The Story of Writing

England’s King George III proclaims the American colonists are rebelling, Japan declares war on Germany, the Salad Bowl Strike, and the World Wide Web opens to the public, and happy birthday to William Ernest Henley - with a reading from Duchess of Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish.

The Cadillac Motor Company, the Siege of Leningrad, and happy birthday to Claude Debussy, Dorothy Parker, Ray Bradbury, and Annie Proulx - with a reading from Frederick Douglass.

James Cook claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, the Nat Turner Slave Rebellion begins in Virginia, the first of seven debates is held between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas - with a reading from "Minnie’s Sacrifice," written by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.

Charles Darwin rushes to get his theory of evolution published, U.S. President Andrew Johnson formally declares the Civil War is over, Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" debuts, British PM Winston Churchill recognizes the Royal Air Force in his speech, "Never was so much owed by so many to so few," Canada's Supreme Court rules that Quebec can't secede from Canada unless...

Infamous witch trials in England and the U.S., the Daguerrotype photo process is proclaimed free to anyone, the California Gold Rush makes news in New York City - seven months after it began, the liberation of Paris, happy birthday with no rash for dear poet Ogden Nash - with a reading from "The Bell in the Fog & Other Stories," by Gertrude Atherton.

Spain's Queen Isabella I gets a five-volume work on Spanish grammar, women in the U.S. earn the right to vote, Nabokov's "Lolita" is published, Steven Biko is arrested in South Africa, and Antonio Salieri and Margaret Murie - with a reading from "The Marrow of Tradition," written by Charles Chesnutt.

The first landing of British settlers on Roanoke Island, the first commercial steamboat makes its way north on the Hudson, George Orwell's "Animal Farm" is published, and happy birthdays to Fredrika Bremer, Mark Felt, and Jonathan Franzen - with a reading from "Bliss" by Katherine Mansfield.

A big day for aboriginal peoples' land rights, and quite the birthday club: T. E. Lawrence, Hal Foster, Georgette Heyer, Wallace Thurman, William Keepers Maxwell, Jr., Charles Bukowski, and Diana Wynne Jones - with a reading from Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, by T.E. Lawrence.

"The Wizard of Oz" hits the silver screen, Japan's Emperor Hirohito declares surrender, India gains its independence, the Beatles play Shea Stadium, Woodstock opens, the Big Ear has its "Wow!" event, the Murayama Statement formally apologizes for Japanese war crimes during WWII, the birthday club includes Walter Scott, Oscar Peterson, Stanley Milgram, and Stieg Larsson - wi...

A big birthday club today: the U.S. Social Security Act, Ernest Thompson Seton, Ernest Thayer, David Crosby, Steve Martin, Danielle Steel, and Gary Larson - with a reading from "Death Comes for the Archbishop," by Willa Cather.

French King Louis XVI gets arrested, it's a big day for the phone booth, the first woman enlists in the U.S. Marine Corps, "Barbed Wire Sunday" in Berlin, and happy birthday to American abolitionist and suffragist Lucy Stone - with a reading from “The Souls of Black Folk” by W. E. B. DuBois.

Isaac Singer gets a patent for his sewing machine, Sue Hendrickson discovers the largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found, NAFTA, and birthdays: Radclyffe Hall, Erwin Schrodinger, and William Goldman - with a reading from "Writing is Work," by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Hedy Lamarr and frequency hopping, happy birthdays to Angus Wilson and Alex Haley - with a reading from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice."

A special episode: a reading of Kate Chopin's short story, "The Story of an Hour," in its entirety.

The U.S. and Canada sign a treaty to firm up the border and share water rights to the Great Lakes, Henry David Thoreau publishes "Walden," Smokey Bear debuts, and WWII comes to a close - with a reading from "Red Badge of Courage," by Stephen Crane.

Robert E. Lee tries to quit, Andrew Johnson freed his slaves, Edison gets a patent for the mimeograph, WWII Allies sign the London Charter: the parameters of the Nuremberg Trials, and it is Sara Teasdale's birthday - with a reading of Teasdale's poem "Buried Love."

President George Washington puts down the Whiskey Rebellion, Thor Heyerdahl crashes his raft, the Kon Tiki, to prove a point, Pharmacologist Frances Kelsey prevents the drug thalidomide from being used in the U.S. in the 1960s, the U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, and we celebrate the birthdays of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Ralph Bunche - with a reading from "Frankenstein,&...

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the U.S. Voting Rights Act, the first appearance of "www," and today's birthday club includes Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Susie Taylor - with a reading from "All Quiet on the Western Front," by Erich Maria Remarque.

Freedom of the press in the American colonies, the U.S. levies its first income tax, and quite a birthday club: Guy de Maupassant, Mary Ritter Beard, and Wendell Berry - with a reading from Maupassant's "Bel Ami."

Dom Perignon, The Saturday Evening Post, the Fairness Doctrine, inventing the pencil, and celebrating birthdays today: Percy Bysshe Shelley and Robert Hayden - with a reading from "The Age of Innocence," by Edith Wharton.

Columbus sets sail, the first letter from N America is sent to Europe, and today is the birthday of Ernie Pyle and Leon Uris - with a reading from "Here Is Your War," by Ernie Pyle.

Signing day for the U.S. Declaration of Independence, first U.S. census, chain reactions, and James Baldwin's birthday - with a reading from Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God."

The British Empire abolishes slavery, Henry Perky patents shredded wheat, Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman in the U.S. to earn her pilot’s license, "Dune," by Frank Herbert is published, Francis Scott Key, Herman Melville, and Ramblin' Jack Elliott are in the birthday club - with a reading from Melville's "Moby Dick."

Daniel Defoe gets locked in a pillory, English sailors mourn the loss of their rum ration, and we mark the birthdays of Cuban pianist and composer Ignacio Cervantes, Italian writer and chemist Primo Levi, and English author J. K. Rowling - with a reading from "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe.

Samuel de Champlain starts the French-Iroquois War, Walt Disney releases the first of many, many Oscar-winning productions, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson creates Medicare and Medicaid, and it is the birthday of Maria Anna Mozart and Emily Bronte - with a reading from "Withering Heights."