"Learning from the Indian," Viva: Northern New Mexico's Sunday Magazine (9 July 1972): 2; "Figments of Sancho Panza's Imagination," Viva: Northern New Mexico's Sunday Magazine (31 December 1972): 2; "Finding a Need for Nature," Viva: North...

Nachman Kohen Krochmal (1785-1840) was the first Jewish historian to treat Jewish history as an integral part of all human history. When Nachman Krochmal was born at Brody, Galicia, Poland, on Feb. 17, 1785, the Age of Enlightenment was re...

Nadia Comaneci (born 1961) is one of the most-celebrated gymnasts in the history of the sport. At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, she was the first person in Olympic history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics. In all, ...

Nadir Shah (1687-1747) ruled Persia for eleven years. He rose from abject poverty to become one of the most powerful monarchs of his time. This spectacular success was due, in great part, to his ability to manipulate people, applying the r...

The Hungarian admiral and statesman Nicholas Horthy de Nagybánya (1868-1957) was regent of Hungary from 1920 to 1944. He led Hungary during a troubled period which began with a Communist revolution and ended with German and then Rus...

American-born Nancy Langhorne Astor (1879-1964) became the first woman to serve as a member of the British Parliament, a position she held from 1919 to 1945. Born in Danville, Virginia, on May 19, 1879, Nancy Langhorne grew up in the strai...

Nancy Ward (1738--1822), a mixed-blood Cherokee woman who lived during the eighteenth century, was the Cherokee nation's last "Beloved Woman." At a time that the Cherokee nation was frequently at battle with American troops and white settl...

Nannerl Overholser Keohane (born 1940), a professor of political science, is the first woman to become the president of both a U.S. women's college, Wellesley, and a major research university, Duke. Dr. Nannerl Overholser Keohane has broke...

Napoleon III (1808-1873) was emperor of France from 1852 to 1870. Elected president of the Second French Republic in 1848, he staged a coup d'etat in 1851 and reestablished the Empire. Between 1848 and 1870 France underwent rapid economic ...

The American musician Nat Cole (Nathaniel Adams Coles; 1919-1965) was beloved by millions as a singer of popular songs, but his forte was piano, in the "cool" jazz idiom. Nathaniel Adams Coles, the youngest son of the Reverend Edwards Cole...

Nathaniel Turner (1800-1831) was a black American who organized and led the most successful slave revolt in the United States. Nat Turner was born a slave on Oct. 2, 1800, in Southampton County, Va. As a child, he exhibited notable leaders...

The Russian painter and theatrical scenery designer Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962) was pivotal in the development of avant-garde Russian art during the decade prior to World War I and thereafter was an important and innovative designer of ...

Nathalie Sarraute (1900-1999) was one of the seminal figures in the emergence of France's "Nouveau Roman" ("New Novel") in the 1950s. Her work included not only novels but also plays and influential essays on literary theory. Nathalie Tche...

A Confederate general in the American Civil War, Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877) ranks as a near genius of war. He was a daring and successful cavalry leader who had few peers. Nathan Bedford Forrest, eldest son of his family, was born ...

American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene (1742-1786) was considered "the greatest military genius of the war." His chief contribution to the American victory lay in his brilliant southern campaign. Nathanael Greene was born in P...

Nathaniel Bacon (1647-1676) was an American colonial leader in Virginia and the leader of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676. The period of American colonial history which followed the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in England (1660) was an era...

In sketches, tales, and romances published in the second third of the nineteenth century, Nathaniel Hawthorne chose mainly American materials, drawing especially on the history of colonial New England and his native Salem in the time of hi...

Nathaniel Brown Palmer (1799-1877), American sea captain, sighted the part of the Antarctic Peninsula that came to be known as Palmer Land. In later life he engaged in designing and sailing clipper ships for the China trade. Nathaniel Palm...

The Japanese novelist and essayist Soseki Natsume (1867-1916) was one of the greatest Japanese novelists of the modern period. In his fiction and essays he displays keen psychological insight into the personality of man undergoing the tran...

Nawaz Sharif (born 1949) led his party to victory and became the prime minister of Pakistan in 1990. Supporters claim his political success lay in his business background. While most of Pakistan's political players were of the landed elite...

Ndabaningi Sithole (born 1920) was a teacher, clergyman, and politician who played a critical role in the early nationalist movement in Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia). A leading African intellectual, he epitomized the plight of Afri...

Neal Dow (1804-1897) was an American temperance reformer. His long, successful career, together with his reputation as father of the "Maine Law," made him a national figure. Born in Portland, Maine, on March 20, 1804, Dow was raised in a w...

Ned Rorem (born 1923) was widely regarded as the leading American composer of art songs. He was also well known as a diarist and essayist. Ned Rorem was born in Richmond, Indiana, on October 23, 1923. He received his early music training i...

The American astronaut Neil Alden Armstrong (born 1930) was the first person to walk on the moon. Neil Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930, near Wapakoneta, Ohio, the eldest of three children of Stephen and Viola Engel Armstrong. Airplane...

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Neil Simon (born 1927) has become America's most prolific and popular dramatist. His tragicomic plays expose human frailties and make people laugh at themselves. One of America's favorite playwrights, Neil...