David MitchellBritish author David Mitchell at the Frankfurt Book Fair October 10, 2007. ©Torsten Silz—DDP/AFP/Getty Images(more)Cloud Atlas, novel by David Mitchell, published in 2004. 　　Cloud Atlas is a polyphonic compendium of interlacing but nonlinear parables. Divided into six different accounts spanning several centuries, Mitchell ranges from the journal of a 19th-century American notary to the post-apocalyptic memoir of a...

　　Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, (BDS), decentralized Palestinian-led movement of nonviolent resistance to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. The movement advocates punitive measures against the state of Israel, including boycotts, divestment, and economic sanctions. BDS initiatives demand an end to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights, the granting of full equality to Palestinian...

　　 　　Chris EvertChris Evert is the first tennis player—male or female—to win 1,000 singles matches.(more) From her first professional match at age 15 until her retirement 20 years later, Chris Evert had a tennis career that was nothing short of remarkable. Here are just a few of her accomplishments: 　　55-match winning streak before she turned 21 years old18 Grand Slam...

　　 　　St. Elmo's FireActors (from left) Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Mare Winningham, and Andrew McCarthy in the film St. Elmo's Fire (1985), directed by Joel Schumacher. An interview with Estevez, Lowe, and Nelson shortly before the film's release led to them being dubbed (along with several other actors) “the Brat Pack.”(more)Brat Pack, the name...

　　Cabaret, acclaimed stage musical by composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb that explores the decadence of Berlin during the Weimar Republic amid the rising threat of Nazism. Set in a seedy cabaret called the Kit Kat Klub in 1929–30, the innovative musical tells the story of two doomed romances set against the emergence of anti-Semitism and fascism in Germany....

　　 　　Andrey SakharovAndrey Sakharov, 1978.(more)dissidents in the Soviet Union and Russia, critics of the regimes in the Soviet Union and 21st-century Russia. Intellectuals and artists who criticized the Soviet system were subjected to persecution, imprisonment, or exile. Opponents of the “managed democracy” of Russian leader Vladimir Putin have faced lengthy jail terms and, often, assassination attempts that have met with...

　　Castellammarese War, conflict between the Castellammarese and Masseria organized crime families in New York City from 1930 to 1931 that ultimately led to the reorganization of the Mafia. The Castellammarese family was led by Salvatore Maranzano, who was born in the Sicilian town of Castellammare del Golfo. The Masseria family was led by Giuseppe (Joe) Masseria. 　　During Prohibition, bootlegging was...

　　 　　Freedom Caucus founding memberRepublican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio is one of nine lawmakers who helped found the Freedom Caucus.(more)The Freedom Caucus is a group of lawmakers within the U.S. House of Representatives made up of the most conservative wing of the Republican Party’s congressional members. The caucus, an outgrowth of the 2009 Tea Party movement, represents a shift...

　　 　　Gandhi's Phoenix SettlementSarvodaya, Mahatma Gandhi's home at Phoenix Settlement, near Durban, South Africa.(more)Gandhi’s Phoenix Settlement, the first ashram-like settlement established by Mahatma Gandhi, near Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Gandhi and his family made their home at the settlement from its founding in 1904 until his return to India in 1914. 　　Gandhi studied law in England in his youth before...

　　Capital punishment is legal in some U.S. states and not legal in others. In some states it has been officially or effectively put on hold as a result of gubernatorial actions. The map and table below indicate the legal or effective status, methods, and recent history of capital punishment in each of the 50 U.S. states and the District of...

　　 　　Carl SaganCarl Sagan (1934–96), American astronomer and science writer.(more)Contact, science-fiction novel by Carl Sagan, published in 1985. 　　(Read Carl Sagan’s Britannica entry on extraterrestrial life.) 　　 　　Britannica Quiz Famous Novels, First Lines Quiz Sagan, an astronomer at Cornell University who was inextricably tied to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (the SETI program), was one of the most famous popular...

　　esotericism, a category encompassing a diverse range of religious traditions that are typically included together because of their shared cultural marginality or their focus on imparting teachings to a select group. The concept emerged largely in 19th-century western Europe as a means of categorizing various traditions with a much longer history in European societies, including Hermetism, Kabbala, Rosicrucianism, ceremonial magic,...