Sharon, Plain of Mediterranean coastal plain, western Israel. Extend¬ ing about 55 mi (90 km) from Mount Carmel to Tel Aviv-Yafo and roughly triangular in shape, it has been inhabited since remote antiquity. Its name occurs in the Bible and is mentioned in Egyptian pharaonic inscriptions. Modern settlement was undertaken as part of the Zionist movement to settle the agricultural lands of Palestine in the late 19th century, and by the early 1930s it had become the most densely settled area of Jewish Palestine. It produces citrus fruits, vegetables, and cotton and is a popu¬ lar tourist destination.
Shasta, Mount Peak, Cascade Range, northern California, U.S. A double-peaked extinct volcano 14,162 ft (4,317 m) high. Mount Shasta dominates the landscape for a hundred miles. The several glaciers on its slopes are popular with skiers and climbers. The first ascent was made in
shath \'shath\ In Sufism, a divinely inspired statement that a practitioner utters in a mystical state. The Sufis claim that there are moments of ecstatic fervour when they are overwhelmed by the divine presence to such a degree that they lose touch with worldly realities. In such moments they utter statements that may seem incoherent or blasphemous if taken literally, so the statements must be interpreted symbolically. Since the state of mystical trance is normally brief, the statements rarely exceed six or seven words, but the Sufis regard all their writings, particularly their poetry, as possessing an element of shath.
Shatila See Sabra and Shatila massacres
Shaft al-Arab Vshat-al-'ar-oM River, southeastern Iraq, formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It flows southeastward for 120 mi (193 km) and passes the Iraqi port of AI-Basrah and the Iranian port of Abadan before emptying into the Persian Gulf. With dredging, the river is navigable by shallow-draft oceangoing vessels. For about the last half of its course, the river forms the border between Iraq and Iran. In the 1980s it was the scene of prolonged fighting during the Iran-Iraq War.
Shatuo Turk or Sha-t'o Vsha-'to\ Turk Any member of a nomadic people who came to the aid of the Tang dynasty (618-907) after the rebel Huang Zhao captured the capitals of Luoyang and Chang’an in 880 and 881. Their leader, Li Keyong (856-908), became one of the aspirants to imperial power during the collapse of the Tang dynasty.
Shaughnessy Vsh6-no-se\ (of Montreal and Ashford), Tho¬ mas George Shaughnessy, 1 st Baron (b. Oct. 6, 1853, Milwau¬ kee, Wis., U.S.—d. Dec. 10, 1923, Montreal, Que., Can.) Canadian railway executive. After working as a clerk for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, he joined the Canadian Pacific Railway as general pur¬ chasing agent (1882), becoming vice president (1891-99), president (1899-1918), and chairman of the board (from 1918). He oversaw the greatest expansion in the railroad’s history and added shipping and min¬ ing industries to its holdings.
Shaw, Anna Howard (b. Feb. 14, 1847, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, Eng.—d. July 2, 1919, Moylan, Pa., U.S.) U.S. minis¬ ter and suffragist. She arrived in the U.S. with her family in 1851. By age
15 she was a frontier schoolteacher, and in 1880 she became the first woman minister of the Methodist Protestant Church. She took up the causes of temperance and woman suffrage in 1885 and became an impor¬ tant spokesperson for both. She earned a medical degree the next year and later served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Asso¬ ciation (1904-15). She performed home-front war work during World War I, for which she received the Distinguished Service Medal in 1919. She died shortly before women gained the right to vote.
Shaw, Artie orig. Arthur Jacob Arshawsky (b. May 23, 1910, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 30, 2004, Newbury Park, Calif.) U.S. clarinetist and leader of one of the most popular big bands of the swing era. Shaw was a technically brilliant clarinetist and worked freelance before leading his own groups. In 1935 he performed with a string quar¬ tet, later expanding the group into a more conventional dance band. He led a U.S. Navy band during World War II and afterward led various ensembles until his retirement in 1954. His best-known recordings are “Begin the Beguine” and “Frenesi.”
Shaw, George Bernard (b. July 26, 1856, Dublin, Ire.—d. Nov. 2, 1950, Ayot St. Lawrence, Hertford¬ shire, Eng.) Irish playwright and critic. After moving to London in 1876, he worked for years as a music and art critic, wrote book and theatre reviews, and was an active member of the socialist Fabian Society. In his first play, Widowers’ Houses (1892), he emphasized social and economic issues instead of romance, adopting the ironic comedic tone that would characterize all his work. He described his first plays as “unpleas¬ ant” because they forced the specta¬ tor to face unpleasant facts; these plays include Mrs. Warren’s Profes¬ sion (1893), which concerns prosti¬ tution and was barred from performance until 1902. He then wrote four “pleasant” plays, includ¬ ing the comedies Arms and the Man (1894) and Candida (1895). His next plays include Caesar and Cleopatra (1899) and Man and Superman (1905). He used high comedy to explore society’s foibles in Major Bar¬ bara (1905), The Doctor’s Dilemma (1911), and Pygmalion (1913), his comedic masterpiece. Other notable plays include Androcles and the Lion (1912), Heartbreak House (1919), and Saint Joan (1923). His other writ¬ ings and speeches made him a controversial public figure for much of his life. He received the Nobel Prize in 1925.
Shaw, Lemuel (b. Jan. 9, 1781, Barnstable, Mass., U.S.—d. March 30, 1861, Boston, Mass.) U.S. jurist. He was educated at Harvard University. In 1822 he drafted the first municipal charter for Boston virtually with¬ out precedents to guide him; it remained in effect until 1913. In 1830 he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachu¬ setts, where he served for 30 years. His rulings were formative in the development of both Massachusetts and national jurisprudence. In par¬ ticular, his ruling in favour of a striking labour union (1842) provided the first major precedent for removing unions from the province of the law of conspiracy, and his decision upholding the city’s segregated schools (1849) was later reflected in the “separate but equal” doctrine propounded by the Supreme Court of the United States in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), though it also led Massachusetts to pass the only 19th-century American desegregation law. His daughter married Herman Melville.
shawm Double-reed Renaissance woodwind instrument, ancestor of the oboe. Its conical bore and bell are wider than the oboe’s. A disk called a pirouette usually supports the player’s lips. Shawms were constructed in many sizes, from treble to great bass. They were in use in the Middle East perhaps 2,000 years ago, and they were introduced into Europe during the Crusades. With their powerful tone, shawms were classed with the “loud” or “outdoor” instruments and were used in dance and ceremonial music.