The Story of Writing

US Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt receives the letter from Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard and it is the birthday of James Baldwin - with a reading from Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time."

England abolishes slavery, Henry Perky patents shredded wheat, Harriet Quimby gets her pilot's license, and Frank Herbert's novel "Dune" is published. The birthday club includes Francis Scott Key and Herman Melville - with a reading from Melville's classic "Moby Dick."

Daniel Defoe is locked in a pillory, it is "Black Tot" Day, and the birthday club includes Ignacio Cervantes, Primo Levi, and Ahmet Ertegun - with a reading from Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe."

Explorer Samuel de Champlain unwittingly starts a nearly a century of war, Walt Disney releases his first Oscar winner, and US Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act. And the birthday club includes Maria Anna Mozart and Emily Bronte - with a reading from Bronte's "Wuthering Heights."

Physicist Augusten Fresnel publishes "Memoir on the Diffraction of Light," the world's major powers sign a treaty defining war crimes, and the birthday club includes Alexis de Tocqueville and Mary Lee Settle - with a reading from Tocqueville's landmark book, "Democracy in America."

Lavinia Ream becomes the first woman to be commissioned to sculpt a statue for the Capital Rotunda, the 14th Amendment is ratified, US Pres. Herbert Hoover orders then-currently serving troops to roust WWI veterans from Washington, D.C., and the Provisional Irish Republican Army agrees to lay down their weapons. This episode includes a reading from Wallace Stegner's "Crossing to Safety.&q...

The actual Macbeth, King of Scotland, lost an important battle on this day, Maximilian Robespierre is arrested in Paris, and researchers in Toronto find insulin regulates blood sugar. The character Bugs Bunny is introduced to the world and a reading of Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress-Toward."

The US Post Office is established, the first Esperanto book is published, and the world's major powers draft the Potsdam Declaration to end WWII. The birthday club includes George Bernard Shaw, Carl Jung, and Gracie Allen - with a reading from Shaw's "Man and Superman."

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart finishes his masterpiece 40th Symphony: the Great G-Minor, Jack London sails from San Francisco for gold in the Yukon, and US Pres. John F. Kennedy says any attack on West Berlin by the Russians would be treated as an attack on US soil. It is the birthday of political analyst and writer Anne Applebaum - with a reading from her book "Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive...

O. Henry is released from prison, the world's major powers sign a pact to not use war to settle disputes (almost 10 years before the start of WWII), and the US Supreme Court orders Pres. Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate Tapes. The birthday club includes Alexandre Dumas and Zelda Fitzgerald - with a reading from a letter Zelda sent to her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Ford Motor Company sells its first car, the Chinese Communist Party is founded, and Philippe Petain is put on trial for being a Nazi puppet and turning France into a fascist state. On the birthday of Raymond Chandler, we look at his work - with a reading from "Red Winds: A Collection of Short Stories."

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

The first showdown in America's "Wild West," the dramatic conclusion of the Scopes Monkey Trial, and recording Earth's coldest temperature - with a reading from Willa Cather's "My Mortal Enemy."

Apollo 11 lands and humans walk on the moon for the first time and the birthday club includes Gregor Mendel, Tom Crean, and Edmund Hillary - with a reading from Kimberle Crenshaw's "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex."

The first women’s rights convention in the U.S. begins in Seneca Falls, New York and it is the birthday of Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson - with a reading of her poem, "If I had Known."

The Hough Riots convulse Cleveland and the birthday club includes William Makepeace Thackary, Nelson Mandela, and Hunter S. Thompson - with a reading from Thompson's obituary of former Pres. Richard M. Nixon, titled "He Was a Crook."

Spain sells Florida to the US, Willis Carrier designs the air conditioner, the International Criminal Court is established in The Hague, and it is the birthday of Phyllis Diller - with a reading of Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poem "Solitude."

J. D. Salinger publishes "The Catcher in the Rye" and it is the birthday of Ida B. Wells - with a reading from Wells' speech "Lynch Law in America."

The Rosetta Stone is found, the Spanish Inquisition ends after 350 years, Alzheimer's is named, and the birthday club includes Clement Clark Moore and Iris Murdoch.

Storming the Bastille, US Pres. John Adams signs the Sedition Act, the second catastrophic fire in Chicago burns nearly 50 acres of the city, and the birthday club includes William Hanna and Woody Guthrie - with a reading from Guthrie's song "Pretty Boy Floyd."

The birthday club includes George Weller, Marcia Brown, and Cameron Crowe - with a reading of Jean Blewett's "Miracles."

It's Thoreau-Neruda Day! Henry David Thoreau and Pablo Neruda were born on this day. Doris Grumbach, too. This episode includes a reading from Thoreau's essay "Walking."

Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton face each other in a duel, "To Kill A Mockingbird" is published, and the birthday club includes E. B. White and Jhumpa Lahiri - with a reading from White's "Here is New York."

The French declare war on England - diverting English forces from crushing the American Revolution, Mackenzie crosses the North American continent, French secret agents blow up and sink the Rainbow Warrior, the ship used by Greenpeace. And it is the birthday of Marcel Proust - with a reading from his "In Search of Lost Time."

In the U.S., the 14th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, the Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released, and the birthday club includes Elias Howe and Oliver Sacks - with a reading of Dorothy Parker's "Bohemia."