Le Duan (1908-1986) was a major figure in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War and the principal leader of all Vietnam in the postwar era. He proved to be a good wartime ruler, but was less successful as a leader dealing with the problems ...

Think of the mail-order business and several prominent names come to mind--Sears, Roebuck & Company, Montgomery Ward, and Spiegel's, to name just a few. But perhaps none has achieved the unique quality, charm, and character of L.L. Bea...

Albert Laberge was a pioneer of naturalism and realism in French-Canadian fiction, modes that developed late in Quebec because of the powerful conservative influences of clerical and lay ideologues. Together with his friend Rodolphe Girard...

Lachlan Macquarie (1762-1824), British officer and governor of New South Wales, sought to improve the status of emancipists and undertook a major public works program. Lachlan Macquarie, born on January 31, 1762, came from a poor Scottish ...

The English writer Lady Antonia Fraser (born 1932), was a popular biographer, historian, and mystery novelist. Lady Antonia Fraser was born on August 27, 1932, in London, England. She was the daughter of the seventh Earl of Longford, Franc...

Lady Nij (Nij dono) is the protagonist of the autobiographical narrative Towazugatari (An Unasked-for Tale, 1307-1313), which describes her life from the ages of fourteen to forty-nine. Through skillfully combining elements of genres such ...

A member of the first generation of Quebec romantics imbued with the fervor of political revolution and historical nationalism, Antoine Gérin-Lajoie is remembered for his plaintive lament "Un Canadian errant" (1865) and his classic ...

Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928) was an Indian nationalist leader and was well known for his many publications regarding national problems. Lala Lajpat Rai was born in the Ferozepore district of the Punjab to a respectable Hindu family. He stud...

Marcel Landowski (1915-1999) was a French composer of lyric works which emphasized a synthesis of music and text and reflected sensitivity to religious forces. When, in 1937, the conductor Pierre Monteux performed two of his works--Les Sor...

Joseph Lane Kirkland (1922-1999) served as a leader in the American labor union movement for his entire career. He was also a political activist supporting civil rights, equal opportunities for women, and a strong defense. Joseph Lane Kirk...

Felipe Herrera Lane (1922-1996), a Chilean banker and economist, became one of the major architects of economic development because of his key position as president of the Inter-American Development Bank. Felipe Herrera was born in Valpara...

The Italian monk and theologian Lanfranc (ca. 1010-1089) served as archbishop of Canterbury. He was a trusted adviser of King William I and presided over many changes in the English Church after the Norman conquest. Anative of Pavia, Lanfr...

As a household name for so many readers of varying persuasions, Langston Hughes was perhaps the most significant black American writer in the twentieth century. From the Harlem Renaissance of the early twenties, to the Black Arts reorienta...

Lao Shê (1899-1966) was the pen name of the Chinese novelist Shu Ch'ing-ch'un. The prolific output of this humorist, patriot, and realist also included poetry, several volumes of short stories, and many plays. Of Manchu descent, Lao ...

Lap-Chee Tsui is most recognized for leading the team that, in 1989, found the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis (called CFTR, for cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator gene). The large team involved the laboratories at Toronto's Hosp...

Mikhail Larionov (1881-1964) was a central figure during the decade preceding World War I in the emergence of modern art in Russia. Through his efforts organizing shows as well as his paintings and those of others, Russia not only entered ...

Larry Rivers (born 1923) was an American artist who, in the course of his career, was also a jazz musician, writer, and filmmaker. His painting, primarily figurative, combined his origins in "action painting" with an often witty use of his...

Lars Onsager (1903-1976) made significant contributions to chemistry, including his developments in the Debye-Hückel theory of electrolytic dissociation and his work with non-reversable systems. He received the 1968 Nobel Prize in Che...

The Welsh designer Laura Ashley (1925-1985) achieved renown for her genteel, Victorian inspired fashions in women's clothes and for her English Country manor style of furnishings for homes. Through her designs, books, and stores, she may b...

Although Laura Goodman Salverson won a Governor General's Award (for fiction) for The Dark Weaver (1937), a Governor General's Award (for nonfiction) for Confessions of an Immigrant's Daughter (1939), and the Ryerson Fiction Award for Immo...

Laurence Oliphant's works are rarely read, although they are quite unlike other Victorian novels. His life, fascinating in its complexity and with a tragic gap between his promise and his achievements, has recently been the object of a sym...

Laurence Sterne's enduring reputation as an author rests upon two works, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767) and A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (1768), both of which were written and published du...

Laurent Schwartz has won many prestigious awards for his contributions to mathematics, but his most influential work has been in the areas of functional analysis, integral calculus, and differential calculus. In particular, it was his work...

Agnes Christina Laut was a prolific author of fiction and popular history in the first decades of the twentieth century. Her success can be gauged by the extensive republication of her books during her lifetime and their current availabili...

A producer of over 135 sophisticated oil paintings, Lavinia Fontana (1552- 1614) was one of the first female portraitists to seek commissions. Her prolific body of work encompasses numerous categories of art, including single and group por...