minuet, (from French menu, “small”), elegant couple dance that dominated aristocratic European ballrooms, especially in France and England, from about 1650 to about 1750. Reputedly derived from the French folk dance branle de Poitou, the court minuet used smaller steps and became slower and

Al-Minūfiyyah: …source of irrigation water is Al-Minūfiyyah Canal, which flows from the Delta (Al-Khayriyyah) Barrage on the Nile via the Shibīn and Baquriyyah canals. Most of the population lives in villages and small towns. The principal centres are Shibīn al-Kawm (capital of the muḥāfaẓah), Minūf, and Ashmūn—all with cotton-ginning facilities. Area…

Al-Minūfiyyah, muḥāfaẓah (governorate) of Lower Egypt in the western part of the apex of the Nile River delta, between the Damietta (east) and Rosetta (west) branches of the Nile. It includes some of the most productive land of the delta, supporting a dense rural population. Agriculture is the

Peter Minuit was a Dutch colonial governor of New Amsterdam who is mainly remembered for his fabulous purchase of Manhattan Island (the nucleus of New York City) from the Indians for trade goods worth a mere 60 guilders. Though probably of French or Walloon ancestry, Minuit wrote in Dutch

Romanian literature: The 20th century: …Symbolism, as did the poets Ion Minulescu and George Bacovia, while Impressionism was taken up by the literary critic Eugen Lovinescu and the poet Nicolae Davidescu, whose epic Cântecul omului (1928–37; “The Song of Man”) aimed at re-creating world history.

Central African Republic: Patassé and the quest for democracy: …sent in troops under the UN Mission to the Central African Republic (MINURCA). MINURCA’s mission was to maintain stability and security, mediate between rival factions in the country, and provide advice and support in the 1998 legislative elections.

Laayoune: …UN peacekeeping mission known as MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara). It has nonetheless been the site of several clashes between Sahrawis and Moroccan authorities, perhaps most notably with the forceful dismantling in 2010 of the Gdeim Izik protest camp, which had been erected to protest…

Owen Wilson: Small roles, big impact: The Cable Guy and The Minus Man: In the crime thriller The Minus Man (1999) he had his first sole leading role, playing a polite and soft-spoken serial killer. Wilson did not act in Anderson’s second directorial outing, Rushmore (1998), but he cowrote it with the director, and parts of the film were influenced by Wilson’s…

Central African Republic: Security: …new operation, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (Mission Multidimensionnelle Intégrée des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation en République Centrafricaine; MINUSCA), subsumed MISCA and previous UN missions; it became operational in September 2014. Operation Sangaris ended its mission and left the country in 2016.…

minuscule, in calligraphy, lowercase letters in most alphabets, in contrast to majuscule (uppercase or capital) letters. Minuscule letters cannot be fully contained between two real or imaginary parallel lines, since they have ascending stems (ascenders) on the letters b, d, f, h, k, and l, and

Russia: The mountains of the south and east: northward, enclosing the Kuznetsk and Minusinsk basins.

Mali: 2012 coup and warfare in the north: … approved the creation of the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), which took over operations from AFISMA in July 2013. MINUSMA troops then worked alongside the remaining French forces to maintain security.

Haiti: Haiti in the 21st century: The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH [French: Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haïti]) assumed authority over the international intervention in June 2004 with a mandate to maintain security, help stabilize the political process, and monitor and promote human rights. MINUSTAH personnel…

minute, in timekeeping, 60 seconds, now defined in terms of radiation emitted from atoms of the element cesium under specified conditions. The minute was formerly defined as the 60th part of an hour, or the 1,440th part (60 × 24 [hours] = 1,440) of a mean solar day—i.e., of the average period of

Coleoptera: Annotated classification: Family Sphaeriusidae (minute bog beetles) Less than 1 mm in length; 1 genus; a few widespread species. Family Torridincolidae (torrent beetles) Small flattened beetles; dark-colored, often with metallic sheen; aquatic. Suborder Polyphaga

Coleoptera: Annotated classification: Family Latridiidae (minute brown scavenger beetles) Found in fungi, debris, flowers; about 600 species. Family Nitidulidae (sap beetles) Variable size, shape, habits; usually found around fermenting plant fluids or moldy plant materials; about 2,200 species; examples Meligethes,

Michael McDonald: Awards and personal life: …chorus for the song “Minute by Minute.” In 1985 he shared a Grammy with Ingram for best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocal for their duet “Yah Mo B There.” McDonald married singer Amy Holland in 1983, and the couple have two children.

Houston Astros: …play in Enron Field (later Daikin Park). In 2004 the Astros advanced to the NLCS, where they lost a seven-game series to the St. Louis Cardinals. The team finally met with a modest amount of playoff luck the following year as it defeated the Cardinals in an NLCS rematch to…

Daniel Chester French: …first important commission: the statue The Minute Man (dedicated in 1875), commemorating the Battle of Concord of 100 years earlier. It became the symbol for defense bonds, stamps, and posters of World War II. French’s great and best-known marble, the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington,…

Coleoptera: Annotated classification: Family Limnichidae (minute marsh-loving beetles) Similar to Dryopidae; a few widely distributed species. Family Lutrochidae (travertine beetles) 1 genus (Lutrochus); found near streams; distribution limited to New World. Family Psephenidae (

Coleoptera: Annotated classification: Family Hydraenidae (minute moss beetles) Small, 1.2–2.5 mm; found in brackish or intertidal pools and along streams. Family Leiodidae (mammal-nest beetles, round fungus beetles, small carrion beetles) Small, shiny. wingless; feed on eggs and young of small arthropods in small-mammal nests; widely

flower bug, (family Anthocoridae), any of at least 400 species of small insects in the true bug order, Heteroptera, that are black with white markings and are usually found on flowers, under loose bark, or in leaf litter. Flower bugs range in size from 2 to 5 mm (0.08 to 0.2 inch) in length. Their

Coleoptera: Annotated classification: Family Ciidae (minute tree-fungus beetles) Occur under bark, in wood, or in dry woody fungi; about 360 species; widely distributed. Family Melandryidae (false darkling beetles) Usually found under bark or logs; examples Penthe, Osphya; about 400 species in woodlands of temperate regions.

Morgan Freeman: …the movies Paradise Highway and The Minute You Wake Up Dead, both released in 2022.

minuteman, in U.S. history, an American Revolution militiaman who agreed to be ready for military duty “at a minute’s warning.” The first minutemen were organized in Worcester county, Massachusetts, in September 1774, when revolutionary leaders sought to eliminate Tories from the old militia by

Minuteman missile: The Minuteman I was first deployed in 1962. This 17-metre (56-foot), three-staged missile was the first ICBM to use solid fuels, which are safer and more quickly activated than liquid fuels. It was also the first U.S. ICBM to be based in underground silos. (Previous missiles…

Minuteman missile: …I was replaced by the Minuteman II. Improved propulsion gave this missile a longer range of about 13,000 km (8,000 miles), and its reentry vehicle, carrying a 1.2-megaton thermonuclear warhead, was equipped with electronic jammers and other devices designed to penetrate radar-directed antiballistic missile defenses around cities and military sites…

Minuteman missile: The Minuteman III was deployed between 1970 and 1975 with two or three independently targeted reentry vehicles (or MIRVs), each carrying a 170-kiloton thermonuclear warhead. In the 1980s three 335-kiloton warheads were installed on some Minuteman IIIs, along with a more accurate guidance system that gave…

Minuteman missile, intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that has been the mainstay of the land-based nuclear arsenal of the United States since the 1960s. There have been three generations of Minuteman missiles. The Minuteman I was first deployed in 1962. This 17-metre (56-foot), three-staged

Black Flag: …roster included seminal hardcore acts the Minutemen, the Meat Puppets, and Hüsker Dü. After settling on Rollins as its vocalist, Black Flag released Damaged (1981), its first full-length album, which spawned the group’s best-known single, “Rise Above.” Later recordings flirted with heavy metal, and the band also provided musical accompaniment…

Linkin Park: Subsequent work and expansion: The album Minutes to Midnight (2007) marked a shift for the band—both in sound and in outlook. Moving away from the dense, electronic-rap textures of their initial albums, Linkin Park leaned toward a more rock-oriented approach. The title came from the concept of the Doomsday Clock—a symbolic…

Tracy Letts: The satire The Minutes, which centres on a city council meeting in a small town, premiered at Steppenwolf in 2017 and transferred to Broadway in 2022; Letts also acted in the latter production.

Mount Gongga, highest peak of the Daxue Mountains, west-central Sichuan province, southern China. It rises to 24,790 feet (7,556 metres) with a snow line at about 18,000 feet (5,500 metres). Its terrain features a complex of glaciers, grasslands, and alpine

Al-Minyā, muḥāfaẓah (governorate) in Upper Egypt, between Banī Suwayf governorate to the north and Asyūṭ governorate to the south. It occupies the floodplain of the Nile River and extends for about 75 miles (120 km) along the river but also includes a section of the Western Desert, extending out

Al-Minyā, city and capital of Al-Minyā muḥāfaẓah (governorate), in the Nile River valley of Upper Egypt. Al-Minyā is linked to Cairo (140 miles [225 km] north-northeast) by rail; it is a trading and administrative centre on the west bank of the Nile. Besides serving as a market and financial centre

minyan, in Judaism, the minimum number of males (10) required to constitute a representative “community of Israel” for liturgical purposes. A Jewish boy of 13 may form part of the quorum after his Bar Mitzvah (religious adulthood). When a minyan is lacking for synagogue services, those who have

chronology: Jewish: …onward, Jews used the Seleucid era (especially in dating deeds; hence its name Minyan Sheṭarot, or “Era of Contracts”). In vogue in the East until the 16th century, this was the only popular Jewish era of antiquity to survive. The others soon became extinct. These included, among others, national eras…

Minyan ware, first wheel-made pottery to be produced in Middle-Bronze-Age Greece. It was found at sites at Orchomenus. It was introduced onto the mainland from Asia Minor in the third phase of the Early Helladic (2200–2000 bc); production continued during the Middle Helladic (c. 2000–c. 1600 bc).

minyan, in Judaism, the minimum number of males (10) required to constitute a representative “community of Israel” for liturgical purposes. A Jewish boy of 13 may form part of the quorum after his Bar Mitzvah (religious adulthood). When a minyan is lacking for synagogue services, those who have

minyan, in Judaism, the minimum number of males (10) required to constitute a representative “community of Israel” for liturgical purposes. A Jewish boy of 13 may form part of the quorum after his Bar Mitzvah (religious adulthood). When a minyan is lacking for synagogue services, those who have

Agrionia: …is that the daughters of Minyas, king of Orchomenus, having despised the rites of the god, were driven mad by Dionysus and sacrificed Hippasus (son of Minyas’s oldest daughter, Leucippe) to Dionysus; as punishment they were turned into bats or birds. Ovid, Metamorphoses Book IV, omits the murder of the…

Fujian: History of Fujian: …himself as the king of Minyue. When Zhao Zheng (who, as Shihuangdi, became the first emperor of the Qin dynasty) conquered the kingdom of Chu in 223 bce, the Chinese domain was finally unified within the bounds of a monolithic state. Li Si, the famous prime minister of Qin, deposed…

Shintō: Nature and varieties: Folk Shintō (Minzoku Shintō) is an aspect of Japanese folk belief that is closely connected with the other types of Shintō. It has no formal organizational structure nor doctrinal formulation but is centred in the veneration of small roadside images and in the agricultural rites…

Miocene Epoch, earliest major worldwide division of the Neogene Period (23 million years to 2.6 million years ago) that extended from 23 million to 5.3 million years ago. It is often divided into the Early Miocene Epoch (23 million to 16 million years ago), the Middle Miocene Epoch (16 million to

geosyncline: …of a geosyncline, termed a miogeosyncline.

Miohippus, genus of extinct horses that originated in North America during the Late Eocene Epoch (37.2–33.9 million years ago). Miohippus evolved from the earlier genus Mesohippus; however, the former was larger and had a more-derived dentition than the latter. The number of toes in Miohippus was

coordination compound: History of coordination compounds: …theory, Werner, together with Italian Arturo Miolati, determined the electrical conductivities of solutions of several series of coordination compounds and claimed that the number of ions formed agreed with the constitutions (manners of bonding of the ligands) predicted by his theory rather than those predicted by Jørgensen.

Central Africa: …the dry tropical forest (called miombo in the southeast). Its trees are smaller and less dense than those of the equatorial forest, and they are deciduous, losing their leaves during the dry season. The dry tropical forest covers the southern Kwango and Katanga (Shaba) plateaus in Congo (Kinshasa) but exists…

talapoin, (genus Miopithecus), either of two small species of monkeys found in swamp forests on each side of the lower Congo River and neighbouring river systems. Talapoins are the smallest of the Old World monkeys, weighing less than 2 kg (4.4 pounds). M. talapoin, which lives south and east of

talapoin: …since the 18th century, whereas M. ogouensis, living north and west of the river in the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) and Gabon, was recognized as a distinct species in the 1990s. Both species have long tails and greenish upperparts, but the colour of their fur and several other parts…

talapoin: M. talapoin, which lives south and east of the river in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa), has been known to science since the 18th century, whereas M. ogouensis, living north and west of the river in the Republic of the Congo…

Mylswamy Annadurai: …and on November 14 the Moon Impact Probe, which contained three instruments, was released; it hit near the lunar South Pole. Contact with the probe was abruptly lost on August 28, 2009, and three days later ISRO officially declared the project terminated.

German Empire: Bülow and world policy: …home affairs, Bülow depended on Johannes von Miquel, Prussian minister of finance since 1891 and vice president of the Prussian ministry in 1898. Miquel was a former Radical, once a friend of Karl Marx, and now intent on reviving the partnership between Junker agrarianism and pan-German industrialism which had been…

Saint-Pierre and Miquelon: …of which are in the Miquelons (Miquelon and Langlade, sometimes known as Great and Little Miquelon, connected by the slim, sandy Isthmus of Langlade). But the island of Saint-Pierre, only 10 square miles (26 square km) in area, has almost 90 percent of the total population and is the administrative…

mikvah, (“collection [of water]”), in Judaism, a pool of natural water in which one bathes for the restoration of ritual purity. The Mishna (Jewish code of law) describes in elaborate detail the requirements for ritually proper water and for the quantity of water required for ritual cleansing. In

Mir, Soviet/Russian modular space station, the core module (base block) of which was launched into Earth orbit by the U.S.S.R. in 1986. Over the next decade additional modules were sent aloft on separate launch vehicles and attached to the core unit, creating a large habitat that served as a

mir, in Russian history, a self-governing community of peasant households that elected its own officials and controlled local forests, fisheries, hunting grounds, and vacant lands. To make taxes imposed on its members more equitable, the mir assumed communal control of the community’s arable land

Babri Masjid: … (September 1528–September 1529 ce) by Mīr Bāqī, possibly a bey serving under the Mughal emperor Bābur. Along with the mosques at Sambhal and Panipat, it was one of three mosques said to have been constructed in the 16th century upon Bābur’s orders. It was destroyed in 1992 amid decades of…

Āmol: …old city, which include the mausoleum of Mīr Bozorg. The 17th-century structure is built on the foundations of a 10th-century one, which was destroyed by Timur. Oranges and rice are grown in the area, and there are nearby deposits of coal and iron. Pop. (2016) 237,528.

Mīr Dāmād was a philosopher, teacher, and leader in the cultural renascence of Iran during the Ṣafavid dynasty. A descendant of a well-known Shīʿī family, Mīr Dāmād spent most of his life in Isfahan as a student and teacher. Mīr Dāmād’s major contribution to Islāmic philosophy was his concept of

Léon Bakst: …and Benois he founded the journal of the same name (1898–1904). Members of the movement attempted—by means of articles, lectures, and exhibitions—to educate the Russian public about trends, movements, and issues in the arts. Paid work on the magazine freed Bakst from the patronage system and allowed him to focus…

Mir Jafar was the first nawab, or ruler, of Bengal (1757–60; 1763–65) under British influence, which he had helped bring about by working for the defeat of the previous nawab, Siraj al-Dawlah. He is notorious for his collusion with East India Company forces during the Battle of Plassey, betraying

India: Challenge from the northwest: His son, Mīr Maḥmūd, first attacked Kermān in Iran and then, in 1722, took the Ṣafavid capital Eṣfahān itself and proclaimed himself its ruler. However, the success of the Ghilzays was not to last long, as they were challenged both by their fellow Pashtuns—the Abdālīs (Durrānīs)—and by…

Mir Jafar was the first nawab, or ruler, of Bengal (1757–60; 1763–65) under British influence, which he had helped bring about by working for the defeat of the previous nawab, Siraj al-Dawlah. He is notorious for his collusion with East India Company forces during the Battle of Plassey, betraying

Mīr Sayyid ʿAli: …artist of the Ṣafavid school, Mīr Muṣawwir of Solṭānīyeh. He went to India at the invitation of the Mughal emperor Humāyūn, arriving first in Kābul about 1545 and from there going on to Delhi. He and ʿAbd-uṣ-Ṣamad instructed the artists of the imperial atelier, most of them Indians, and superintended…

Nizam al-Mulk: …1713 it was conferred on Chīn Qilich Khan (Āṣaf Jāh) by the Mughal emperor Muḥammad Shah and was held by his descendants, the rulers of the princely state of Hyderabad, until the mid-20th century. The head of a ruling family was commonly known as the nizam.

Munger: In 1763 Mīr Qasīm, nawab of Bengal, made Munger his capital and built an arsenal and several palaces. It was constituted a municipality in 1864.

Mīr Sayyid ʿAli was a Persian miniaturist who, together with his fellow countryman ʿAbd-uṣ-Ṣamad, emigrated to India and helped to found the Mughal school of painting (see Mughal painting). He was born probably in the second quarter of the 16th century in Tabrīz, the son of a well-known artist of

Ivan Bella: …a research cosmonaut on Soyuz TM-29, which launched on Feb. 20, 1999, and docked with Mir on February 22. Bella was accompanied on Soyuz TM-29 by a Russian cosmonaut, Viktor Afanasyev, and a French astronaut, Jean-Pierre Haigneré. The mission, named “Mir Štefánik” after the Slovak astronomer and general Milan Štefánik,…

South Asian arts: Ghazal: …ghazal writers in Urdu are Mīr Taqī Mīr, in the 18th century, and Mīrzā Asadullāh Khān Ghālib, in the 19th. They are in some ways diametrical opposites. The first prefers either very long metres or very short, employs a simple, non-Persianized language, and restricts himself to affairs of the heart.…

Ghilzay: …in the early 18th century Mir Vais Khan, a Ghilzay chieftain, captured Kandahar and established an independent kingdom there (1709–15). From this capital his son Mahmud conquered Persia.

Ghilzay: …in the early 18th century Mir Vais Khan, a Ghilzay chieftain, captured Kandahar and established an independent kingdom there (1709–15). From this capital his son Mahmud conquered Persia.

Mīr ʿAlī of Tabriz was an Islamic calligrapher of the Timurid Age (c. 1370–c. 1500) and a contemporary of Timur (Tamerlane); he was the inventor of the cursive nastaʿlīq script, traditionally regarded as the most elegant of the Persian scripts. A master of many styles of calligraphy, Mīr ʿAlī

Timurid dynasty: The vizier himself, Mīr ʿAlī Shīr, established Chagatai Turkish literature and fostered a revival in Persian literature.

Pedro Mir was a Dominican poet, whose poems celebrate the working class and examine aspects of his country’s painful past, including colonialism, slavery, and dictatorship. By his mid-30s Mir had developed a prominent literary reputation. His social commentary, however, angered Dominican dictator

Mira Ceti, first variable star (apart from novae) to be discovered, lying in the southern constellation Cetus, and the prototype of a class known as long-period variables, or Mira stars. There is some evidence that ancient Babylonian astronomers noticed its variable character. In a systematic study

Mira Bai was a Hindu mystic and poet whose lyrical songs of devotion to the god Krishna are widely popular in northern India. Mira Bai was a Rajput princess, the only child of Ratan Singh, younger brother of the ruler of Merta. Her royal education included music and religion as well as instruction

Mira Ceti, first variable star (apart from novae) to be discovered, lying in the southern constellation Cetus, and the prototype of a class known as long-period variables, or Mira stars. There is some evidence that ancient Babylonian astronomers noticed its variable character. In a systematic study

long-period variable star, any intrinsically variable star whose light fluctuations are fairly regular and require many months or several years to complete one cycle. They are, without exception, red giant and supergiant stars. Those in one fairly distinct group with periods of about 200 days

khat, (Catha edulis), slender evergreen tree or shrub, the leaves and young buds of which are chewed for a euphoric effect. The plant is native to the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and is an important cash crop in Yemen, Somalia, and Ethiopia; it is often cultivated in areas that do not

André-Boniface-Louis Riqueti, viscount de Mirabeau was the brother of the famous orator, the comte de Mirabeau, and one of the reactionary leaders at the opening of the French Revolution. Sent to the army in Malta in 1776, he spent part of his two years there in prison for insulting a religious

Honoré-Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau was a French politician and orator, one of the greatest figures in the National Assembly that governed France during the early phases of the French Revolution. A moderate and an advocate of constitutional monarchy, he died before the Revolution reached its

Victor Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau was a French political economist, the forerunner and later patron of the Physiocratic school of economic thought. He was the father of the renowned French revolutionary, the Comte de Mirabeau. After serving as an officer in the War of the Polish Succession

Mirabehn was a British-born follower of Mahatma Gandhi who participated in the movement for India’s independence. Madeleine Slade was the daughter of an English aristocratic family. Because her father, Sir Edmond Slade, was a rear admiral in the British Royal Navy and was often away, Madeleine and

Gulf of Mirabéllo, deep gulf of the Aegean Sea on the northern coast of eastern Crete (Modern Greek: Kríti), the nomós (department) of Lasíthi, Greece. It separates the Díkti massif on the west from a range of hills on the east that include Mount Thriptís (Tryptí) and Mount Ornón. The gulf, named

Major Shadow Docket Rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court During the Second Trump Administration (2025– ): February 26, 2026: In Mirabelli v. Bonta, the Supreme Court granted a request by a group of parents in California to vacate an order issued by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that stayed a decision by a federal district court preventing enforcement of state policies requiring…

Gulf of Mirabéllo, deep gulf of the Aegean Sea on the northern coast of eastern Crete (Modern Greek: Kríti), the nomós (department) of Lasíthi, Greece. It separates the Díkti massif on the west from a range of hills on the east that include Mount Thriptís (Tryptí) and Mount Ornón. The gulf, named

Jacob Handl: …of modality; his five-voice motet Mirabile mysterium contains chromaticism worthy of Don Carlo Gesualdo. He enjoyed word painting in the style of the madrigal, yet he could write the simple Ecce quomodo moritur justus later used by George Frideric Handel in his funeral anthem The Ways of Zion Do Mourn…

four-o’clock, (Mirabilis jalapa) ornamental perennial plant, of the family Nyctaginaceae, native to tropical America. Four-o’clock is a quick-growing species up to one metre (three feet) tall, with oval leaves on short leafstalks. The stems are swollen at the joints. The plant is called

mirabilite, a widespread sulfate mineral, hydrated sodium sulfate (Na2SO4·10H2O), that forms efflorescences and crusts, particularly in arid regions. It occurs in deposits from salt lakes, springs, and playas, especially in the winter (its solubility decreases markedly at lower temperatures). It is

flatworm: Development: The first larval stage, the miracidium, generally is free-swimming and penetrates a freshwater or marine snail, unless it has already been ingested by one. Within this intermediate host, the parasite passes through a series of further stages known as sporocysts, rediae, and cercariae. Through a complex process of asexual replication,…

miracle, extraordinary and astonishing happening that is attributed to the presence and action of an ultimate or divine power. A miracle is generally defined, according to the etymology of the word—it comes from the Greek thaumasion and the Latin miraculum—as that which causes wonder and

Alexander McCall Smith: …series reached its ninth novel, The Miracle at Speedy Motors (2008), more than 15 million copies of the books had been sold in English alone, and The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency had been adapted as a television series. Throughout the novels, Mma Ramotswe works with Mma Makutsi, who is…

James McBride: Literary career: …book was adapted into a film, directed by Spike Lee, in 2008. McBride wrote the film adaptation’s screenplay.

James McBride: Literary career: McBride’s next book, Miracle at St. Anna (2002), is a novel about the experiences of the all-Black 92nd Infantry Division (nicknamed the “Buffalo Soldiers” in honor of the 19th-century African American cavalry regiments of the same name) in Italy during World War II. The acclaimed book was adapted…

miracle fruit, (Synsepalum dulcificum), evergreen shrub of the family Sapotaceae, grown for its mild fruits that make subsequently eaten sour foods taste sweet. The miracle fruit plant is native to tropical West Africa, where it is used locally to sweeten palm wine and other beverages. The

Rutebeuf: …extant miracle plays in French, Le Miracle de Théophile (“The Miracle of Theophile”), on the traditional theme of a priest who sells his soul to the devil and is saved by the Virgin.

miracle fruit, (Synsepalum dulcificum), evergreen shrub of the family Sapotaceae, grown for its mild fruits that make subsequently eaten sour foods taste sweet. The miracle fruit plant is native to tropical West Africa, where it is used locally to sweeten palm wine and other beverages. The

miracle fruit: The unrelated sweet prayer plant (Thaumatococcus daniellii) is also known as miracle fruit for its similar ability to make sour foods taste sweet.

Vittorio De Sica: …film; Miracolo a Milano (1951; Miracle in Milan), a comic parable about the clash of rich and poor in Milan; and Umberto D. (1952), a tragedy about a lonely pensioner, his dog, and a young maid who takes pity upon them both. The performances of the largely amateur casts in…