The Story of Writing

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 readi…

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 Teas…

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 us…

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 …

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 Maupassan…

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 Innocen…

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, Franci…

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 …

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 t…

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…

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…

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. mi…

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 o…

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 R…

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 …