Borscht Belt, or Jewish Alps, is a colloquial term for the mostly defunct summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in parts of Sullivan, Orange and Ulster counties in upstate New York that were a popular vacation spot for New York City Jews from the 1920s through the 1960s. Name The name comes from borscht, a soup that is popular in many Central and Eastern European countries and was brought from these regions by Slavic and Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants to the United States, where it remains a popular dish in these ethnic communities as well. The soup is of Ukrainian origin, made with beetr...

Tars Tarkas is a fictional character in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series. Though a great warrior and leader among his people (the brutal and mirthless Tharks) he possesses a sense of compassion and empathy uncharacteristic of his race. In the first novel, A Princess of Mars, with the help of the newly arrived earth man John Carter he becomes a Jeddak (king) of the Tharks. Tars Tarkas is the very first Barsoomian encountered by John Carter when he appears on Mars. In fact, Tars Tarkas begins by making a very earnest attempt to kill Carter, having discovered the Earth man inspecting the...

Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates (full title: Hans Brinker; or, the Silver Skates: A Story of Life in Holland) is a novel by American author Mary Mapes Dodge, first published in 1865. The novel takes place in the Netherlands, and is a colorful fictional portrait of early nineteenth-century Dutch life, as well as a tale of youthful honor. The title of the book refers to the beautiful silver skates to be awarded to winner of the ice-skating race Hans Brinker hopes to enter. The novel introduced the sport of Dutch speed skating to Americans, and in U.S. media Hans Brinker is still consid...