Podhoretz, Norman, 1930-, American editor and essayist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. As editor in chief (1960-95) of Commentary, he turned the Jewish monthly into an influential forum for social criticism and American neoconservatism. He subsequently became a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a think tank. He has written several memoirs, including Making It (1967), which traces his rise to power among New York intellectuals, and Breaking Ranks (1979), which explains his switch from liberalism to neoconservatism. The Norman Podhoretz Reader (2004, ed. by T. L. Jeffers) compiles selections from his writings.
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Norman, Montagu Collet, 1st Baron Norman of St. Clere, 1871-1950, English financier. He was governor of the Bank of England from 1920 to 1944, a tenure of office that broke all tradition. He long favored the gold standard, first supporting its retention and later its return. Norman was raised to the peerage in 1944.
See biographies by Sir Henry Clay (1957) and A. Boyle (1968).
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Norman, Jessye, 1945-, American soprano, b. Augusta, Ga. Making her early reputation in Europe, Norman won the Munich competition in 1968, debuted in Tannhäuser in 1969 with the Berlin Opera, and was a great success as Aïda at Milan's La Scala and London's Covent Garden in 1972. She made her American debut in 1982 as Jocasta in Oedipus Rex and her Metropolitan Opera debut the following year as Cassandra in Les Troyens. A majestic diva and extremely successful recording artist, she is praised for her enormous vocal power, tonal warmth, and clarity of diction. One of the most acclaimed musical artists of the late 20th cent., Norman commands a broad operatic repertoire and also frequently performs concerts of lieder, spirituals, oratorios, and a variety of other works.
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Norman, Greg (Gregory John Norman), 1955-, Australian golfer, b. Mt. Isa, Queensland. Noted for his power, the "White Shark," a professional since 1976, is tremendously popular with the gallery. Although he has won dozens of tournaments, the 1986 and 1993 British Opens are his only major victories, and he is famous for losing leads in the final round, most notably in the 1996 Masters. Norman won the 1994 Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average on the Professional Golfers Association tour. In 1995 he became the PGA's leading career money winner.
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Norman architecture, term applied to the buildings erected by the Normans in all lands that fell under their dominion. It is used not only in England and N France, but also in S Italy (Apulia) and in Sicily. The Norman buildings in England and France were largely Romanesque, chiefly based upon the
Romanesque architecture of Lombardy in Italy. Churches, abbeys, and castles, the principal works, showed massive proportions, sparsely adorned masonry, and a frequent use of the round arch. The development of the style was confined chiefly to the period from 1066 to 1154, a period of tremendous building activity. Arising in Normandy, the style was quickly introduced into England, superseding the Saxon. It first appeared at Westminster Abbey, where only the foundations remain. In England and Normandy there was a closely parallel development. The great French works include the ruined abbey of Jumièges, near Rouen, the beginnings of the great fortified abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel, and the two abbeys at Caen that were founded by William the Conqueror, all belonging to the middle and late 11th cent. The greatest activity, however, was in England, where after 1070 the Normans built hundreds of parish churches and commenced most of the great cathedrals. All underwent later restorations; the only intact early Norman design is the small St. John's Chapel (c.1087), built by William the Conqueror, in the Tower of London. In both England and Normandy church plans were cruciform. Over the crossing of nave and transepts was a prominent square tower, one of the most effective Norman features. Blind arcades, sometimes with interlacing arches, were the common adornment for walls. Moldings carved with the beakhead, zigzag, or chevron, or alternating lozenges are especially identified with the style. Increased skill and the adoption of the chisel resulted in grotesque sculptured animal forms and in the sculptured reliefs of the tympanums over doorways. Certain elements of Anglo-Norman construction pointed toward the development of
Gothic architecture. Whereas in early Norman buildings wooden roofs prevailed, the cathedral at Durham (commenced 1093) was the first to employ a ribbed vault system with pointed arches (the nave was finished c.1133). Other great English cathedrals tended away from the early massiveness of wall construction and showed an increasing verticality, including those at Winchester (begun 1079), Ely (1083-1109), and Peterborough (begun 1118). The austere grandeur of the English and French Norman style was modified in S Italy and especially in Sicily by the mingling of Byzantine and Arabic elements.
See A. W. Clapham, English Romanesque Architecture after the Conquest (Vol. II, 1934); D. F. Renn, Norman Castles in Britain (1970).
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Norman Wells, village (1991 pop. 627), Northwest Territories, Canada, on the Mackenzie River, W of Great Bear Lake. It is the center of an oil region. In 1985 a pipeline to the south was completed.
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Norman Isles, Great Britain: see
Channel Islands.
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Norman Conquest, period in English history following the defeat (1066) of King
Harold of England by William, duke of Normandy, who became
William I of England. The conquest was formerly thought to have brought about broad changes in all phases of English life. More recently historians have stressed the continuity of English law, institutions, and customs, but the subject remains one of controversy. The initial military conquest of England was quick and brutal. The members of the Anglo-Saxon upper class who were not killed in the battle of Hastings were almost all involved in the rebellion from 1068 to 1070 and were either killed or deprived of their lands. Thus a Norman aristocracy was superimposed on the English, and the new elite brought with it Norman feudal customs (see
feudalism), which were reinforced by the need for cohesion and mutual military support among the fairly small group of conquerors. Thus the rebellions among the Norman barons were minor and short-lived, the interests of stability being paramount. To consolidate his position William used the existing Anglo-Saxon administrative system, which functioned as part of a centralized monarchical tradition. It was this tradition, as adapted by the Normans, that gave English feudalism its uniquely cohesive nature. There was little change in the administrative and judicial systems during the Norman period (usually defined as ending with the accession of the Plantagenet Henry II in 1154) and later developments were not in the nature of Norman superimpositions. William I's archbishop of Canterbury,
Lanfranc, established a separate system of canon law courts, effectively asserted the supremacy of his archdiocese, and brought the English church into closer contact with developments in Europe, particularly with the reforms of Pope Gregory VII. The Norman kings, however, successfully resisted papal encroachment on their control over episcopal appointments. The period saw many churches and castles built, the latter chiefly on the south and east coasts and on the Welsh and Scottish borders (see
Norman architecture). Norman French became the language of the court and upper classes, and of literature, and had great effect on the development of the
English language.
See D. J. A. Matthew, The Norman Conquest (1966); D. C. Douglas, The Norman Achievement, 1050-1100 (1969); F. M. Stenton, The First Century of English Feudalism, 1066-1166 (2d ed. 1961) and Anglo-Saxon England (3d ed. 1971); J. LePatourel, Feudal Empires: Norman and Plantagenet (1984).
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Norman, city (1990 pop. 80,071), seat of Cleveland co., central Okla.; inc. 1891. It is the center of a livestock region. Oil wells, food processing, and printing and publishing contribute to the economy, and there is diverse manufacturing (machinery, communication equipment, nutritional products, and consumer goods). Norman is the seat of the Univ. of Oklahoma. The city's population grew considerably in the late 20th cent.
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Mineta, Norman Yoshio, 1931-, American government official, the first Asian American to be appointed to a cabinet post, b. San Jose, Calif. Of Japanese descent, he and his family were interned in a Wyoming "relocation camp" during World War II. A Democrat, Mineta was involved in local San Jose politics until his election (1974) to Congress. He chaired (1993-95) the Public Works and Transportation Committee and sponsored legislation (1988) to compensate to Japanese Americans interned during the war. He served until 1995, when he retired and became a business executive. In 2000, Mineta reentered government service as secretary of commerce, a post he held for six months (until the end of President Clinton's term). When George W. Bush became president (2001) he appointed Mineta secretary of transportation (2001-6).
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Manley, Norman Washington, 1893-1969, prime minister of Jamaica (1959-62); father of Michael
Manley. Of Irish and African descent, he was educated at Oxford and became an internationally known lawyer. He founded the moderately socialist People's National party in 1938, and, with his cousin, Alexander Bustamante, dominated Jamaican politics for several decades. He served as chief minister of Jamaica (1955-59) before being designated prime minister. He pushed land reform and encouraged economic growth, especially in the bauxite and tourist industries. He was the architect of the short-lived West Indies Federation (1958-62; see under
West Indies).
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Manley, Norman Washington, 1893-1969, prime minister of Jamaica (1959-62); father of Michael
Manley. Of Irish and African descent, he was educated at Oxford and became an internationally known lawyer. He founded the moderately socialist People's National party in 1938, and, with his cousin, Alexander Bustamante, dominated Jamaican politics for several decades. He served as chief minister of Jamaica (1955-59) before being designated prime minister. He pushed land reform and encouraged economic growth, especially in the bauxite and tourist industries. He was the architect of the short-lived West Indies Federation (1958-62; see under
West Indies).
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Manley, Michael Norman, 1924-97, prime minister of Jamaica (1972-80, 1989-92); son of Norman
Manley. A leader of the socialist People's National party, he was first elected to parliament in 1967. Winning a landslide victory in 1972, he shifted Jamaican politics to the left, establishing close relations to Cuba, nationalizing industry, and denouncing U.S. imperialism. He was reelected in 1976, but in 1980 lost to conservative Edward
Seaga. Manley was returned to power in 1989, this time leading a more moderate government and encouraging foreign investment. Following serious illness, he resigned in 1992.
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Manley, Michael Norman, 1924-97, prime minister of Jamaica (1972-80, 1989-92); son of Norman
Manley. A leader of the socialist People's National party, he was first elected to parliament in 1967. Winning a landslide victory in 1972, he shifted Jamaican politics to the left, establishing close relations to Cuba, nationalizing industry, and denouncing U.S. imperialism. He was reelected in 1976, but in 1980 lost to conservative Edward
Seaga. Manley was returned to power in 1989, this time leading a more moderate government and encouraging foreign investment. Following serious illness, he resigned in 1992.
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Mailer, Norman (Norman Kingsley Mailer), 1923-2007, American writer, b. Long Branch, N.J., grad. Harvard, 1943. He grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., served in the army during World War II, and at the age of 25 published
The Naked and the Dead (1948). A partially autobiographical bestseller, it was one of the most significant novels to emerge from the war and it catapulted Mailer to literary fame. His next two novels,
Barbary Shore (1951) and
The Deer Park (1955), were generally considered failures. More successful was
An American Dream (1966), an exploration of sex, violence, and death in America—themes that Mailer was to revisit throughout his career—through the experiences of his semiautobiographical protagonist.
Mailer, who tended to view himself and his fictional protagonists in a heroic mode, was very much a public figure—pugnacious, self-promoting, and articulate, with a distinctive candid charm. He made frequent appearances at public events, in forums, and on television talk shows, making a variety of often controversial public pronouncements—aesthetic, philosophical, and political. In 1955 Mailer was one of the founders of The Village Voice newspaper, and in 1961 he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City.
The Armies of the Night (1968; Pulitzer Prize), a dramatic account of the 1967 anti-Vietnam War march on Washington, D.C., is one of the earliest works to make use of the personalized style that came to be called "new journalism" and is one of Mailer's most significant books. In it and in later books and essays, he pioneered the usage of novelistic techniques in nonfiction works. Among his other journalistic works are Miami and the Siege of Chicago (1969), on the 1968 Republican and Democratic conventions; A Fire on the Moon (1971), an account of the Apollo 11 moon flight; and the brilliantly novelistic The Executioner's Song (1979, Pulitzer Prize), the epic story of the life and execution of killer Gary Gilmore, a book that many consider his masterpiece. The Prisoner of Sex (1971) is Mailer's generally oppositional response to the women's liberation movement. He also wrote "interpretive biographies," Oswald's Tale (1995), a study of the life of President Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man (1995), on the youth of Pablo Picasso.
Mailer's later novels tend to be long and intricate, and they met with decidedly mixed reviews: Ancient Evenings (1983), which Mailer considered his best book, is set in pharaonic Egypt; Harlot's Ghost (1991) is a complex cold-war spy novel; and The Castle in the Forest (2007) is a fictional exploration of the boyhood of Adolf Hitler. A shorter detective novel, Tough Guys Don't Dance (1984), was made into a film in 1985. He also wrote, directed, and acted in several movies, e.g., Maidstone (1970). Among his other works are the nonfiction The White Negro (1958), Advertisements for Myself (1959), and Marilyn (1973), a study of Marilyn Monroe.
See the large retrospective anthology of his work, The Time of Our Time (1998), and anthology of his writings on writing, The Spooky Art (2003); biographies by H. Mills (1982), P. Manso (1986), C. Rollyson (1991), and M. V. Dearborn (1999); J. M. Lennon, ed., Pontifications: Interviews (1982) and Conversations with Norman Mailer (1988); studies by B. H. Leeds (1969, 2002), L. Braudy, ed. (1972), R. Poirier (1972), J. Radford (1975), R. Merrill (1978, 1992), S. Cohen (1979), J. M. Lennon, ed. (1986), H. Bloom, ed. (1986, repr. 2003), J. Wenke (1987), N. Leigh (1990), M. K. Glenday (1995), B. H. Leeds (2002); bibliography by B. Sokoloff (1985).
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Macleod, Norman, 1812-72, Scottish clergyman. He was one of the foremost preachers of his time and was also noted for his work among the poor of Glasgow. He was editor (1860-72) of
Good Words, to which he contributed many stories. His works include
Eastward (1866) and
Reminiscences of a Highland Parish (1867).
See the memoir (1876) by his brother, D. Macleod.
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Lockyer, Sir Joseph Norman, 1836-1920, English astronomer, educated on the Continent. One of the first to make a spectroscopic examination of the sun and stars, he devised (1868), independently of P. J. C. Janssen, a method of observing solar prominences with the spectroscope in daylight. In the same year he discovered the element helium in the sun and applied the name chromosphere to the layer, or envelope, of gas around the sun. He was elected to fellowship in the Royal Society (1869) and served as professor of astronomical physics of the newly founded Royal College of Science and director of the Solar Physics Observatory (1890-1913). Between 1870 and 1905 he headed eight government expeditions to observe total eclipses of the sun. He was knighted in 1897. His works include
Studies in Spectrum Analysis (1872),
Contributions to Solar Physics (1874),
The Chemistry of the Sun (1887), and
The Sun's Place in Nature (1897).
See biography by A. J. Meadows (1972).
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Lindsay, Norman, 1879-1969, Australian cartoonist. Born into an eminent family of Australian artists, Lindsay became chief cartoonist of the Sydney Bulletin in 1901. His vigorous illustrations include watercolors, lithographs, and etchings. His drawings have been collected in several volumes.
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Lane, Ralph Norman Angell: see
Angell, Sir Norman.
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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 (1964) of the Labor party. In the Nov., 1972, elections Kirk's party gained a parliamentary majority and he assumed the posts of prime minister and foreign minister. He was a supporter of increased social security, housing, and welfare benefits.
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Hudson, Henry Norman, 1814-86, American essayist, b. Cornwall, Vt., grad. Middlebury College, 1840. During the Civil War he served as chaplain with Gen. B. F. Butler. He later arraigned Butler in A Chaplain's Campaigns with General Butler (1865). Hudson was also a noted Shakespearean scholar and literary critic.
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Geddes, Norman Bel: see
Bel Geddes, Norman.
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Foster, Norman Robert, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, 1935-, British architect, b. Manchester, grad. Manchester Univ. school of architecture (1961), Yale school of architecture (M.A., 1962). Foster and three other architects formed the influential Team 4, working from 1963 to 1967, when he established his own firm. Noted for the elegant and graceful modernism of his many commissions, he also pays sharp attention to detailing. Foster finds expressive power in a wide variety of cutting-edge technologies, fitting each building to its site, street, or landscape and often taking into account various ecological factors. He first won acclaim for his 1964 "Cockpit," a minimalist glass bubble partially dug into the earth in Cornwall. Highlights of his early architectural output include the world's first inflatable office building (1970), the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, England (1977), and the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Hong Kong (1985), an innovative skyscraper filled with natural light and lifted on columns above a public plaza.
Among the prolific Foster's later works are the Stansted Airport, London, with its lightweight "floating roof" (1991); Carré d'Art, Nǐmes, France (1993); the Joslyn Art Museum annex, Omaha, Nebr. (1994); the 60-story triangular Commerzbank, Frankfurt, Germany (1997), the world's first ecological high-rise with a building-height atrium core and nine tall sky gardens; the vast skylight-roofed Lap Kok Airport, Hong Kong (1998); and the renovation of Berlin's Reichstag (1999), with its glass dome and suspended interior spiral ramp. Foster has reshaped London's 21st-century skyline with such projects as the new city hall (2001), an inventive leaning sphere of glass and tubular steel also fitted with a curling interior ramp, and the Swiss Re tower (2004), a 40-story elongated oval nicknamed the Gherkin, sheathed in spirals of glass and featuring interior gardens on each level. Among his other 21st-century works are the Millau bridge (2004) over the River Tarn in France's Massif Central, the world's tallest road bridge, and the Hearst Tower, New York City (2006), a shimmering skyscraper sheathed in glass and diamond-gridded stainless steel built atop the company's original 1928 stone structure. Foster was knighted in 1990, and honored with a life peerage and awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1999.
See W. Blaser, ed., Norman Foster Sketch Book (1993); D. Jenkins, On Foster—Foster On (2000); studies by D. Sudjic (1986), D. Treiber (1995), P. Jodidio (1997), M. Quantrill (1998), and M. Pawley (1999).
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Douglas, Norman (George Norman Douglas), 1868-1952, British novelist and essayist, b. Scotland. He spent the years from 1894 to 1896 in diplomatic service in Russia but resigned from the foreign service in 1896. His masterpiece,
South Wind (1917), which is set on Nepenthe, an invented Mediterranean island much like Capri, satirizes everything from colonial history to conventional morality. Other works include
Old Calabria (1915),
In the Beginning (1927), and
Good-bye to Western Culture (1930). Written in a witty, conversational style, all Douglas's works reveal his erudition and his genuine appreciation of the Mediterranean area.
See biography by N. Cunard (1954); studies by R. M. Dawkins (1952) and R. D. Lindeman (1965).
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Cousins, Norman, 1915-90, American editor and author, b. Union City, N.J. He was (1934-35) a newspaper editorial writer and historical magazine editor (1935-40) before beginning his long association with the Saturday Review magazine. Under his direction (1942-71; 1973-77) it expanded from a literary magazine to a review of all aspects of contemporary life. Cousins was an advocate of various liberal causes, particularly of nuclear disarmament, which he promoted as a writer and a citizen-activist. His books include Modern Man Is Obsolete (1945), Who Speaks for Man? (1953), and Present Tense (1967). After his successful battle with a life-threatening illness, he became convinced of the value of positive attitudes and behaviors on human healing. He dealt with this subjects in such books as Anatomy of an Illness (1979), The Healing Heart (1983), and Head First: The Biology of Hope (1989).
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Colman, Norman Jay, 1827-1911, American agriculturist and lawyer, b. near Richfield Springs, N.Y., grad. Univ. of Louisville law school, 1851. He promoted the passage of the Hatch Act (1887), which authorized the creation of agricultural experiment stations. As commissioner of agriculture (1885-89) he was influential in causing the Dept. of Agriculture to be made an executive department (1889) represented in the cabinet; he was the first Secretary of Agriculture.
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Brown, Norman Oliver, 1913-2002, American scholar, philosopher, and social critic, b. El Oro, Mexico; grad. Oxford (1936), Univ. of Wisconsin (Ph.D.). A classicist much influenced by
Freud, Brown thought that the degree to which sexuality was repressed in America led not only to the stifling of instincts but also to a perversion of human drives from life and art to money and death. In his writings he mingled such elements as Freudian psychology and Marxism, religious documents and literary works in order to arrive at new insights. His works include
Life against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History (1959),
Love's Body (1966),
Hermes the Thief (1969),
Closing Time (1973), and
Apocalypse and/or Metamorphosis (1991).
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Borlaug, Norman Ernest, 1914-, U.S. agronomist, b. Cresco, Iowa, grad. Univ. of Minn. (Ph.D., 1942). He worked as researcher with the E. I. du Pont Company until 1944, when he joined the Rockefeller Foundation in Mexico. He became a director at the Foundation and headed a team of scientists from 17 nations experimenting with improvement of grains. In 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to eradicate hunger and build international prosperity. His "green revolution," which involves the use of improved wheat seed, new types of higher-yield rice, and more efficient use of fertilizer and water, has provided larger food crops in many of the less-developed countries of the Middle East and Latin America. Borlaug is credited with Mexico's self-sufficiency in wheat production. He founded (1986) the World Food Prize to recognize contributions to fields involved in the world food supply. Borlaug has taught at Texas A&M Univ. since 1984.
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Bel Geddes, Norman, 1893-1958, American designer, b. Adrian, Mich. as Norman Melancton Geddes. He began his career in 1918 as scene designer for the Metropolitan Opera. He became known for imaginative designs both for the New York stage and for numerous industrial products. Geddes also designed several theaters and other buildings in the United States and abroad.
See his posthumous Miracle in the Evening (1960).
His daughter, Barbara Bel Geddes, 1922-2005, b. New York City, an actress, created the role of Maggie the Cat in Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) and the title role in Jean Kerr's Mary, Mary (1961). Her film work included Elia Kazan's Panic in the Streets (1950) and Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). She also had a leading role in the 1970s and 80s in the television series Dallas.
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Anglo-Norman literature, body of literature written in England, in the French dialect known as Anglo-Norman, from c.1100 to c.1250. Initiated at the court of Henry I, it was supported by the wealthy, French-speaking aristocracy who controlled England after the Norman conquest. The dominant literary forms were histories, sacred and secular biographies, and homilies; romance and fiction were relatively scarce. Perhaps the most important historian was Geoffrey Gaimer, whose two-part history of England,
Histoire des Bretons and
Estorie des Engles, was written in verse. Philippe of Thaün, the earliest known Anglo-Norman poet, was noted for the moral allegory the
Bestiaire. Of secular works, Thomas's
Tristan (c.1170) is notable both artistically and as an early source for the Tristram and Isolde legend.
See M. D. Legge, Anglo-Norman Literature and Its Background (1963).
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Angell, Sir Norman, 1872?-1967, British internationalist and economist, whose name originally was Ralph Norman Angell Lane. He came to fame with
The Great Illusion (1910, rev. ed. 1933), in which he posited that the common economic interests of nations make war futile. At the close of World War I he worked for a generous peace and international cooperation. In
Peace with the Dictators? (1938) he attacked the British Conservative party's policy of condoning Japanese and Italian aggression. After World War II he urged unity among the Western democracies in such works as
Defence and the English-speaking Role (1958). Knighted in 1931, Norman Angell was awarded the 1933 Nobel Peace Prize.
See his autobiography (1951).
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(born Aug. 21, 1936, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died Oct. 12, 1999, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. basketball player, one of the greatest offensive players in basketball history. The 7-ft 1-in. (2.16-m) Chamberlain played two years (1956–58) for the University of Kansas. “Wilt the Stilt” later played centre for the Philadelphia (later Golden State) Warriors (1959–65), the Philadelphia 76ers (1965–68), and the Los Angeles Lakers (1968–73). In the 1961–62 season he became the first player to score more than 4,000 points in regular-season NBA games, including a record 100 points in a single game (1962). He led the NBA in scoring seven consecutive years (1959–65) and in rebounding 11 times. He ranks first in career rebounds (23,924) and career rebounding average (22.9 per game).
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(born Nov. 20, 1884, Marion, Ohio, U.S.—died Dec. 19, 1968, Huntington, N.Y.) U.S. social reformer and politician. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister and became pastor of New York's East Harlem Church. He joined the Socialist Party in 1918 and left his parish post to become secretary of the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. He helped found the American Civil Liberties Union and served as codirector of the League for Industrial Democracy (1922–37). He was the Socialist Party's candidate for governor (1924), for mayor of New York (1925, 1929), and for U.S. president (1928–48), and he headed the party from 1926. After World War II, as chairman of the Postwar World Council, he campaigned for nuclear disarmament.
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(born Aug. 22, 1934, Trenton, N.J., U.S.) U.S. army commander. The son of a brigadier general, he graduated from West Point and fought in the Vietnam War (1965–66, 1969–70). After various other assignments, he was promoted to major general (1983) and commanded forces in the invasion of Grenada. In 1988 he became a four-star general and commander of the U.S. Central Command, which included operations in the Middle East. Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, he directed the buildup of 700,000 U.S. and allied troops in Saudi Arabia and commanded the successful Desert Storm operations in the Persian Gulf War (1991), after which he retired from active service.
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(born Feb. 3, 1894, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Nov. 8, 1978, Stockbridge, Mass.) U.S. illustrator. He studied at the Art Students League and received his first freelance assignment at 17. From 1916 to 1963 he produced 317 covers for The Saturday Evening Post. Most of his works are humorous treatments of idealized small-town and family life. During World War II, posters of his Four Freedoms were distributed by the Office of War Information. Though loved by the public, Rockwell's work was often dismissed by critics. Late in his career, he turned to more serious subjects (e.g., a series on racism for Look magazine) and began to receive more serious attention, and in the 1990s his critical reputation enjoyed a positive reassessment.
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(born Sept. 15, 1945, Augusta, Ga., U.S.) U.S. soprano. She won the Munich International Music Competition in 1968 and debuted in Berlin as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser (1969). She appeared at La Scala, Milan, in 1972 and made recital debuts in London and New York City the next year. Having garnered extraordinary praise for years, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Les Troyens in 1983, confirming her reputation as perhaps the greatest soprano of her generation. An imposing stage presence with a vibrant and flexible voice, her operatic and concert repertoire encompasses an exceptionally wide range.
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(born Feb. 3, 1894, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Nov. 8, 1978, Stockbridge, Mass.) U.S. illustrator. He studied at the Art Students League and received his first freelance assignment at 17. From 1916 to 1963 he produced 317 covers for The Saturday Evening Post. Most of his works are humorous treatments of idealized small-town and family life. During World War II, posters of his Four Freedoms were distributed by the Office of War Information. Though loved by the public, Rockwell's work was often dismissed by critics. Late in his career, he turned to more serious subjects (e.g., a series on racism for Look magazine) and began to receive more serious attention, and in the 1990s his critical reputation enjoyed a positive reassessment.
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(born Nov. 20, 1884, Marion, Ohio, U.S.—died Dec. 19, 1968, Huntington, N.Y.) U.S. social reformer and politician. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister and became pastor of New York's East Harlem Church. He joined the Socialist Party in 1918 and left his parish post to become secretary of the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. He helped found the American Civil Liberties Union and served as codirector of the League for Industrial Democracy (1922–37). He was the Socialist Party's candidate for governor (1924), for mayor of New York (1925, 1929), and for U.S. president (1928–48), and he headed the party from 1926. After World War II, as chairman of the Postwar World Council, he campaigned for nuclear disarmament.
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Mailer, 1968
(born Jan. 31, 1923, Long Branch, N.J., U.S.—died Nov. 10, 2007, New York, N.Y.) U.S. novelist. He studied at Harvard University. He drew on his wartime service in the Pacific for his novel
The Naked and the Dead (1948), which established him as one of the major American writers of the post-World War II decades. A flamboyant and controversial figure who enjoyed antagonizing critics and readers, he became best known for journalistic works that convey actual events with the richness of novels, an approach known as New Journalism; these works include
The Armies of the Night (1968, Pulitzer Prize),
Miami and the Siege of Chicago (1968),
Of a Fire on the Moon (1970), and
The Executioner's Song (1979, Pulitzer Prize). His novels include
An American Dream (1965);
Harlot's Ghost (1991), about the Central Intelligence Agency; and
The Castle in the Forest (2007), about Adolf Hitler.
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(born March 25, 1914, Cresco, Iowa, U.S.) U.S. agricultural scientist and plant pathologist. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. As a researcher with the Rockefeller Foundation in Mexico (1944–60), he developed strains of grain that tripled Mexican wheat production. Later his dwarf wheats raised harvests in Pakistan and India by 60percnt, ending the food shortages that had plagued the subcontinent in the 1960s. For helping lay the groundwork of the Green Revolution, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1970. Afterward he worked on improving crop yields in Africa and taught at Texas A&M University.
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(1066) Military conquest of England by William, duke of Normandy (later William I), mainly through his victory over Harold II at the Battle of Hastings. Edward the Confessor had designated William as his successor in 1051. When Harold, duke of Wessex, was crowned king of England in 1066 instead, William assembled an invasion force of 5,000 knights. After defeating Harold's army near Hastings on October 14 and advancing to London, he was crowned king in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066. Native revolts continued until 1071, notably in Northumbria. The Norman Conquest brought great social and political changes to England, linking the country more closely with western Europe and replacing the old English aristocracy with a Norman aristocracy. The English language was subjected to a long period of influence by Anglo-French, which remained in literary and courtly use until the reign of Edward III and in legal reporting until the 17th century.
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Any of the Vikings, or Norsemen, who settled in northern France (or the Frankish kingdom) and their descendants. As pagan pirates from Denmark, Norway, and Iceland, they raided the European coast in the 8th century. They settled in the lower Seine valley by circa 900. In 911 they were granted territory around what is now Rouen by King Charles III and then extended their territory westward. They founded the duchy of Normandy, governed by a line of rulers who called themselves counts or dukes of Normandy. Though the Normans converted to Christianity and adopted the French language, they continued to display their Viking ancestors' recklessness and appetite for conquest. In the 11th century they seized England in the Norman Conquest and colonized southern Italy and Sicily. The Normans also participated in the reconquest of Spain and in the Crusades, and the Normans of Italy and Sicily were rivals of the Byzantine emperors.
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(born Dec. 10, 1924, St. Andrew, Jam.—died March 6, 1997, Kingston) Jamaican political leader. Son of a prime minister of Jamaica and a sculptor, Manley was a leader of the People's National Party and the National Worker's Union before becoming prime minister in 1972. His leftist government made significant improvements in housing, education, and health care, but a dramatic rise in oil prices precipitated an economic crisis. Much of the middle class fled the country, unemployment rose to 30percnt, and violence broke out in the run-up to the 1980 election, in which he was defeated. He was reelected in 1989, this time as a moderate; he stepped down in 1992 for health reasons.
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(born Dec. 10, 1924, St. Andrew, Jam.—died March 6, 1997, Kingston) Jamaican political leader. Son of a prime minister of Jamaica and a sculptor, Manley was a leader of the People's National Party and the National Worker's Union before becoming prime minister in 1972. His leftist government made significant improvements in housing, education, and health care, but a dramatic rise in oil prices precipitated an economic crisis. Much of the middle class fled the country, unemployment rose to 30percnt, and violence broke out in the run-up to the 1980 election, in which he was defeated. He was reelected in 1989, this time as a moderate; he stepped down in 1992 for health reasons.
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Mailer, 1968
(born Jan. 31, 1923, Long Branch, N.J., U.S.—died Nov. 10, 2007, New York, N.Y.) U.S. novelist. He studied at Harvard University. He drew on his wartime service in the Pacific for his novel
The Naked and the Dead (1948), which established him as one of the major American writers of the post-World War II decades. A flamboyant and controversial figure who enjoyed antagonizing critics and readers, he became best known for journalistic works that convey actual events with the richness of novels, an approach known as New Journalism; these works include
The Armies of the Night (1968, Pulitzer Prize),
Miami and the Siege of Chicago (1968),
Of a Fire on the Moon (1970), and
The Executioner's Song (1979, Pulitzer Prize). His novels include
An American Dream (1965);
Harlot's Ghost (1991), about the Central Intelligence Agency; and
The Castle in the Forest (2007), about Adolf Hitler.
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
(born Sept. 15, 1945, Augusta, Ga., U.S.) U.S. soprano. She won the Munich International Music Competition in 1968 and debuted in Berlin as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser (1969). She appeared at La Scala, Milan, in 1972 and made recital debuts in London and New York City the next year. Having garnered extraordinary praise for years, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Les Troyens in 1983, confirming her reputation as perhaps the greatest soprano of her generation. An imposing stage presence with a vibrant and flexible voice, her operatic and concert repertoire encompasses an exceptionally wide range.
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(born Aug. 22, 1934, Trenton, N.J., U.S.) U.S. army commander. The son of a brigadier general, he graduated from West Point and fought in the Vietnam War (1965–66, 1969–70). After various other assignments, he was promoted to major general (1983) and commanded forces in the invasion of Grenada. In 1988 he became a four-star general and commander of the U.S. Central Command, which included operations in the Middle East. Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, he directed the buildup of 700,000 U.S. and allied troops in Saudi Arabia and commanded the successful Desert Storm operations in the Persian Gulf War (1991), after which he retired from active service.
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(born Aug. 21, 1936, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died Oct. 12, 1999, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. basketball player, one of the greatest offensive players in basketball history. The 7-ft 1-in. (2.16-m) Chamberlain played two years (1956–58) for the University of Kansas. “Wilt the Stilt” later played centre for the Philadelphia (later Golden State) Warriors (1959–65), the Philadelphia 76ers (1965–68), and the Los Angeles Lakers (1968–73). In the 1961–62 season he became the first player to score more than 4,000 points in regular-season NBA games, including a record 100 points in a single game (1962). He led the NBA in scoring seven consecutive years (1959–65) and in rebounding 11 times. He ranks first in career rebounds (23,924) and career rebounding average (22.9 per game).
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(born March 25, 1914, Cresco, Iowa, U.S.) U.S. agricultural scientist and plant pathologist. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. As a researcher with the Rockefeller Foundation in Mexico (1944–60), he developed strains of grain that tripled Mexican wheat production. Later his dwarf wheats raised harvests in Pakistan and India by 60percnt, ending the food shortages that had plagued the subcontinent in the 1960s. For helping lay the groundwork of the Green Revolution, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1970. Afterward he worked on improving crop yields in Africa and taught at Texas A&M University.
Learn more about Borlaug, Norman (Ernest) with a free trial on Britannica.com.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.