. Murrow Award (CPB). She was the host of Weekend Edition Sunday from 1987 to 1989. In 1994, Stamberg was i ...
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Liane Hansen
Liane Hansen (; born September 29, 1951) is an American journalist and radio personality. She was the host of the National Public Radio (NPR) newsmagazine ''Weekend Edition Sunday'' from 1989 until her retirement in May 2011. Her experience in broadcast journalism includes working as a reporter, producer, and host for local and national programs. Biography Hansen was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her first participation in public broadcasting was in 1976, when she became a production assistant and substitute host for then-local public radio show ''Fresh Air'' in Philadelphia. In 1979, she joined NPR as a production assistant for ''All Things Considered''. She later hosted '' Weekend All Things Considered'', '' Performance Today'' and guest-hosted the ''Fresh Air'' after that program was in national syndication through NPR. In November 1989, Hansen joined ''Weekend Edition Sunday''. Hansen is the daughter of Edwin Hansen and Lois Hansen. The spelling of Hansen's first name ca ...
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Marsha Norman
Marsha Norman (born September 21, 1947) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. She received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play '' 'night, Mother''. She wrote the book and lyrics for such Broadway musicals as ''The Secret Garden'', for which she won a Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, and '' The Red Shoes'', as well as the libretto for the musical '' The Color Purple'' and the book for the musical '' The Bridges of Madison County''. She was co-chair of the playwriting department at The Juilliard School until stepping down in 2020. Biography Early years Norman was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the oldest of four children of Billie and Bertha Williams. As a child, she read and played the piano. She later began attending productions by the newly founded Actors Theatre of Louisville. She received a bachelor's degree from Agnes Scott College and a master's degree from the University of Louisville. She worked as a j ...
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Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," McNally was the recipient of five Tony Awards. He won the Tony Award for Best Play for ''Love! Valour! Compassion!'' and ''Master Class'' and the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for ''Kiss of the Spider Woman (musical), Kiss of the Spider Woman'' and ''Ragtime (musical), Ragtime,'' and received the 2019 Special Tony Award, Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1996, and he also received the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 and the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2018, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the highest recognition of artistic merit in the United States. His other accolades included an Emmy Award, two Guggenh ...
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Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky (born October 20, 1940) is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. He was the first United States Poet Laureate to serve three terms. Recognized worldwide, Pinsky's work has earned numerous accolades. Pinsky is a professor of English and creative writing in the graduate writing program at Boston University. In 2015 the university named him a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor, the highest honor bestowed on senior faculty members who are actively involved in teaching, research, scholarship, and university civic life. Biography Early life and education Pinsky was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, to Jewish parents, Sylvia (née Eisenberg) and Milford Simon Pinsky, an optician. He attended Long Branch High School. He received a B.A. from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and earned both an M.A. and PhD from Stanford University, where he was a Stegner Fellow in creative writing. He was a student of Francis Fe ...
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