• lesser scaup (bird)

    pochard: …the wing tip; in the lesser scaup (A. affinis), the wing stripe is about half as long. Scaups gather in huge flocks offshore in winter and dive for shellfish (hence scaup, from scallop).

  • lesser sheathbill (bird)

    sheathbill: The lesser sheathbill (C. minor) is black-billed and is about 38 cm (15 inches) long.

  • lesser sign (Christian ritual)

    sign of the cross: …to right, and (2) the lesser sign, made with the thumb alone on the forehead, lips, and breast. In the mass, the former is used when the priest blesses the congregation with the Trinitarian invocation “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”…

  • lesser siren (amphibian)

    siren: The lesser siren (S. intermedia) is about 18–65 cm (7.1–25.6 inches) long and is found from South Carolina to Texas and in the Mississippi River valley northward to Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin. The reticulated siren (S. reticulata) is roughly 61 cm (24 inches) long and is…

  • Lesser Slave Lake (lake, Canada)

    Lesser Slave Lake, lake in central Alberta, Canada, 130 miles (209 km) northwest of Edmonton and 400 miles (640 km) south of Great Slave Lake (in the Northwest Territories). It is 60 miles (97 km) long by 12 miles (19 km) wide and has an area of 451 square miles (1,168 square km). Fed by many small

  • lesser snow goose (bird)

    snow goose: The lesser snow goose (Chen caerulescens caerulescens) breeds in the Arctic and usually migrates to California and Japan. The greater snow goose (C.c. atlantica) breeds in northwestern Greenland and nearby islands and winters on the east coast of the United States from Chesapeake Bay to North…

  • lesser spoonbill (bird)

    spoonbill: alba); the lesser spoonbill (P. minor) of eastern Asia; and two Australian species, the royal, or black-billed, spoonbill (P. regia), and the yellow-billed, or yellow-legged, spoonbill (P. flavipes).

  • lesser Sulawesian shrew rat (rodent)

    shrew rat: Natural history: …earthworms at night, and the lesser Sulawesian shrew rat (Melasmothrix naso) exploits the same resource during the day.

  • Lesser Sunda Islands (islands, Indonesia)

    Asia: Southeast Asia: Java, and the Lesser Sunda Islands—consist of fragments of Alpine folds that constitute a complex assemblage of rock types of different ages. Vigorous Cenozoic volcanic activity, continuing up to the present, has formed volcanic mountains, and their steady erosion has filled the adjacent alluvial lowlands with sediment.

  • Lesser Tunb (island, Persian Gulf)

    Ras al-Khaimah: …small islands of Greater and Lesser Ṭunb (Ṭunb al-Kubrā and Ṭunb al-Ṣughrā), in the gulf about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Ras al-Khaimah town; these islands had long been claimed by both Ras al-Khaimah and Iran. On November 30, 1971, Iranian troops landed on Greater Ṭunb and met armed…

  • lesser twayblade (plant)

    twayblade: The lesser twayblade (N. cordata), also widespread in Eurasia, has heart-shaped leaves.

  • Lesser Vehicle (Buddhism)

    Hīnayāna, the more orthodox, conservative schools of Buddhism; the name Hīnayāna was applied to these schools by the followers of the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition in ancient India. The name reflected the Mahāyānists’ evaluation of their own tradition as a superior method, surpassing the others in

  • lesser waxmoth (insect)

    beekeeping: Pests: The larvae of the lesser wax moth, Achroia grisella, cause damage to stored combs similar to that of the greater wax moth. The Mediterranean flour moth larva, Anagasta kuehniella, feeds on pollen in the combs and causes some damage. Control for both of these moths is the same as…

  • lesser weever (fish)

    weever: …species include the greater and lesser weevers (Trachinus draco and T. vipera), of both Europe and the Mediterranean.

  • lesser whitethroat (bird)

    migration: Birds: …headed “southwest,” their normal direction; lesser whitethroats (S. curruca) headed “southeast,” their normal direction of migration in that season.

  • lesser wintergreen (plant)

    wintergreen: Common, or lesser, wintergreen (P. minor) has pinkish globular flowers growing in a dense cluster. The pinkish globular flowers of intermediate wintergreen (P. media) grow in a rather elongated cylindrical cluster. The flowers of round-leaved wintergreen (P. americana) are white, with widely spread petals.

  • lesser yam (plant)

    yam: Major species: Lesser yam (D. esculenta), grown on the subcontinent of India, in southern Vietnam, and on South Pacific islands, is one of the tastiest yams. Chinese yam (D. polystachya), also known as cinnamon vine, is widely cultivated in East Asia.

  • lesser yellowlegs (bird)

    yellowlegs: The lesser yellowlegs (T. flavipes), about 25 cm (10 inches) long, appears in sizable flocks on mud flats during migration between its breeding grounds across Canada and Alaska and its wintering ground from the Gulf of Mexico to southern Chile and Argentina. The greater yellowlegs (T.…

  • Lesser, Sol (American film producer)

    Sol Lesser was an American motion-picture producer best known for his Tarzan movies. Lesser entered the world of motion pictures when in 1907 his father’s death made him the owner of the family nickelodeon. He branched out into distribution and production, producing a series of 19 immensely popular

  • Lessico famigliare (novel by Ginzburg)

    Natalia Ginzburg: Lessico famigliare (1963; Family Sayings) is a novelistic memoir of her upbringing and career. Ginzburg’s novels of the 1970s and ’80s pessimistically explore the dissolution of family ties in modern society.

  • Lessig, Lawrence (American lawyer and professor)

    Creative Commons: … Law School professor and attorney Lawrence Lessig filed a lawsuit in the federal district court in Washington, D.C., on behalf of online publisher Eric Eldred to challenge the act’s constitutionality. To work on the case, Lessig assembled a team including academics and scholars that he called Copyright Commons. Though a…

  • Lessing, Doris (British writer)

    Doris Lessing was a British writer whose novels and short stories are largely concerned with people involved in the social and political upheavals of the 20th century. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007. Her family was living in Persia at the time of her birth but moved to a

  • Lessing, Doris May (British writer)

    Doris Lessing was a British writer whose novels and short stories are largely concerned with people involved in the social and political upheavals of the 20th century. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007. Her family was living in Persia at the time of her birth but moved to a

  • Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim (German author)

    Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German dramatist, critic, and writer on philosophy and aesthetics. He helped free German drama from the influence of classical and French models and wrote plays of lasting importance. His critical essays greatly stimulated German letters and combated conservative

  • lessivé soil (pedology)

    podzolic soil, soil usually forming in a broadleaf forest and characterized by moderate leaching, which produces an accumulation of clay and, to some degree, iron that have been transported (eluviated) from another area by water. The humus formed produces a textural horizon (layer) that is less

  • Lessness (work by Beckett)

    Samuel Beckett: The humor and mastery: The prose fragment “Lessness” consists of but 60 sentences, each of which occurs twice. His series Acts Without Words are exactly what the title denotes, and one of his last plays, Rockaby, lasts for 15 minutes. Such brevity is merely an expression of Beckett’s determination to pare his…

  • Lesson Before Dying, A (novel by Gaines)

    Ernest J. Gaines: …Book Critics Circle Award for A Lesson Before Dying (1993), the story of two African Americans—an intellectually disabled man wrongly accused of murder and a teacher who visits him in prison—living in Bayonne. The novella The Tragedy of Brady Sims (2017) follows a newspaper journalist as he researches “a human…

  • Lesson, The (work by Ionesco)

    The Lesson, one-act play by Eugène Ionesco, a comedic parable of the dangers inherent in indoctrination, performed in 1951 as La Leçon and published in 1953. The absurd plot of the play concerns a timid professor who uses the meaning he assigns to words to establish tyrannical dominance over an

  • Lessons (novel by McEwan)

    Ian McEwan: Major novels: …McEwan published his 18th novel, Lessons, which follows a man’s life over some 70 years and addresses the lasting impact of a predatory piano teacher and his wife’s abandonment. What We Can Know, described by McEwan as “science fiction without the science,” was released in 2025. Set mostly in 2120…

  • Lessons of Modernism, The (work by Josipovici)

    Gabriel Josipovici: …World and the Book (1971), The Lessons of Modernism (1977), Writing and the Body (1982), The Mirror of Criticism (1983), The Book of God (1988), and Text and Voice (1992). His novels grew progressively experimental. The first three—The Inventory (1968), Words

  • Lessons of October 1917, The (essay by Trotsky)

    Leon Trotsky: The struggle for the succession: …different tack in his essay The Lessons of October 1917, linking the opposition of Zinovyev and Kamenev to the October Revolution with the failure of the Soviet-inspired German communist uprising in 1923. The party leadership replied with a wave of denunciation, counterposing Trotskyism to Leninism, denigrating Trotsky’s role in the…

  • Lessons of the 20th Century

    The 20th century was a time of great triumph and great tragedy. I draw hope and inspiration from the countless advances that have taken place over the past hundred years, but I also recognize that a fundamental change in values will be necessary in order to ensure that the new millennium will be a

  • Lessons of the Modern State (work by Bluntschli)

    Johann Kaspar Bluntschli: Lehre vom modernen Staat, 3 vol. (1875–76; “Lessons of the Modern State”), which was translated into English and French, is considered by some to be his finest work.

  • Lessons on the Calculus of Functions (work by Lagrange)

    Joseph-Louis Lagrange, comte de l’Empire: …calcul des fonctions (1804; “Lessons on the Calculus of Functions”) and were the first textbooks on real analytic functions. In them Lagrange tried to substitute an algebraic foundation for the existing and problematic analytic foundation of calculus—although ultimately unsuccessful, his criticisms spurred others to develop the modern analytic foundation.…

  • lessor (law)

    landlord and tenant, the parties to the leasing of real estate, whose relationship is bound by contract. The landlord, or lessor, as owner or possessor of a property—whether corporeal, such as lands or buildings, or incorporeal, such as rights of common or of way—agrees through a lease, an

  • Lest Darkness Fall (novel by de Camp)

    science fiction: Time travel: Sprague de Camp’s novel Lest Darkness Fall (1941) has an American archaeologist rescuing Imperial Rome in its decline, an act the hero carries out with such luminous attention to techno-historical detail that it resembles a World Bank bailout of an underdeveloped country. In Stephen King’s 11/22/63 (2011; television series…

  • Lestat (musical)

    Elton John: Compositions for film and stage: …and Taupin wrote the musical Lestat (2005), based on a series of vampire novels by Anne Rice, and John composed the score for Billy Elliot, a stage adaptation of the popular 2000 film. That musical premiered in London’s West End in 2005 and made its Broadway debut in 2008. The…

  • Lester B. Pearson International Airport (airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

    Canada: Airways: Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport is by far the busiest in the country, handling annually some one-third of Canada’s passenger traffic and more than two-fifths of its air cargo. Montreal has two major airports: Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the chief business airport, and Mirabel, some 20…

  • Lester Patrick Trophy (sports award)

    ice hockey: National Hockey League: …dedication to hockey; and the Lester Patrick Trophy, for outstanding service to U.S. hockey.

  • Lester, Ada (American madam)

    Everleigh sisters: American madams whose luxurious and notorious Chicago brothel indulged wealthy and influential patrons from that city and around the world. Ada Everleigh (b. Feb. 15, 1876, near Louisville, Ky., U.S.—d. Jan. 3, 1960, Virginia) and Minna Everleigh (b. July 5/13, 1878, near Louisville, Ky., U.S.—d.…

  • Lester, Minna (American madam)

    Everleigh sisters: madams whose luxurious and notorious Chicago brothel indulged wealthy and influential patrons from that city and around the world. Ada Everleigh (b. Feb. 15, 1876, near Louisville, Ky., U.S.—d. Jan. 3, 1960, Virginia) and Minna Everleigh (b. July 5/13, 1878, near Louisville, Ky., U.S.—d. Sept.…

  • Lester, Richard (American filmmaker)

    Richard Lester is an American filmmaker who successfully transferred the fast-cut stream-of-consciousness style of television commercials to the big screen. He is best known as the director of the Beatles movies A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Help! (1965). A piano prodigy, Lester continued his

  • Lestodelphys halli (marsupial)

    Patagonian opossum, (Lestodelphys halli), a small insectivorous and carnivorous marsupial (family Didelphidae, subfamily Didelphinae) found only in south-central Argentina, occurring farther south than other American marsupials. Adults reach 24.5 cm (10 inches) in length and weigh up to 90 grams

  • Lestoros inca (marsupial)

    rat opossum: …Caenolestes) with four species, the Incan caenolestid (Lestoros inca), and the Chilean shrew opossum (Rhyncholestes raphanurus). These six species, together with opossums (family Didelphidae), form the New World section (Ameridelphia) of the cohort Marsupialia. Rat opossums, named for their general appearance and size, have 46–48 teeth and long epipubic bones…

  • Lestrade, Inspector (fictional character)

    Inspector Lestrade, fictional character, the perennially confounded Scotland Yard inspector who must request the help of Sherlock Holmes in the Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan

  • Lestrange, Dom Augustine de (French abbot)

    Trappist: …number of them, led by Dom Augustine de Lestrange, settled at Val-Sainte in Fribourg, Switzerland, where they adopted an even more rigid life and made several foundations before their expulsion in 1798. Long years of wandering in Russia and Germany were followed in 1814 by a return to La Trappe;…

  • Lestres, Alonié de (Canadian historian)

    Lionel-Adolphe Groulx was a Canadian priest and historian who for 50 years strongly influenced the Quebec nationalist movement. The son of a lumberjack, Groulx became a seminarian at Sainte-Thérèse-de-Blaineville and Montreal and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1903. After teaching at a

  • Lestrygonians (Greek mythology)

    Laestrygones, in Greek mythology, fictional race of cannibalistic giants described in Book 10 of Homer’s Odyssey. When Odysseus and his men land on the island inhabited by the Laestrygones, the giants pelt Odysseus’s 12 ships with boulders, sinking all but Odysseus’s own ship. In some accounts the

  • Lesueur, Eustache (French painter)

    Eustache Le Sueur was a painter known for his religious pictures in the style of the French classical Baroque. Le Sueur was one of the founders and first professors of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Le Sueur studied under the painter Simon Vouet and was admitted at an early age into

  • Lesueur, Jean-François (French composer)

    Jean-François Lesueur was a composer of religious and dramatic works who helped to transform French musical taste during the French Revolution. In 1781 Lesueur was appointed chapelmaster at the cathedral of Dijon and in 1786 at Notre-Dame de Paris. There he aroused controversy by introducing a

  • Lesueur, Lucille (American actress)

    Joan Crawford was an American motion-picture actress who made her initial impact as a vivacious Jazz Age flapper but later matured into a star of psychological melodramas. She developed a glamorous screen image, appearing often as a sumptuously gowned, fur-draped, successful career woman. Crawford

  • lesula (primate)

    guenon: The lesula (C. lomamiensis), which inhabits pockets of habitat in Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest National Park, possesses a spot of yellowish brown fur on the tip of its nose. The lesula was first described in 2007 and determined to be a new species in 2012. It has…

  • Lésvos (island, Greece)

    Lésbos, largest island after Crete (Modern Greek: Kríti) and Euboea (Évvoia) in the Aegean Sea. It constitutes a dímos (municipality) and a perifereiakí enótita (regional unit) in the North Aegean (Vóreio Aigaío) periféreia (region), eastern Greece. Mytilene (Mitilíni) is the chief town of the

  • leśyā (Indian philosophy)

    leśyā, (Sanskrit: “light,” “tint”), according to Jainism, a religion of India, the special aura of the soul that can be described in terms of colour, scent, touch, and taste and that indicates the stage of spiritual progress reached by the creature, whether human, animal, demon, or divine. The

  • Leszczyàska, Marie-Catherine (queen of France)

    Marie Leszczyńska was the queen consort of King Louis XV of France (ruled 1715–74). Although she had no direct influence on French politics, her Polish dynastic connections involved France in a European conflict that resulted in the eventual annexation of Lorraine by France. Marie’s father,

  • Leszczyńska, Maria Karolina (queen of France)

    Marie Leszczyńska was the queen consort of King Louis XV of France (ruled 1715–74). Although she had no direct influence on French politics, her Polish dynastic connections involved France in a European conflict that resulted in the eventual annexation of Lorraine by France. Marie’s father,

  • Leszczyński family (Polish family)

    Leszno: …15th century by the prominent Leszczyński family, whose tombs are in the parish church. In the 16th century a band of Protestant Moravian Brothers, expelled from Bohemia, made Leszno a centre of the Reformation. The educator John Amos Comenius lived and taught there. During the 17th and 18th centuries it…

  • Leszczyński, Stanisław (king of Poland)

    Stanisław I was the king of Poland (1704–09, 1733) during a period of great problems and turmoil. He was a victim of foreign attempts to dominate the country. Stanisław was born into a powerful magnate family of Great Poland, and he had the opportunity to travel in western Europe as a young man. In

  • Leszetycki, Teodor (Polish pianist)

    Theodor Leschetizky was a Polish pianist and teacher who, with Franz Liszt, was the most influential teacher of piano of his time. Leschetizky studied under Carl Czerny in Vienna and thus was linked indirectly with the playing of Czerny’s teacher, Ludwig van Beethoven. In 1852 he went to St.

  • Leszno (Poland)

    Leszno, city, Wielkopolskie województwo (province), west-central Poland. It is a rail junction and an agricultural and manufacturing centre. Leszno was founded in the 15th century by the prominent Leszczyński family, whose tombs are in the parish church. In the 16th century a band of Protestant

  • LeT (terrorist group)

    Lashkar-e-Taiba was founded in Pakistan in the late 1980s as a militant wing of Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad, an Islamist organization influenced by the Ahl-e-Hadith school of Sunni Islam. It ultimately seeks to establish Muslim rule over the entire Indian subcontinent. Though based in Pakistan,

  • let (tennis)

    tennis: Principles of play: …court, it is a “let” and is replayed. The server is allowed one miss, or “fault,” either into the net or outside the opponent’s service court. Failure to deliver a correct service on two attempts constitutes loss of the point.

  • LET (physics)

    radiation: Linear energy transfer and track structure: The stopping power of a medium toward a charged particle refers to the energy loss of the particle per unit path length in the medium. It is specified by the differential -dE/dx, in which -dE represents the energy loss…

  • Let England Shake (album by Harvey)

    PJ Harvey: She later surfaced with Let England Shake (2011), a rollicking folk-influenced album that alluded to the battles of World War I as part of a complex portrait of her relationship to her homeland. In 2011 Let England Shake earned Harvey her second Mercury Prize, making her the first two-time…

  • Let Freedom Ring (film by Conway [1939])

    Jack Conway: Heyday of the 1930s: The musical Let Freedom Ring (1939) sets a newspaper owner (Nelson Eddy) against a ruthless railroad magnate, while Lady of the Tropics (1939) was a light romance starring Robert Taylor and Hedy Lamarr.

  • Let Go (album by Lavigne)

    Avril Lavigne: …her sound, her first album, Let Go, debuted in 2002 and went seven times platinum. It featured the hits “Complicated,” “Sk8er Boi,” “I’m with You,” and “Losing Grip.” Her popularity and fame continued with the albums Under My Skin (2004), The Best Damn Thing (2007), Goodbye Lullaby (2011), and Avril…

  • Let Him Go (film by Bezucha [2020])

    Kevin Costner: Yellowstone and Horizon: In the drama Let Him Go (2020), he appeared as a former sheriff who seeks to save his grandson from an abusive stepfather.

  • Let History Judge (work by Medvedev)

    Roy Medvedev: Books: Perhaps his most important book, Let History Judge (1971), is a comprehensive historical study of Stalinism, with particular attention paid to that movement’s origins and consequences. His books Khrushchev: The Years in Power (1976; written with Zhores), Khrushchev (1983), and Khrushchev: A Political Biography (1986) are landmark biographies of that

  • Let it Be (album by the Replacements)

    the Replacements: …three eclectic, critically acclaimed albums: Let it Be (1984), Tim (1985), and Pleased to Meet Me (1987). The albums document Westerberg’s growing sophistication as a pop tunesmith, but they promised a commercial breakthrough that never came. In 1986 Bob Stinson was fired for drug and alcohol abuse and replaced the…

  • Let It Be (song by the Lennon and McCartney)

    Paul McCartney: Early life: …inspiration for his ballad “Let It Be” (1970). His younger brother, Michael, later changed his name to Mike McGear and had a number of hits in the satirical rock group Scaffold. Like fellow Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey), McCartney grew up in a traditional north of…

  • Let It Be (documentary by Lindsay-Hogg [1970])

    Let It Be: From conception to a rooftop concert: …as a theatrical film titled Let It Be; it won an Academy Award and a Grammy Award for its song score. The Let It Be album was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1971.

  • Let It Be (album by the Beatles)

    Let It Be, studio album of the revolutionary British rock band the Beatles, the last of 12 albums released by the group. Let It Be, which was released on May 8, 1970—nearly a month after the Beatles disbanded—is best known for its iconic title track, as well as the popular songs “Across the

  • Let It Bleed (album by the Rolling Stones)

    the Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St.: The studio albums Let It Bleed (1969) and Sticky Fingers (1971) plus the in-concert Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! (1970) gave them the repertoire and image that still defines them and on which they have continued to trade ever since: an incendiary blend of sex, drugs, Satanism, and radical…

  • Let It Go (album by McGraw)

    Tim McGraw: McGraw’s subsequent albums included Let It Go (2007), Southern Voice (2009), and Emotional Traffic (2012). Two Lanes of Freedom (2013) featured a duet with pop-country superstar Taylor Swift, whose debut single, “Tim McGraw” (2006), had memorably paid tribute to his music. His albums Sundown Heaven

  • let it ride (card game)

    poker: Let it ride: Let it ride is a five-card stud poker game. There is no dealer’s hand in this house-banked game. Each player lays three equal bets on the table before receiving three cards facedown. Then each player may let his first bet stay on…

  • Let Love Rule (album by Kravitz)

    Lenny Kravitz: Career: …by Virgin Records on the album of the same name. The album was an immediate breakthrough. Kravitz’s wife at the time—actress Lisa Bonet, who starred on The Cosby Show (1984–92)—wrote the lyrics to several songs on the album.

  • Let Me Be Frank with You (work by Ford)

    Richard Ford: … in the novellas comprised in Let Me Be Frank with You (2014).

  • Let Me Down Easy (one-woman play by Smith)

    Anna Deavere Smith: …she premiered a one-woman play, Let Me Down Easy, which explored the resiliency and vulnerability of the human body. Smith portrayed more than 20 characters, who spoke out about current events such as genocide in Rwanda, steroid use among athletes, AIDS in Africa, and the U.S. health care system. Another…

  • Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics (memoir by Christie)

    Chris Christie: In the memoir Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics (2019), Christie focused on his role within Trump’s campaign and transition team. In addition to criticizing key advisers, Christie claimed that he had been considered for a number of government…

  • Let Me Hear You Whisper (play by Zindel)

    Paul Zindel: …Affairs of Mildred Wild (1973), Let Me Hear You Whisper (1970), The Ladies Should Be in Bed (1973), A Destiny with Half Moon Street (produced 1983; published 1992), and Amulets Against the Dragon Forces (1989; based partly on his novel Confessions of a Teenage Baboon). Among his novels for young…

  • Let Me Off Uptown (recording by Krupa)

    Gene Krupa: …North Carolina,” and, especially, “Let Me Off Uptown,” the Krupa band’s biggest hit.

  • Let Me Praise the Lord of Wisdom (Mesopotamian literature)

    Ludlul bel nemeqi, in ancient Mesopotamian religious literature, a philosophical composition concerned with a man who, seemingly forsaken by the gods, speculates on the changeability of men and fate. The composition, also called the “Poem of the Righteous Sufferer” or the “Babylonian Job,” has been

  • Let Me Tell You What I Mean (essays by Didion)

    Joan Didion: Later works and honors: Let Me Tell You What I Mean (2021) is a collection of previously published essays. Didion died in 2021 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. In 2025, Notes to John, an intimate collection of her journal writings between 1999 and 2002, was published. Containing Didion’s conversations…

  • Let Science Be Our Guidepost

    Our planet today faces tremendous pressures: a burgeoning and aging population, accelerating climate change, polluted waters, threatened food crops, and drug-resistant diseases. Without intervention, these pressures promise to inflate to catastrophes. (Read Britannica’s biography of this author,

  • Let the Right One In (novel by Lindqvist)

    vampire: History: …den rätte komma in (2004; Let the Right One In) by John Ajvide Lindqvist, in which the main characters are a perpetually childlike vampire and a young boy she befriends and helps fend off bullies. The book was adapted for film in Sweden in 2008 and in the United States…

  • Let the River Run (song by Simon)

    Carly Simon: …an Academy Award for “Let the River Run,” which she also sang, in Working Girl (1988). She also scored music for the films Postcards from the Edge (1990) and This Is My Life (1992).

  • Let the Sunshine (play by Williamson)

    David Williamson: for Grabs (2001), Influence (2005), Let the Sunshine (2010), and Nearer the Gods (2018). Williamson also wrote several screenplays, including Phar Lap (1982) and, in collaboration with Peter Weir, Gallipoli (1981) and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982).

  • Let the Sunshine In (film by Denis [2017])

    Juliette Binoche: …Un beau soleil intérieur (2017; Let the Sunshine In). Binoche’s subsequent films include Doubles vies (2018; Non-Fiction), a dramedy set in the publishing world; Celle que vous croyez (2019; Who You Think I Am), in which a middle-aged professor pretends to be a younger woman on social media; and La…

  • Let Them All Talk (film by Soderbergh [2020])

    Steven Soderbergh: Later credits: …reunited with the actress for Let Them All Talk (2020), about an award-winning author who goes on a cruise with several old friends.

  • Let Them Talk (album by Laurie)

    Hugh Laurie: …he released the solo albums Let Them Talk (2011) and Didn’t It Rain (2013), which were inspired by New Orleans-style blues. He wrote the novels The Gun Seller (1996) and The Paper Soldier (2007). Laurie was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2007 and…

  • Let There Be Light (film by Huston)

    John Huston: Films of the 1940s: …of San Pietro (1945), and Let There Be Light, the last a disturbing study of emotionally unstable veterans in a Long Island hospital that was so powerful that it was not given a public release until the early 1980s. Huston was discharged from the army in 1945 with the rank…

  • Let There Be Rock (album by AC/DC)

    AC/DC: …found success in Britain with Let There Be Rock (1977). After solidifying their lineup (with Scott as vocalist, Rudd on drums, Williams on bass, and the Youngs), the band recorded Highway to Hell (1979), which brought them international fame. AC/DC’s rise was hampered by Scott’s alcohol-related death in February 1980,…

  • Let Us Descend (novel by Ward)

    Jesmyn Ward: Novels and nonfiction works: …she published her fourth novel, Let Us Descend, its title being an allusion to the descent into hell in Dante’s Inferno. Taking place in the years before the American Civil War, it tells the story of a girl named Annis who is sold by the white enslaver who fathered her…

  • Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (work by Agee and Evans)

    Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, nonfiction work on the daily lives of Depression-era tenant farmers, with text by American author James Agee and black-and-white portraits by American documentary photographer Walker Evans, published in 1941. In 1936, at the request of Fortune magazine, Agee and Evans

  • Let your cash DRIP into more shares: A guide to dividend reinvestment

    When selecting stocks for your portfolio, do you concentrate on high-potential companies that seek high growth and plow every penny of profit into research and development, technology, and marketing? Or do you look for steady-as-she-goes cash cows that tend to deliver solid earnings each

  • Let’s Be Cops (film by Greenfield [2014])

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