The Story of Writing

The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom is carved, the Treaty of Cordoba is signed, the Panic of 1857 begins, and the birthday club includes Howard Zinn, Paolo Coelho, and Ava DuVernay - with a reading from "My Antonia," by Willa Cather.

The Salad Bowl Strike begins, the World Wide Web opens to the public, and this William Ernest Henley's birthday - with a reading of his poem "Invictus."

The birthday club includes Claude Debussy, Dorothy Parker, Ray Bradbury, and Annie Proulx - with a reading from Proulx's "The Shipping News."

Nat Turner begins a slave revolt and the Lincoln-Douglas debates begin - with a reading from Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's "Minnie's Sacrifice."

Charles Darwin publishes his theory of evolution, U.S. President Andrew Johnson declares the Civil War over, Canada's Supreme Court lays out a road map to provincial secession, and it's the birthday of cosmic horror author H. P. Lovecraft. This episode also includes a reading of Lucille Clifton's "blessing of the boats."

Gold is discovered in California, the liberation of Paris begins, and it's Ogden Nash's birthday - with a reading of his poem, "Everybody Tells Me Everything."

Spanish grammar is published, women in the U.S. win the right to vote, Vladimir Nabokov’s novel "Lolita" is published in the U.S., South African activist Stephen Biko is arrested, and the birthday club includes Antonio Salieri and Margaret Murie - with a reading of Murie's comments on wilderness conservation to Congress.

Roanoke, George Orwell publishes "Animal Farm," and the birthday club includes Fredrika Bremer, Mark Felt, and Jonathan Franzen - with a reading from the 1585 writing "A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia."

The birthday club includes Lawrence of Arabia, Georgette Heyer, Wallace Thurman, William Keepers Maxwell, Jr., Charles Bukowski, and Diana Wynne Jones - with a reading from Jones' "Howl's Moving Castle."

The movie "The Wizard of Oz" premiers, Japan surrenders to end WWII, and the birthday club includes Walter Scott, Oscar Peterson, Stanley Milgram, and Stieg Larsson - with a reading from Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

FDR signs the Social Security Act into law and the birthday club includes Ernest Thompson Seton, Ernest Thayer, David Crosby, Danielle Steele, and Gary Larson - with a reading from Thayer's "Casey at the Bat."

French King Louis XVI is arrested, Opha May Johnson becomes the first woman to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps, it is Barbed Wire Sunday in Berlin, Germany, and it is the birthday of suffragist Lucy Stone - with a reading from a letter to her mother.

Isaac Singer gets the patent for the sewing machine, Sue Hendrickson discovers the best and most complete T. rex skeleton, NAFTA is born, and the birthday club includes Radclyffe Hall, Erwin Schrodinger, William Goldman, and Mary Roberts Rinehart - with a reading from Rinehart's "Writing is Work."

The Watts Riots, U.S. evacuating its last unit of ground troops, hip-hop and rap, and Reagan's "little joke" are all tied to this day. The birthday club includes Angus Wilson and Alex Haley - with a reading from Wilson's "The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot."

The birthday club includes Era Bell Thompson, Clarence Leonidas Fender, Suzanne Collins, and Rachel Simmons - with a reading from Simmons' "The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence."

Henry David Thoreau publishes his landmark book "Walden," Smokey Bear appears for the first time, and - in Nagasaki, Japan - the U.S. dropped the second atomic bomb used in a military attack. This episode includes a reading from Thoreau's "Walden."

The compromise of 1850, "debugging," and the birthday club includes Leo Tolstoy, Kimberly Willis Holt, and Adam Sandler - with a reading from Holt's " When Zachary Beaver Came to Town."

The U.S. Congress agrees to call the nation's currency the dollar, Edison gets a patent for the mimeograph, the world's major powers agree on the parameters of the Nuremberg Trials, and it's the birthday of poet Sara Teasdale - with a reading of her poem "Longing."

Frances Kelsey is given the President’s Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service for refusing to authorize the use of the pharmaceutical thalidomide in the U.S. The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the birthday club includes Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Ralph Bunche, and Anne Fadiman - with a reading from her book "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down."

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the book of the same name that became "the finest piece of journalism" of the 20h Century, LBJ signs the U.S. Voting Rights Act into law, and it is the birthday of activist Virginia Foster Durr - with a reading from John Hersey's book "Hiroshima."

A crucial court case clarifies the importance of freedom of the press and the birthday club includes Guy de Maupassant, Mary Ritter Beard, and Wendell Berry - with a reading of Berry's poem "The Peace of Wild Things."

The Fairness Doctrine is rescinded and the birthday club includes Nicolas-Jacques Conte, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Robert Hayden - with a reading from an essay by Donella Meadows.

Christopher Columbus sets sail and the birthday club includes Ernie Pyle and Leon Uris - with a reading from Pyle's newspaper column "Here is Your War."

The letter that started the Manhattan Project, and it is the birthday of author and thinker James Baldwin - with a reading from his book "The Fire Next Time."

The British abolish slavery, Henry Perky patents shredded wheat, and the birthday club includes Francis Scott Key and Herman Melville - with a reading from Melville's classic novel "Moby Dick."