The Story of Writing

Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine is announced "safe and effective," and the birthday club includes Beverly Cleary, Tom Clancy, and Tama Janowitz - with a reading from Baruch Spinoza's "Ethics."

LBJ signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the birthday club includes Ellen Goodman, Hattie Gossett, and Marta Breen - with a reading from Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's "Songs for the People."

F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes "The Great Gatsby," Alcoholics Anonymous or "The Big Book" is published, and The Good Friday agreement is signed. The birthday club includes David Halberstam and Anne La…

Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders and the birthday club includes Charles Baudelaire, Paulina Marshall, and Sam Harris - with a reading from Baudelaire's "Paris Spleen."

A wage freeze goes into effect in the U.S. and effects how we get health insurance today, the computer language COBOL is born, and it is Barbara Kingsolver's birthday - and this episode includes a re…

The Teapot Dome scandal steams up, it's National Beer Day in the US, it's the internet's birthday, and other members of the birthday club include Victoria Ocampo, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and Billie…

The birthday club includes Leonora Carrington, Ram Dass, Merle Haggard, and Homero Aridjis - with a reading from Carrington's artist notes.

The Petition of Compromise is sent to Spain and sparks the 80 Years War, Margaret Sanger establishes the American Birth Control League, and the birthday club includes Algernon Charles Swinburne, Barb…

NATO forms and it is the birthdays of Muddy Waters and Maya Angelou - with a reading from Angelou's "Still, I Rise."

The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. demonstrates with striking workers in Memphis, TN. The Panama Papers are published and the birthday club includes Washington Irving and Jane Goodall - with a reading …

The birthday club includes Giacomo Casanova, Hans Christian Andersen, Emile Zola, and Camille Paglia - with a reading from Casanova's "The Story of My Life."

It is what T. S. Eliot called "the cruelest month," and April Fool's Day, so we look at the Day's possible origins. Sergei Rachmaninoff and Milan Kundera were born on this day - and a reading from Lo…

The Motion Picture Production Code goes into effect in the US, the Civilian Conservation Corps is established, and the birthday club includes Johann Sebastian Bach, John Fowles, Judith Rossner, and M…

The US buys Alaska from Russia and the birthday club includes Anna Sewell, Carl Lutz, Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin, Shahla Sherkat, Marie-Christine Koundja, and Tobias Hill - with a reading from Hannah Aren…

Queen Victoria establishes the nation of Canada and Queen Elizabeth II ends the British Parliament's ability to make or amend laws in Canada. The birthday club includes Sheila Kitzinger, Eric Idle, A…

The birthday club includes Maxim Gorky, Nelson Algren, Iris Chang, and Jennifer Weiner - with a reading from Algren's "Chicago: City on the Make."

The Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty is signed and the birthday club includes Julie-Victoire Daubie, Robert Frost, Joseph Campbell, Viktor Frankl, and Tennessee Williams - with a reading from Frankl's "Man'…

Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from Oxford, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr speaks of the death of segregation, and the birthday club includes Flannery O'Connor and Gloria Steinem - with a read…

The Quartering Act enrages American colonists, tuberculosis is identified, and the birthday club includes Matilda Joslyn Gage, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Erica Kennedy - with a reading from Gage's "W…