Ludwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven, lithograph after an 1819 portrait by Ferdinand Schimon, c. 1870.(more)Beethoven Piano Sonatas, compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven. Although he was far from the first great composer to write multi-movement compositions for solo piano, he was, nonetheless, the first to show how much power and variety of expression could be drawn forth from this single...

　　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...

　　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...

　　Battle of Monte Cassino, battle at Cassino, Italy, during World War II from January 17 to May 18, 1944, between Allied forces and Nazi Germany. It resulted in the destruction of the town and its historic Benedictine monastery. 　　Allied progress up the “boot” of Italy had ground to a halt during the winter of 1943–44, thwarted by the Nazis’ Gustav...

　　After a devastating blow to the Sassanid Persians at Firaz, Muslim Arab forces under the command of Khalid ibn al-Walid took on the army of the Christian Byzantine Empire at Yarmouk near the border of modern-day Syria and Jordan. The Battle of Yarmouk, which began on August 20, 636, was to continue for six days. 　　After the victory at Firaz,...

　　 　　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...

　　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....

　　 　　Blue MosqueBlue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey.(more)Blue Mosque, 17th-century mosque that is one of the most magnificent structures of the Ottoman Empire, set next to the Byzantine Hippodrome and across from the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. Known for having six minarets (rather than the standard four) and for its many domes and semidomes, the building became known as the Blue...

　　 　　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...

　　 　　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...

　　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...