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Mafia

(Encyclopedia)Mafia mäˈfēä [key], name given to a number of organized groups of Sicilian brigands in the 19th and 20th cent. Unlike the Camorra in Naples, the Mafia had no hierarchic organization; each group op...

Shiloh, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Shiloh, battle of, Apr. 6–7, 1862, one of the great battles of the American Civil War. The battle took its name from Shiloh Church, a meetinghouse c.3 mi (5 km) SSW of Pittsburg Landing, which was a...

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York

(Encyclopedia)Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, nondenominational, coeducational Christian seminary; opened 1836, chartered 1839. Originally Presbyterian, Union Theological Seminary has been free ...

Rawlins, John Aaron

(Encyclopedia)Rawlins, John Aaron, 1831–69, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Galena, Ill. Admitted to the bar in 1854, he practiced law in Galena. In 1861 he joined the Union army at the request of his...

Fort Henry, in United States history

(Encyclopedia)Fort Henry, Confederate fortification on the Tennessee River, S of the Ky.-Tenn. line; site of the first major Union victory of the Civil War (Feb. 6, 1862). The fort was attacked and reduced by Union...

Balls Bluff

(Encyclopedia)Balls Bluff, hill on the south bank of the Potomac River, near Leesburg, Va. In the Civil War, Union troops who had crossed the river were severely repulsed there on Oct. 21, 1861. Dissatisfaction wit...

Kirk, Norman Eric

(Encyclopedia)Kirk, Norman Eric, 1923–74, New Zealand political leader. A Labour party member, he rose in New Zealand politics, entering Parliament in 1957, and becoming vice president (1963) and then president (...

white-collar crime

(Encyclopedia)white-collar crime, term coined by Edward Sutherland for nonviolent crimes committed by corporations or individuals such as office workers or sales personnel (see white-collar workers) in the course o...

tax exemption

(Encyclopedia)tax exemption, immunity from the requirement of paying taxes. Federal, state, and usually local law provide exemption from taxation for a wide variety of organizations, usually not-for-profit, such as...

São João de Meriti

(Encyclopedia)São João de Meriti souN zhwouN ᵺĭ mərēˈtĭ, də mĭrētēˈ [key], city (1990 est. pop. 508,200), Rio de Janeiro state, SE Brazil, a residential suburb northwest of the city of Rio de Janeiro....
 

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