The Story of Writing

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 "M…

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, Greg…

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…

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 In…

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 - wit…

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 …

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 - w…

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…

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 S…

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 birthda…

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…

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 bir…

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 Rela…

The writing that influenced the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and the remarkable achievement of the document itself - with a reading from the letter recalling the solemn

George Washington's first battle ends in his surrender, but 21 years later - to the day - he assumes command of the Continental Army, the bloody Battle of Gettysburg ends, the Falls Curfew, and Charl…