The Story of Writing

Light becomes a wave, too, The Hague Convention, and birthdays of Alexis de Tocqueville, Charlie Christian, Mary Lee Settle - with a reading from Tocqueville's "Democracy in America."

Lavinia Ream sculpts a statue for the ages, the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is ratified, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, the U.S. begins its 19-year occupation of Haiti, President Hoover and General Douglas MacArthur attack the veterans and their families who made up "The Bonus Army," and the IRA promises to no longer use weapons - with a reading from "The Death...

The actual Macbeth, King of Scotland, loses an important battle, Robespierre is arrested, researchers in Toronto prove the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar, Bugs Bunny hits screens for the first time - with a reading from “The House of Clouds” written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

The American colonies create a post office, Esperanto becomes a language, the Red Army captures the Ukrainian city of Lviv, the Potsdam Declaration, President Harry S. Truman desegregates the U.S. military, and streaming birthday cakes for George Bernard Shaw, Carl Jung, and Gracie Allen - with a reading of George Bernard Shaw's writing.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart finishes his 40th Symphony, writer Jack London sets sail for the Yukon, JFK pledges his solidarity with West Berlin, and it's the birthday of Anne Applebaum - with a reading of “In the Land of Words,” by Eloise Greenfield.

O. Henry gets out of prison, the Kellogg-Briand Pact goes into effect, the highest temperatures of the heat wave that caused the American Dust Bowl, the U.S. Supreme Court delivers a death knell to Richard Nixon's Presidency, and audio birthday cakes for Alexandre Dumas and Zelda Fitzgerald - with a reading from a letter Zelda wrote to her husband Scott.

The Ford Motor Company sells its first car, the Chinese Communist Party is established on a party barge, the 'ruler' of Vichy France is put on trial for Treason, and it's Raymond Chandler's birthday - with a reading from "The Last Man," by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

Katherine Lee Bates starts writing "America the Beautiful" and it's the birthday of Emma Lazarus - with a reading of "America the Beautiful."

The first showdown in America's Wild West, John Scopes was found guilty of teaching the science of evolution in biology class, the coldest temperature on Earth - with a reading from Willa Cather's "My Mortal Enemy."

The first women’s rights convention in the U.S. began in Seneca Falls, N.Y., Evelyn Waugh publishes "The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold," the first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head - using a CT scanner, and it's the birthday of Alice Dunbar Nelson - with a reading of her poem "If I had Known."

A day of bravery: Finland breaks from Russia and adopts universal suffrage, Apollo 11 lands on the moon and people walk on it, Canada becomes only the third nation to legalize same-sex marriage, Gregor Mendel figures out genetics, Tom Crean, Edmund Hillary, and Julie Bindel - with a reading of "Invictus," by William Ernest Henley.

The Hough Riots that tore through Cleveland, Nadia Comăneci scores a perfect 10 at the 1976 Olympics, William Makepeace Thackeray, Nelson Mandela, and Hunter S. Thompson - with a reading from Jean Ingelow's poem "Cold and Quiet."

Spain gives Florida to the U.S. - for a price, Willis Carrier draws up plans for the air conditioner, the Allies confer in Potsdam, Germany, Disneyland opens, and it's Phyllis Diller's birthday - with a reading of the poem "Solitude" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

The Atomic Age begins, "The Catcher in the Rye" is published, Apollo 11, and Ida B. Wells - with a reading of "Theme in Yellow," by Carl Sandburg.

Finding the Rosetta Stone, ending the Spanish Inquisition, "presenile dementia" gets a name, Clement Clark Moore, and Iris Murdoch - with a reading of "The Dreams Of My Heart" by Sara Teasdale.

Bastille Day and Fete de la Federation, President Adams signs the Sedition Act into law, the city of Chicago experienced its second catastrophic fire in three years, William Hanna, and Woody Guthrie - with a reading from his song, "Pretty Boy Floyd."

War correspondent George Weller, children's author and illustrator Marcia Brown, writer and film director Cameron Crowe - with a reading of "Miracles," by Jean Blewett.

Camille Desmoulins and the storming of the Bastille, the Battles of Kursk and Prokhorovka, the Newark Riots, Henry David Thoreau, and Pablo Neruda - with a reading from Thoreau's essay "Walking."

The Jay Treaty, The Burr-Hamilton Duel, "To Kill a Mockingbird" was published on this day, "regulations are written in blood," the Srebenica Massacre, E. B. White, Suzanne Vega, and Jhumpa Lahiri - with a reading from "Here is New York."

The Nine-Day Queen Lady Jane Grey, Louis XVI demonstrates why it's not so good to be the King, Alexander Mackenzie becomes the first non-indigenous person to reach the Pacific overland, French secret agents bomb and sink the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior , Marcel Proust, and Alice Munro - with a reading from Proust's "In Search of Lost Time."

The first law in the British Empire to free slaves, paying off the U.S. debt in 1795, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, Elias Howe, and Oliver Sacks - with a reading of Dorothy Parker's poem "Bohemia."

The Hamburg Massacre, The first issue of The Wall Street Journal, The Dow Jones Industrial Average posts its lowest close in the 20th Century, Self-Determination for Native Americans, and the birthday of civil-rights activist Ruby Sales - with a reading of "Hope" by Emily Dickinson.

The Anti-Abolitionist Riots in New York City, the first nationwide draft in the U.S., Florenz Ziegfeld produces his first "Follies," entire loaves of sliced bread became available on this day in 1928, and it's the birthday of Gustav Mahler - with a reading of "Thoughts," by Myra Viola Wilds.

Using a vaccine, Louis Pasteur cured a rabies patient for the first time, Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time, and it's the birthdays of Marc Chagall, Frida Kahlo, Bill Haley, and Nanci Griffith - with a reading from the poem “Shades of My Gloom,” by Marc Chagall.

Isaac Newton publishes "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" and Frederick Douglass gave his speech “What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July?” Also in this episode: the National Labor Relations Act, Spam, the bikini, Robbie Robertson, and Bill Patterson - with a reading from Douglass' speech, "What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July?”