The Story of Writing

DeSoto claims Florida, the Dutch West India Company is established, and it's the birthday of Memphis Minnie, Allen Ginsberg, Larry McMurtry, and Curtis Mayfield - with a reading from McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove."

England enrages American colonists by expanding the Quartering Act and the birthday club includes Thomas Hardy, Dorothy West, and Norton Juster - with a reading from West's newspaper column "Fond Memories of a Black Childhood."

Scotch Whisky first appears in print, Charles Baudelaire publishes his landmark book "Les fleur du mal" or "Flowers of Evil," Margaret Chase Smith delivers her speech "Declaration of Conscience," the Heimlich maneuver is published, and it is the birthdays of Charles Kay Ogden and Colleen McCullough - with a reading from Baudelaire's "Les fleur du mal."

The birthday club includes Walt Whitman, Fred Allen, Al Young, Svetlana Alexievich - with a reading from Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric."

The birthday club includes Countee Cullen, Mel Blanc, Benny Goodman, James Chaney, and Idina Menzel - with a reading of Cullen's "Saturday's Child."

Sojourner Truth gives her speech "Ain't I a Woman?" Igor Stravinsky premiers his "Rite of Spring" and Hillary and Norgay summit Mt. Everest. It is the birthday of Bob Hope and T. H. White - with a reading from White's "The Sword in the Stone."

The Sierra Club is written into existence, so is Amnesty International, and the birthday club includes Ian Fleming, T-Bone Walker, and Maeve Binchy - with a reading from John Muir's "My First Summer in the Sierra."

On this day, a look at the work of Julia Ward Howe, Dashiell Hammett, and Rachel Carson - with a reading from Carson's "Silent Spring."

The US House Un-American Activities Committee holds its first meeting and the birthday club includes Miles Davis, Jack Kevorkian, Levon Helm, Stevie Nicks, Alan Hollinghurst, Lauryn Hill, and Raina Telgemeier - with a reading from Hollinghurst's "The Line of Beauty."

The US Constitutional Convention begins, JFK calls for putting a man on the moon, and "Star Wars" hits movie screens. The birthday club includes Ralph Waldo Emerson and Rosario Castellanos - with a reading from Emerson's Essays.

The Judgement of Paris puts Napa Valley wines on the oenophile map and the birthday club includes Bob Dylan, Michael Chabon, and Lorella Cedroni - with a reading from "Italian Critics of Capitalism," edited by Cedroni.

The birthday club includes Margaret Fuller, Isabella Ford, Par Lagerkvist, Scott O'Dell, Margaret Wise Brown, and Mitch Albom - with a reading from Fuller's "Woman in the 19th Century."

Lewis and Clark start their exploration of the American West, the Associated Press gets its start, and Verdi premiers "Requiem." The birthday club includes Su Xun and Arthur Conan Doyle - with a reading from Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet."

"Bleeding Kansas" begins, Clara Barton establishes the American Red Cross, and the birthday club includes Alexander Pope, "Fats" Waller, and Harold Robbins - with a reading from Pope's "An Essay on Man."

William Shakespeare's sonnets are published, Levi Strauss gets the patent for denim blue jeans (with copper rivets that held the jeans together), and the birthday club includes Honore de Balzac and John Stuart Mill. This episode includes a reading of Shakespeare's sonnet number 17.

Centigrade fixes Celsius, Ohio is chartered, the world's first national park service is established, and the birthday club includes Jim Lehrer and Jodi Picoult - with a reading from Picoult's "Change of Heart."

Rhode Island bans slavery and the birthday club includes Omar Khayyam, Frank Capra, and Tina Fey - with a reading from Khayyam's "The Rubaiyat."

The Buttonwood Agreement, Brown v. Board of Education, and it is Dorothy Richardson's birthday - with a reading from her book "Pointed Roofs."

The Sedition Act goes into effect, the first Academy Award ceremony takes place, the U.S. Surgeon General warns that cigarettes are as addictive as Schedule I drugs, like heroin or cocaine. The birthday club includes Margaret Rey and Studs Terkel - with a reading from Terkel's "Touch and Go: A Memoir."