The Story of Writing

Author Daniel Defoe is locked in a pillory, the U.S. and Soviet Union sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, and the birthday club includes Ignacio Cervantes, Primo Levi, and Ahmet Ertegun - with a reading from Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe."

Samuel de Champlain starts a nearly 100-year war, Walt Disney releases his first Oscar winner, and the birthday club includes Anna Maria Mozart and Emily Bronte - with a reading from Bronte's "Wuthering Heights."

The way light, itself, was perceived changes in big, important ways, the world's major powers try to limit war crimes, and the birthday club includes Alexis de Tocqueville and Mary Lee Settle - with a reading from Tocqueville's "Democracy in America."

The 14th Amendment is ratified, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, President Hoover orders U.S. soldiers to push U.S. veterans away from the White House, and the Irish Republican Army announces it will stop using weapons to oppose British rule. This episode includes a reading from Wallace Stegner's "Crossing to Safety."

The actual Macbeth is defeated in an important battle, Maximilien Robespierre is arrested by the French National Assembly, researchers at the University of Toronto prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar, Warner Brothers releases the animated short "A Wild Hare," introducing Bugs Bunny - with a reading from Banting's notebook.

The U.S. establishes its Post Office, the first book on the constructed language Esperanto is published, the major Allied Powers in WWII signed the Potsdam Declaration, the birthday club includes George Bernard Shaw, Carl Jung, and Gracie Allen - with a reading from Shaw's "Man and Superman."

Mozart finishes his 40th Symphony - the "Great G-Minor" Symphony, Jack London sails to the Yukon in hopes of finding gold, U.S. President John F. Kennedy says any attack on West Berlin was equivalent to an attack on the U.S., and it's the birthday of political scientist and historian Anne Applebaum - with a reading from her book "Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Auth...

O. Henry is released from prison, the Kellogg-Briand Pact goes into effect, SCOTUS finds Nixon must provide his Watergate tapes to a special prosecutor and Congress, and the birthday club includes Alexandre Dumas and Zelda Fitzgerald - with a reading from a letter Zelda wrote to F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Ford Motor Company sold its first car, the Chinese Communist Party is established, French dictator Philippe Petain was put on trial for treason in WWII, and it's the birthday of Raymond Chandler - with a reading from his "Red Winds: A Collection of Short Stories."

Katherine Lee Bates starts writing "America the Beautiful," and it's Emma Lazarus' birthday - with a reading of her poem "The New Colossus."

The first pistol-duel showdown in America's Wild West, the jury reaches a verdict in the Scopes Monkey Trial, the world's coldest temperature is recorded - with a reading from Mark Twain's "Pudd'nhead Wilson."

The second day of the Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y., Finland declares independence, people land on the moon, and the birthday club includes Frantz Fanon and Cormac McCarthy - with a reading from McCarthy's "All the Pretty Horses."

The first women's rights convention in the U.S. opens in Seneca Falls, N.Y. and it is the birthday of writer Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson - with a reading of her poem "You! Inez!"

The Hough Uprising rocks Cleveland, and the birthday club includes William Makepeace Thackeray, Nelson Mandela, and Hunter S. Thompson - with a reading from Thompson's "Kingdom of Fear."

The U.S. buys Florida from Spain, Willis Carrier draws up plans for an air conditioner, the International Criminal Court is established, and it's the birthday of comedian Phyllis Diller - with a reading from her joke book.

It is the birthday of Ida B. Wells and the anniversaries of the publishing of J. D. Salinger's classic novel "The Catcher in the Rye" and the launching of Apollo 11, the first space mission that carried people to the moon. This episode includes a reading from Well's speech "Lynch Law in America."

Finding the Rosetta Stone, the Spanish Inquisition ends, Alzheimers is named, and the birthday club includes Clement Clark Moore and Iris Murdoch - with a reading from Murdoch's "The Sea, The Sea."

It is Bastille Day, U.S. President John Adams signed the Sedition Act, Chicago experiences its second catastrophic fire in three years, and it's the birthday of Woody Guthrie - with a reading from his song "Pretty Boy Floyd."

The birthday club includes Margaret Murray: the "Grandmother of Wicca," journalist George Weller, and Cameron Crowe - with a reading from Crowe's memoir "The Uncool."

It is "Thoreau-Neruda" Day! And it's the birthday of author and editor Doris Grumbach. This episode includes a reading from Thoreau's essay "Walking."

America's most famous duel, between Burr and Hamilton, takes place, "To Kill A Mockingbird" is published, a mid-air disaster leaves an indelible legacy, and the birthday club includes E. B. White and Jhumpa Lahiri - with a reading from White's "Here Is New York."

French King Louis XVI declares war on Great Britain to help the American colonists win their independence from the British and the birthday club includes Marcel Proust and Mary McLeod Bethune - with a reading from her magazine piece "My Last Will and Testament."

The Mozart Family Grand Tour begins, the 14th Amendment is ratified, the Russell-Einstein Manifesto goes public, and it's the birthday of Oliver Sacks - with a reading from his book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales."

The Wall Street Journal publishes its first edition, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hits its lowest point in the 20th Century, and the Nixon Administration changes how it would work with indigenous people in the U.S., and it's the birthday of science historian Margaret Rossiter - with a reading from Matilda Joslyn Gage's "Woman as Inventor."

In New York City, riots break out against abolition of slavery, the U.S. begins its first military draft, the Ziegfeld Follies begin a 20-year run, and bakeries start selling sliced bread - with a reading from Countee Cullen's poem "Bread and Wine."