.... of worldly matters and of the individual. Aristotle attempted to explain how an audience could observe tragic events and still have a pleasurable experience. Aristotle, by searching the works of writers of Greek tragedy, Aeschulus, Euripides and Sophocles (whose Oedipus Rex he considered the finest of all Greek tragedies), arrived at his definition of tragedy. This explanation has a profound influence for more than twenty centuries on those writing tragedies, most significantly Shakespeare. Aristotle's analysis of tragedy began with a description of the effect suc .....

.... in the Kremlin, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was waiting like a vulture. Only the United States, they believed, could save Europe from chaos and communism. With sureness of purpose, some luck and a little convincing, these men persuaded Congress to help rescue Europe with $13.3 billion in economic assistance over three years. That sum--more than $100 billion in today's dollars, or about six times what America now spends annually on foreign aid--seems unthinkable today. The European Recovery Program, better known as , was an extraordinary act of strategic generosity. How a few policymaker .....

.... the East India Company were thrown into the Boston Harbor by American patriots. Patriots disguised themselves as Indians, the event was not secret, supporters cheered from the wharf. Why, given low price for tea, would the colonists be upset by the Tea Act of 1773? The merchants could no longer compete with the low prices offered by the agents of the East India Company. The colonial merchants would be driven out of business. With this threat to their businesses, the colonists reacted swiftly and crowds rioted in the streets. The Boston Tea Party was called “the boldest stroke which h .....

.... mind to new understandings and philosophies. But it wasn’t just marijuana that opened the minds of the youth; a new drug known as LSD came into existence: Depending on who was doing the talking, [LSD] is an intellectual tool to explore psychic ‘inner space,’ a new source of kicks for thrill seekers, the sacramental substance of a far-out mystical movement- or the latest and most frightening addiction to the list of mind drugs now available in the pill society being fashioned by pharmacology (Clark 59). With politicians and law enforcement officers looking on the drug as a danger to so .....

.... workers. On December 14, 1970 the workers finally showed their anger and frustration by striking. A white-collar worker explained the situation that arouse at Lenin Shipyard that morning: When I entered the Gdansk Shipyard, I could feel the tension. As usual, everyone was going to their workplace, but on each face you could see something serious was going on. When I reached the hangar of S-5, above which was my office, I noticed that all the machines were shut off even though the workers started their shift at 6:00 while we started at 6:45. The workers stood in one place talking. Someone was .....

.... received was from the Masaba warning the Titanic of a mass of ice lying straight ahead. According to Marcus, the message never reached the bridge, but instead was shoved under a paper-weight (126). At 10:30 p.m. that evening, a ship going the opposite direction of the Titanic was sighted. This ship, the Rappahannock, had emerged from an ice field and had sustained damage to its rudder. The vessel signaled the Titanic about the ice and the Titanic replied that the message was received (Marcus 127). At 11 p.m. another ice report was received. This one was from the Californian. This line .....

.... at Shao Lin. Originally Tamo was refused entrance to the temple because the monks thought he was just an upstart or foreign meddler. Rejected by the monks, Tamo went to a nearby cave and meditated until the monks recognized his religious prowess and admitted him to the temple. Legend has it that he bore a hole through one side of the cave with his constant gaze; in fact, the act that earned him his recognition is lost to history. When Tamo joined the monks, he observed that they were not in good physical condition. Most of their routine paralleled that of Irish monks of the middle ages .....

.... church. Even at an early age, Vincent showed artistic talent but neither he nor his parents imagined that painting would take him where it did later in life. One of his first jobs came at the age of sixteen, as an art dealer’s assistant. He went to work for Goupil and Company, an art gallery where an uncle had been working for some time. Three of his father’s brothers were art dealers, and he was christened after the most distinguished of his uncles, who was manager of the Hague branch of the famous Goupil Galleries (Meier-Graefe). His parents were poor, so his rich uncle offered to tak .....

.... Samuel Parris' slave. Her role in the witch trials includes the arrest and confession of witchcraft on March 1, 1692. In January of 1692, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris became very ill. When she failed to improve, the village doctor, William Griggs, was called in. After much deliberation, Griggs concluded that the problem was witchcraft. This put into motion the forces that would ultimately result in the death of nineteen men and women. In addition to those nineteen people, one man named Giles Corey was crushed to death. Seventeen others died in prison and the lives of ma .....

.... the Union Army much higher than the numbers of the Confederate Army. The South’s economy was more agricultural, based around the institution of slavery. The North’s economy was more industrial. The North could supply their army with clothes, food, and firearms much easier than the South could. The North had more industries and supplies. The Union had approximately 1,300,000 industrial workers compared to the Confederacy’s 110,000. The North’s advantage would enhance as the civil war wore on. The South lacked the economy to sustain a lengthy civil war. Besides the adva .....