The Story of Writing

King Louis XVI is arrested, "barbed-wire Sunday," and happy birthday to Lucy Stone - with a reading of Stone's position on speaking out against slavery.

Isaac Singer patents his sewing machine, Sue Hendrickson discovers the biggest and best skeleton of a T-Rex, and NAFTA happens. Happy birthdays to Radclyffe Hall, Erwin Schrodinger, and William Goldman - with a reading from "Writing is Work," by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Hedy Lamarr gets a patent and the birthday club includes Angus Wilson and Alex Haley - with a reading from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice."

Quite the birthday club: Era Bell Thompson, Leo Fender, Dolores Alexander, Suzanne Collins, and Rachel Simmons - with a reading from Willa Cather's "The Song of the Lark."

Henry David Thoreau publishes "Walden," Smokey the Bear appears for the first time, and the U.S. drops its second atomic bomb on Japan. Today's reading is from "Red Badge of Courage," by Stephen Crane.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee tries to resign his command after losing nearly 30,000 soldiers in the battle of Gettysburg. The Allies sign the London Charter, which established the Nuremberg Trials. And happy birthday to Sara Teasdale - with a reading of her poem "Buried Love."

U.S. President George Washington crushes the Whiskey Rebellion, Thor Heyerdahl's ship, the "Kon Tiki," reaches the Tuamotu Islands in the South Pacific, and Frances Kelsey is recognized for refusing to allow use of thalidomide in the U.S. Happy birthdays to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Ralph Bunche - with a reading from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's "Frankenstein."

The U.S. drops the first atomic bomb used in warfare on Hiroshima, Japan, the U.S. Voting Rights Act becomes law, and "www" appears as a service for the first time. The birthday club includes: Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Susie Taylor - with a reading of Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet On the Western Front."

Some 40 years before the American Revolution, freedom of the press goes on trial in the colonies and the U.S. levies its first income tax. The birthday club includes Guy de Maupassant, Mary Ritter Beard, and Wendell Berry - with a reading from Maupassant's "Bel Ami."

Dom Perignon changes sparkling wine, "The Saturday Evening Post" publishes its first edition, and the Fairness Doctrine is ended in the U.S. Happy birthdays to Nicolas-Jacques Conte, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Robert Hayden - with a reading from Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence."

Christopher Columbus sets sail from Spain, the first letter is sent from the Americas to England, and happy birthdays to Ernie Pyle and Leon Uris - with a reading from Pyle's "Here is Your War."

Albert Einstein co-signs a letter to President Roosevelt urging him to develop a nuclear weapon. And it is the birthday of James Baldwin - with a reading from one of his masterworks, "The Fire Next Time."

The UK abolishes slavery, shredded wheat is patented, Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman in the U.S. to get her pilot's license, and happy birthdays to Francis Scott Key and Herman Melville - with a reading from Melville's classic "Moby Dick."

Daniel Defoe is locked in the pillory for three days, it's "Black Tot Day," the U.S. and Soviet Union sign the START 1 Treaty. Happy birthdays of Ignacio Cervantes, Primo Levi, Ahmet Ertegun, and J. K. Rowling - with a reading from Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe."

Samuel de Champlain starts nearly a century of war in New France, Walt Disney releases his first Oscar winner, and happy birthdays to Maria Anna Mozart and Emily Bronte - with a reading from Bronte's "Wuthering Heights."

The understanding of light changes and the world tries to define war crimes and limit them. Happy birthdays to Alexis de Tocqueville and Mary Lee Settle - with a reading from Tocqueville's "Democracy in America."

Lavinia Ream is commissioned to create a statue of Abraham Lincoln, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, Pres. Hoover orders the removal of the "Bonus Army" from Washington, and the IRA says it will no longer use weapons or violence to end British rule - with a reading from "The Death of the Heart," by Elizabeth Bowen.

Things head south for the actual MacBeth, Robespierre is arrested, researchers prove insulin regulates blood sugar, Bugs Bunny appears in a Merry Melodies short for the first time - with a reading from Elizabeth Barrett Brownings' "The House of Clouds."

The U.S. Post Office is created, the first book on Esperanto was published, and the major world powers signed the Potsdam Declaration. Happy birthdays to quite a trio: George Bernard Shaw, Carl Jung, and Gracie Allen - with a reading from Shaw.

Mozart finishes his 40th Symphony, Jack London sails from San Francisco for gold in the Yukon, and JFK says any attack on West Berlin would be treated as an attack on the U.S. Happy birthday to Anne Applebaum - with a reading from her book "Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism."

O. Henry gets out of prison, the Kellogg-Briand Pact goes into effect, SCOTUS rules Pres. Nixon could not ignore a subpoena for the White House tapes. Happy birthdays to Alexandre Dumas and Zelda Fitzgerald - with a reading from one of Zelda's letters to F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The Ford Motor Co. sells its first car, Chinese Communists meet for the first time to overthrow capitalism, and Phillippe Petain is put on trial in France for treason. Happy birthday to Raymond Chandler - and a reading from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's "The Last Man."

Katherine Lee Bates starts writing the poem that would become "America the Beautiful." And happy birthday to Emma Lazarus - with a reading of her poem "The New Colossus."

The first showdown in America's Wild West, the Scopes "Monkey" Trial ends with a verdict of guilty, and a reading from Willa Cather's "My Mortal Enemy."

Humans walk on the moon for the first time, and happy birthdays to Gregor Mendel, Tom Crean, Edmund Hillary, and Julie Bindel. Today's episode includes a reading of "Invictus," by William Ernest Henley.