For the unenlightened, Alexei Navalny is a 45-year-old lawyer and opposition leader in Russia. In the past several years, he has gained international recognition for his anti-corruption investigations against Russian state corporations and senior officials. Navalny, whom the Wall Street Journal once called “the man Vladimir Putin fears the most,” is also a former presidential candidate…
Throughout the world, the name John Dewey has become synonymous with educational reform. Born in 1859, Dewey was the founder of the philosophical movement known as pragmatism, a school of thought that emphasizes a practical approach to problem solving through experience…
With an acting career spanning over half a century, James “Jimmy” Stewart became one of America’s most beloved Hollywood icons. His distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona led to quick acceptance by the movie-going public…
The son of a longshoreman, author George R.R. Martin was born in 1948 and raised in a federal housing project in New Jersey. To help escape the misery of his daily life, he began writing at an early age, but for many years he struggled to make a living from his fantastic narratives…
An accomplished actress, Connie Britton is best known for playing iconic female powerhouse characters on TV. Born in 1967, her father was an energy company executive who encouraged his daughter’s talents from an early age. Since then, Britton has starred on nearly every major network, including FOX, ABC, and NBC…
As the only surviving child of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Caroline Kennedy has had an extensive career in her own right. After receiving an elite education at Harvard and Columbia, she has dedicated much of her life to public and philanthropic service…
As one of the most controversial writers of the twentieth century, William S. Burroughs pushed the form of the novel to its outermost limits and introduced previously-unexplored or taboo themes such as drug culture, sexual explicitness, and systems of control. Born in 1914 into a prominent St. Louis family…
A cancer physician and researcher at Columbia University, Siddhartha Mukherjee added Pulitzer Prize winner to his impressive resume. His book, “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer,” tells the story of cancer from its days in ancient Egypt to its time in gleaming research institutions today…
Ivy-educated Jordana Brewster has been working in Hollywood since she was a teenager. Best known for her role as Mia Toretto in the “Fast & Furious” movie franchise, Brewster, who was born in 1980, got her start just a few years later in the Brazilian kids series…
There are few people more synonymous with going to the movies than Roger Ebert. Arguably the most famous film critic in history, Ebert’s gladiatorial “thumbs-up, thumbs-down” assessments could not only influence mainstream box office numbers, but also deliver moviegoers to more daring, artistic works that relied upon critical approval…
