The Story of Writing

Centigrade fixes Celsius, Ohio is chartered, the world's first national park service is established, and the birthday club includes Jim Lehrer and Jodi Picoult - with a reading from Picoult's "Change of Heart."

Rhode Island bans slavery and the birthday club includes Omar Khayyam, Frank Capra, and Tina Fey - with a reading from Khayyam's "The Rubaiyat."

The Buttonwood Agreement, Brown v. Board of Education, and it is Dorothy Richardson's birthday - with a reading from her book "Pointed Roofs."

The Sedition Act goes into effect, the first Academy Award ceremony takes place, the U.S. Surgeon General warns that cigarettes are as addictive as Schedule I drugs, like heroin or cocaine. The birthday club includes Margaret Rey and Studs Terkel - with a reading from Terkel's "Touch and Go: A Memoir."

Robespierre's "Self-Denying Ordinance" goes into effect, Standard Oil is ruled an unreasonable monopoly, and the birthday club includes L. Frank Baum, Katherine Anne Porter, and Utah Philips - with a reading from Porter's "The Never-Ending Wrong."

Quite a birthday club, including George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Christine Brennan, Raphael Saadiq, and Mark Zuckerberg - with a reading from George Orwell's "1984."

The UK declares its neutrality in the U.S. Civil War, the MOVE bombing, and a reading from Armistead Maupin's "Logical Family: A Memoir."

The birthday club includes Albert Murray, Burt Bacharach, Farley Mowat, and George Carlin - with a reading from Mowat's "Never Cry Wolf."

The first book is published and the birthday club includes Harriet Quimby and Irving Berlin, with a reading of Rose Islander's "Love 6."

Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman to run for U.S. President, Winston Churchill becomes UK Prime Minister, and Marvel publishes the first issue of "The Incredible Hulk." The birthday club includes Max Steiner, Ariel Durant, and Bel Kaufman - with a reading from Kaufman's "Up the Down Staircase."

The oldest treaty - that is still in effect - is signed and the birthday club includes J. M. Barrie and Richard Adams - with a reading from Barrie's "Peter Pan."

It is Victory in Europe or "V-E" Day, small pox is declared eradicated, and the birthday club includes Robert Johnson and Naomi Klein - with a reading from Klein's "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate."

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony premiers, Germans surrender to end WWII in Europe, and the birthday club includes Ruth Prawer-Jhabvala and Angela Carter - with a reading from Carter's "The Lady of the House of Love."

The Works Progress Administration is created and the birthday club includes Orson Welles, Bob Seger, and Martha Nussbaum - with a reading from Nussbaum's "Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities."

The birthday club includes Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Tammy Wynette, and Michael Palin - with a reading from Kierkegaard's "Either / Or."

The May Fourth Movement begins in Beijing, Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" is awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Freedom Riders set out on their bus trip, and the Ohio National Guard shot into a crowd of unarmed demonstrators at Kent State. This episode includes a reading from Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea."

SCOTUS rules against neighborhood covenants that restrict home sales to people of color and Septima Poinsette Clark and Pete Seeger were born on this day - with a reading from Clark's "Citizenship Schools Class Workbook."

Japanese-American soldiers rescue hundreds of European Jews during a forced march from the Nazi's Dachau death camp. Dr. Benjamin Spock and Charlotte Armstrong were born on this day - with a reading from Armstrong's "The Unsuspected."

Carl Linnaeus begins using the two, Latin names to classify every living thing, the Memphis Massacre begins, and the workers' rallies marking "The Great Upheaval" begin. And it is Joseph Heller's birthday, so we hear a reading from his best seller "Catch 22."

The first state park is created in the U.S. and the birthday club includes John Crowe Ransom, Annie Dillard, and Jane Campion - with a reading from Dillard's "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek."

Jerry Seinfeld and Amy Krouse Rosenthal were born on this day. We look at Rosenthal's work and share a reading from her New York Time's essay "You May Want to Marry My Husband."

Muhammad Ali refuses to be drafted into the Vietnam War and Harper Lee and Terry Pratchett were born on this day. This episode includes a reading from Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird."

On her birthday, we look at the life and writing of Mary Wollstonecraft - including a reading from her landmark work "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman."

Napoleon pardons French nobles and the birthday club includes Ma Rainey, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Bernard Malamud - with a reading from Malamud's "The Magic Barrel."

The double helix structure of DNA is described for the first time, the patent is issued for the computer microchip, and it's the birthday of Albert King - with a reading from Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina."