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Adolf Eichmann | Who was executed by hanging at Ramla prison in 1962 and remains the only person to have been executed by an Israeli civilian court? |
El Salvador and Honduras | What two countries fought the six-day 'Football War' or the '100-hours War' in 1969? |
"""Great game""" | What sporty term popularized by Rudyard Kipling in Kim was used to describe the rivalry between the British Empire and the Russian Empire in their quest for supremacy in Central Asia in the 19th century? |
Boxer Rebellion | Literally called 'The Righteous and Harmonious Society Movement', what is the more popular western name for the Chinese rebellion took place from 1899 to 1901 against foreign influence during the final years of the Manchu rule? |
Buffalo soldiers | What generic term for all African American soldiers was originally applied to the members of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment by the native Apache Indians? |
Alexander the Great | The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was destroyed on July 21, 356 BC in an act of arson. Historian Plutarch remarked that the goddess was preoccupied with the birth of whom that occurred on the same day to save her temple? |
Clash of Civilizations | What 1990s theory proposed by the political scientist Samuel Huntington contends that cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world? |
Solidarity | What is the name of the Polish trade union founded in September 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard that was originally led by Lech Wałęsa? |
Soviet Union | In 1954, which country suggested that it should join NATO to preserve peace in Europe but this proposal was rejected as the other countries felt that it would weaken the alliance? |
"""Nuts!""" | What was the famous one-word reply of General McAuliffe of the US to a German demand for surrender during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII? |
Costa Rica | In 1948, which Latin American country became the first in the world to constitutionally abolish its army? |
Socrates | "Whose last words before he drank poison reportedly were ""Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Pay it and do not neglect it.""?" |
Panmunjeom | What is the name of the village on the border between North and South Korea where the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War was signed? |
Robben Island | What South African island was used as a gaol for political prisoners while the country was under the policy of apartheid? |
Greek fire | What burning-liquid weapon was used by the Byzantine Greeks to great effect as it could continue burning even on water? |
Longbow | What weapon do many historians call 'the machine gun of the Middle Ages'? |
Czech Republic and Slovakia | What two countries formed in 1993 as a result of what is known as the 'Velvet Divorce'? |
Battle of the Three Emperors | The Battle of Austerlitz, one of Napoleon's greatest victories is also known by what name that references Emperor Francis and the Russian Czar along with Napoleon himself? |
Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre | The Pulitzer-nominated 1979 book The Madwoman in the Attic which examines Victorian literature from a feminist perspective takes its title from a plot point of what 1847 novel? |
Translations | Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky a current-day husband and wife team are known for what type of contribution to literature? |
(Sperm) whale | Captain George Pollard, Jr., who inspired an all-time great 1851 novel, was the captain of Essex that was attacked and sunk by what? |
Arthur C. Clarke | Who is the popular author who served as Chancellor of Moratuwa University in Sri Lanka from 1979 to 2002? |
Center of the earth | According to a 1864 adventure novel, Saknussemm's Corridor in an extinct volcano in Iceland is the place to start if you seek to go where? |
Pelican | American poet Dixon Lanier Merritt's well-known limerick is about what bird? |
Willows | "Algernon Blackwood's 1907 story, called by H. P. Lovecraft as the ""finest supernatural tale in English literature"" is titled after what type of trees? (hint: cricket)" |
Rain | In which Somerset Maugham's short-story does missionary Alfred Davidson try to reform a prostitute but ultimately succumbs to her charm? |
Aramis | The name of what literary swashbuckler is the answer to the final question in the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire? |
Isaac Asimov | Which prolific author created a men-only dining group called The Black Widowers for a series of mystery stories? |
Snow leopard | A 1978 contemplative travel book of Peter Matthiessen concerned him tracking what elusive creature of the Himalayas? |
The Wise Men | A 1986 book on the pivotal role of six Cold War diplomats including Dean Acheson and George Kennan had what title evoking a certain Biblical trio? |
The Tay Bridge Disaster | Just as Edward Bulwer-Lytton is associated with bombastic writing, what is the similarly famous poem of William McGonagall? |
Guy Fawkes | In Alan Moore's graphic novel V for Vendetta the anarchist wears a mask of which real-life person? |
Homosexuality | The award winning 2005 children's book And Tango Makes Three has been subject to much controversy as it was seen to be highlighting what behavior in the animal kingdom? |
JFK | "Whose interview in Life magazine is said to have led to an upsurge in the sales of James Bond books? After a private screening of Dr. No, he also reportedly said ""I wish I had had James Bond on my staff.""" |
He serves a man and not a household | In technical terms, the unforgettable Jeeves of P. G. Wodehouse is a valet and not a butler. Why? |
Ernest Hemingway | Polydactyl cats (born with more than the usual number of toes) are associated with which writer who was known for his love for them? |
The Shipping Forecast | "What sonnet of Irish poet Seamus Heaney, a tribute to a long-running bulletin from BBC, starts as ""Dogger, Rockall, Malin, Irish Sea""?" |
Gormenghast | What is the name of the castle in Mervyn Peake's series of fantasy novels that has now come to mean any sprawling complex? |
Brontë sisters | Chekov's play Three Sisters is said to have been inspired by which real life siblings? |
Jack Kerouac | Which writer wrote the introduction for Robert Frank's influential photography book The Americans (1958) that contained images from Frank's travels across the US? |
Pasta | In Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola, the children's tale of magic gone awry, a town in Italy is buried in an avalanche of what? |
Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad | What 1904 story by M. R. James in which the protagonist finds an antique artifact with undesirable consequences gets its ominously inviting title from a 1793 Robert Burns poem/song? |
Bell curve | A controversial 1994 book by psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein whose premise is that genes and environment are predictors of intelligence is titled after what statistical function? |
Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot | During the Siege of Sarajevo in the 90s, Susan Sontag directed what play in a candlelit theater symbolizing the city's absurd anticipation of western intervention? |
Wimpy kid | What is the better known nickname of Greg Heffley whose hilarious memoirs are now a hit book franchise? |
80 days | London to Suez = a; Suez to Bombay = b; Bombay to Calcutta = c; Calcutta to Hong Kong = d; Hong Kong to Yokohoma = e; Yokohama to San Francisco = f; San Francisco to New York City = g; New York to London = h. In terms of 19th century adventure time, a + b + c + d + e + f + g + h = ? |
Rome | The global think tank that attracted considerable attention with its 1972 publication of The Limits of Growth is called 'The Club of' what European city? |
The White Man's Burden | What 1899 poem of Rudyard Kipling whose racist title alludes to Western aspirations to dominate the developing world was written after the American colonization of the Philippines? |
For Dummies | The 5th Wave cartoons by Rich Tennant are interspersed throughout the books of what reference series? |
Marcel Proust | The French commune of Illiers adopted the name Illiers-Combray in homage to which author whose vivid recreation of the town (through recollection) opens his vast magnum opus? |
"""library""" | "Fill in the missing word in this famous quote of Jorge Luis Borges that is very appropriate coming from a writer! ""I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of ___.""" |
Arthur Conan Doyle | No sleuthing allowed. What struggling doctor wrote The Narrative of John Smith that was published in 2011 about 130 years after it was first written? |
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion | What concocted 1903 text that asserts a Jewish plan to take over the world is sometimes cited as Hitler's justification for the Holocaust? |
Don Quixote | Which 17th century literary classic ends with the title character stipulating in his will that his niece will be disinherited if she marries anyone who reads about chivalry? |
Memory hole | What term that is a mechanism for the disappearance of inconvenient documents comes from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four in which it is a slot into which officials deposit records to be destroyed? |
Isaac Asimov | Who wrote the 1942 short story Runaround that lists three laws one of which is stated below? 'A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm' |
Essay | Michel de Montaigne of France is best known for popularizing what kind of writing as a literary genre? |
The Nine Billion Names of God | In what story of Arthur C. Clarke do Tibetan monks seek to list all the names of God as they believe He will bring the Universe to an end once this is done? |
Red Star Over China | Similar to John Reed's Ten Days that Shook the World, which influential 1930s book by Edgar Snow is an account of the Communist Party of China? |
Sohrab and Rustum | Which 1853 narrative poem of Matthew Arnold set in the orient tells the story of two feuding warrior-generals who, unknown to both, happen to be father and son? |
The Monkey's Paw | Which 1902 short story by W. W. Jacobs is based on the premise of three wishes coming true but with an enormous price for interfering with fate? |
The Coral Island | William Golding's Lord of the Flies was written as a response to which 1857 adventure novel by R. M. Ballantyne because Golding disagreed with the views that the book held? |
The Luck of Barry Lyndon | Which 1844 novel of William Makepeace Thackeray, later adapted into a movie by Stanley Kubrick, is based on the life of an Anglo-Irish fortune-hunter called Andrew Robinson Stoney? |
Dr. Fu Manchu | The English novelist Sax Rohmer is best known for creating which prototypical ethnic villain who is now associated with a distinctive mustache? |
V. S. Naipaul | 'The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.' This unforgettable opening line is from which author's A Bend in the River and lent itself to the title of that authors authorized biography The World Is What It Is by Patrick French? |
Italo Calvino | The most-translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his death in 1985, whose best known works are the Our Ancestors trilogy and the Cosmicomics collection of short stories? |
The Horla | What classic short story by the French writer Guy de Maupassant concerns an invisible malevolent spirit that aims to take control over the narrator? |
Black Like Me | Which 1961 non-fiction book by US journalist John Howard Griffin describes his six-week experience travelling on buses through racially segregated states while passing as a black man? |
Things Fall Apart (1958) | The title of which classic set in Africa is taken from a line in Yeats' poem The Second Coming and precedes the words 'the centre cannot hold'? |
The Theory of the Leisure Class | Which 1899 book by Thorstein Veblen that originated the phrase 'conspicuous consumption' is considered one of the first detailed critiques of consumerism? |
Runcible spoon | What type of utensil that is frequently used in nonsense poetry first appeared in Edward Lear's best-known poem The Owl and the Pussycat? |
Ozymandias | The 'Younger Memnon' statue of Ramesses II in the British Museum is thought to have inspired which famous poem of P. B. Shelley? |
Three Billy Goats Gruff | Which Norwegian fairy tale is about three goats who want to cross a bridge under which lurks a fearsome troll? |
Penguin Island | What 1908 satirical work by the Nobel Prize winning French author Anatole France describes a fictitious island of great auks that exists on the northern coast of Europe? |
Oh, the Places You'll Go! | In the US and Canada, what appropriately titled book of Dr. Seuss is a popular gift for students graduating from high school and college? |
Comic book industry | The 1954 publication of the book Seduction of the Innocent which protested the harmful effects of mass media on children led to a U.S. Congressional inquiry into what genre of publishing? |
Jeffrey Archer | In 2004, the government of Equatorial Guinea accused which popular English author of being one of the financiers of a failed 2004 coup d'état attempt against it? |
P. G. Wodehouse | Because A. A. Milne was critical towards him for pandering to Germans during WWII, which English author created a ridiculous character named Timothy Bobbin to parody some of Milne's poetry? |
The Road to Serfdom | Which 1944 work of Friedrich Hayek is among the most influential expositions of classical liberalism and is stated as the single book that significantly shaped the political ideologies of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan? |
Albert Camus | When he was killed in a car crash in 1960, which existentialist became the shortest-lived of any literature Nobel laurate till date? |
Animal Liberation | Which 1975 book by the Australian philosopher Peter Singer is considered to be the founding philosophical statement of the animal rights movement? |
Plato's Republic | Utopia by Thomas More is largely based on which influential work of philosophy and political theory? |
Sidney Sheldon | The Other Side of Me is the autobiography of which popular American author and creator of the TV series I Dream of Jeannie? |
A Bridge Too Far (1974) | If Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day details the D-Day invasion of Normandy, and The Last Battle tells about the Battle of Berlin, which of his books tells the story of Operation Market Garden in WWII? |
V. S. Naipaul | The American travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux's book Sir Vidia's Shadow provides a caustic portrait of which other famous author? |
The Wretched of the Earth | Which 1961 book by Frantz Fanon was described by Time magazine as 'this is not so much a book as a rock thrown through the windows of the West. It is the Communist Manifesto or the Mein Kampf of the anticolonial revolution ...'? |
Gothic fiction | What genre of literature is generally believed to have been invented by the English author Horace Walpole with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto? |
Wide Sargasso Sea | Which 1966 postcolonial parallel novel by Jean Rhys acts as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre? |
Bloomsday | What is observed annually on June 16 in Dublin to celebrate the life of James Joyce and relive the events in his novel Ulysses? |
On War | Which influential 19th century work on military strategy by Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz is prescribed at various military academies to this day? |
Boris Pasternak | Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India spoke with Khrushchev and was partly instrumental in preventing the expulsion of which writer from the Soviet Union after that person won the Nobel Prize for Literature? |
Thomas Hardy | If Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence fictionalizes the life of Paul Gauguin, his novel Cakes and Ale contains characterizations of which English author who never lived in Wessex? |
A Sound of Thunder | Which well-known short story about time travel by Ray Bradbury is a fictional exploration of the 'butterfly effect' of Chaos theory? |
J. D. Salinger | The 2000 film Finding Forrester in which Sean Connery plays a reclusive author was loosely based on the life of which person who passed away in 2010? |
Layla and Majnun | Which classic Middle Eastern story of star-crossed lovers is based on the real story of a young man called Qays ibn al-Mullawah and has achieved legendary status in the Islamic world? |
The Riddle of the Sands | Which 1903 book by Erskine Childers that is still enjoyed for its accurate portrayal of inland sailing was credited by Winston Churchill as a major reason for the establishment of naval bases in the UK? |
Walter Scott | Mark Twain's ridiculing of chivalry in his story A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is considered as specifically targeting whose books? |
Purgatory | In Dante's Divine Comedy, if Hell is divided into 9 circles and Paradise into 9 spheres, what is divided into 7 terraces? |
Mata Hari | In the Indiana Jones series of novels, Indiana loses his virginity to which real life spy? |
The Panchatantra | Karataka and Damanaka are the names of two jackals that are retainers to a lion king. Their lively adventures as well as the stories they tell one another make up nearly half of which classic ancient Sanskrit work? |
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