Commonly referred to by his initials FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the U.S. and a central figure in world events during the first half of the 20th century. Born in 1882, Roosevelt was an aristocrat descended from one of America’s oldest families who practiced law before becoming a politician…
William Carlos Williams (1883 –1963) was a physician and revolutionary figure in poetry. His most anthologized poem, “The Red Wheelbarrow,” is an example of imagism, although Williams would later become strongly associated with the American modernist movement in literature…
As Italy’s new prime minister, Mario Draghi is faced with the daunting task of leading his beleaguered country out of the economic and health crises caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. A native of Rome, Draghi is best known for his exceptional tenure as President of the European Central Bank (ECB) from 2011 to 2019…
Lou Henry Hoover was the wife of President Herbert Hoover and First Lady of the U.S. from 1929 to 1933. An independent woman ahead of her time, Hoover contributed unselfishly to a wide range of philanthropic work and scholarly pursuits throughout her life…
Born in 1956, Frances Arnold is an American chemical engineer and Nobel Laureate, best known for her pioneering work with the “directed evolution of enzymes” – a technique that takes natural proteins and rewrites their DNA by accumulating mutations over multiple generations, bestowing scientists with the ability “to rewrite the code of life….
Over the years, Doris Kearns Goodwin has written some of the most popular and critically acclaimed books about U.S. politics and the complicated personalities who helped shape it. Goodwin’s books, which regularly reach the top of the New York Times Bestseller list, include several biographies of U.S. presidents, including Lyndon Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Roosevelt…
Philip Glass is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Like many musical geniuses, Glass showed early talent on the violin and flute, arriving at the University of Chicago when he was only 15…
When journalist and political satirist P.J. O’Rourke arrived at Johns Hopkins University for graduate school in 1969, he was unaware of how drastically his life was about to change. A long-haired student activist, he enrolled in a program called the Writing Seminars, planning to become a serious poet or literary novelist…
Michael Lewis’ undergraduate thesis advisor suggested that he not pursue a career in writing, based on his 166-page senior thesis titled “Donatello and the Antique.” Despite feeling the first twinge of literary ambition at Princeton, Lewis eschewed creative writing courses and studied…
During a public career spanning nearly six decades, Dr. Joyce Brothers made the incredible journey from housewife to celebrity quiz show contestant to the nation’s most popular psychologist — ministering to America’s collective psyche via TV, radio, and print media…
