Read Louis de Saint-Just's "Speech Against the King" one of many resources available free at www.saint-just.net
Saint-Just
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Archives
Monday, July 31, 2006
Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just (August 25, 1767 – July 28, 1794), usually known as Saint-Just, was a French revolutionary leader. Closely allied with Robespierre, he served with him on the Committee of Public Safety and perished with him after the events of 9 Thermidor.
Read Louis de Saint-Just's "Speech Against the King" one of many resources available free at www.saint-just.net
Saint-Just
Read Louis de Saint-Just's "Speech Against the King" one of many resources available free at www.saint-just.net
Saint-Just
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Benedictus de Spinoza (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677), named Baruch Spinoza by his synagogue elders and known as Bento de Espinosa or Bento d'Espiñoza in his native Amsterdam, was a Jewish-Dutch philosopher. He is considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy and, by virtue of his magnum opus the Ethics, one of the definitive ethicists. His writings, like those of his fellow rationalists, reveal considerable mathematical training and facility. Spinoza was a lens crafter by trade, an exciting engineering field at the time because of great discoveries being made by telescopes. The full impact of his work only took effect some time after his death and after the publication of his Opera Posthuma. He is now seen as having prepared the way for the 18th century Enlightenment, and as a founder of modern biblical criticism. Gilles Deleuze referred to Spinoza as "The absolute philosopher, whose Ethics is the foremost book on concepts". (Deleuze, 1990.)
Read Spinoza's The Ethics, one of 12 examples of his work available free from Project Gutenberg.
Baruch Spinoza
Read Spinoza's The Ethics, one of 12 examples of his work available free from Project Gutenberg.
Baruch Spinoza
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Saturday, July 29, 2006
Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, more commonly known as Horace Walpole, (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), was a politician, writer, architectural innovator and namesake of his cousin Horatio Nelson.
Read Horace Walpole's book, The Castle of Otranto, one of nine of his works available free from Project Gutenberg.
Horace Walpole
Read Horace Walpole's book, The Castle of Otranto, one of nine of his works available free from Project Gutenberg.
Horace Walpole
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Friday, July 28, 2006
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 2, 1731 – May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States, and therefore is seen as the first First Lady of the United States (although that title was not coined until after her death; she was simply known as "Lady Washington").
"Washington's Family" by Edward Savage, painted between 1789 and 1796, shows (from left to right): George Washington Parke Custis, George Washington, Eleanor Parke Custis, Martha, and an enslaved servant, probably William Lee.
Read more about Martha Washington at the official website of the Whitehouse, residence of the President of the United States.
"Washington's Family" by Edward Savage, painted between 1789 and 1796, shows (from left to right): George Washington Parke Custis, George Washington, Eleanor Parke Custis, Martha, and an enslaved servant, probably William Lee.
Read more about Martha Washington at the official website of the Whitehouse, residence of the President of the United States.
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Thursday, July 27, 2006
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and the philosophy of pragmatism.
Read William James' book, Talks To Teachers On Psychology; And To Students On Some Of Life's Ideals, one of five of his books available free from Project Gutenberg.
William James
Read William James' book, Talks To Teachers On Psychology; And To Students On Some Of Life's Ideals, one of five of his books available free from Project Gutenberg.
William James
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Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter of the indigenous culture of her country in a style combining Realism, Symbolism and Surrealism, an active communist supporter, and wife of the Mexican muralist and cubist painter Diego Rivera.
Kahlo was noted for her unconventional appearance, declining to remove her facial hair (she had a small mustache and unibrow which she exaggerated in self portraits), and for her flamboyantly styled clothing, drawn largely from traditional Mexican dress.
View 11 of Kahlo's works of art, free from Fundación Proa
This wax representation of Frida Kahlo is on display at the Wax Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Kahlo was noted for her unconventional appearance, declining to remove her facial hair (she had a small mustache and unibrow which she exaggerated in self portraits), and for her flamboyantly styled clothing, drawn largely from traditional Mexican dress.
View 11 of Kahlo's works of art, free from Fundación Proa
This wax representation of Frida Kahlo is on display at the Wax Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico.
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Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Amelia Mary Earhart (July 24, 1897 – missing as of July 2, 1937), daughter of Edwin and Amy Earhart, was an American aviator and noted early female pilot who mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during a circumnavigational flight in 1937.
Watch a 1937 Pathe newsreel, which includes a segment on Earhart, free from the Internet Archive.
Cover of one of Amelia Earhart's books.
Watch a 1937 Pathe newsreel, which includes a segment on Earhart, free from the Internet Archive.
Cover of one of Amelia Earhart's books.
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Monday, July 24, 2006
Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), better known as Dame Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott.
Listen to Christie's book, Mysterious Affair at Styles, read by Alex Foster and free from Librivox and the Internet Archive.
Read Christie's book, The Secret Adversary, free from Project Gutenberg
Agatha Christie
Listen to Christie's book, Mysterious Affair at Styles, read by Alex Foster and free from Librivox and the Internet Archive.
Read Christie's book, The Secret Adversary, free from Project Gutenberg
Agatha Christie
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Sunday, July 23, 2006
Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (born May 12, 1925) is a former catcher and manager in Major League Baseball who played almost his entire career for the New York Yankees and was elected (with Sandy Koufax) to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. He is one of only four players to be named the Most Valuable Player of the American League three times, and one of only six managers to lead both American and National League teams to the World Series. He has lived in Montclair, New Jersey since his playing days.
View a streaming video biography of Yogi Berra, free from the Baseball Hall of Fame.
President George W. Bush chats with Hall of Famers Sparky Anderson, left, and Yogi Berra in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 30, 2001.
View a streaming video biography of Yogi Berra, free from the Baseball Hall of Fame.
President George W. Bush chats with Hall of Famers Sparky Anderson, left, and Yogi Berra in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 30, 2001.
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Saturday, July 22, 2006
Scott Adams (born June 8, 1957) is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several business commentaries, social satires, and experimental philosophy books.
Read Scott Adams blog. Visit Dilbert.com
Scott Adams
Read Scott Adams blog. Visit Dilbert.com
Scott Adams
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Friday, July 21, 2006
"To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die." Marquis de Vauvenargues
Read the Marquis de Vauvenargues 1746 book Introduction à la connaissance de l’esprit, in French, free from the Université du Québec å Chicoutimi.
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues
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Thursday, July 20, 2006
John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil (born November 13, 1911 in Carrabelle, Florida) was a first baseman and manager in Negro league baseball, most notably in the Negro American League with the Kansas City Monarchs. After his playing days, he also became a coach and scout in Major League Baseball.
On Tuesday, at age 94 years, 8 months, and 5 days, he became by far the oldest person to appear in a professional baseball game.
Buck O'Neil, 94, got ready for his turn at bat during the Northern League All Star Game on Tuesday, July 18, 2006, in Kansas City, Missouri. (Mike Ransdell/Kansas City Star/MCT)
On Tuesday, at age 94 years, 8 months, and 5 days, he became by far the oldest person to appear in a professional baseball game.
Buck O'Neil, 94, got ready for his turn at bat during the Northern League All Star Game on Tuesday, July 18, 2006, in Kansas City, Missouri. (Mike Ransdell/Kansas City Star/MCT)
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Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Frank Morrison Spillane (March 9, 1918 – July 17, 2006), better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American author of crime novels. He was known for his series of novels featuring his signature detective character, Mike Hammer, among other works. He died Monday.
Listen to National Public Radio's Neda Ulaby's tribute to Mickey Spillane, from the program All Things Considered, free from npr.org
Mickey Spillane
Listen to National Public Radio's Neda Ulaby's tribute to Mickey Spillane, from the program All Things Considered, free from npr.org
Mickey Spillane
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Tuesday, July 18, 2006
George McGovern, a former U.S. congressman and senator from the American heartland, has made his mark as both a soldier and an activist for peace. In 1972 he ran as the Democratic candidate for president and lost to Richard Nixon.
Read George McGovern's speech accepting the nomination for President of the United States at the Democratic National Convention in Miami in 1972, free from 4president.com.
George McGovern
Read George McGovern's speech accepting the nomination for President of the United States at the Democratic National Convention in Miami in 1972, free from 4president.com.
George McGovern
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Monday, July 17, 2006
Pearl S. Buck (birth name Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker) (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was a prolific writer and Nobel Prize winner.
Read Pearl S. Buck's 1937 novel The Patriot, free from the Internet Archive (requires free plug-in)
Pearl S. Buck
Read Pearl S. Buck's 1937 novel The Patriot, free from the Internet Archive (requires free plug-in)
Pearl S. Buck
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Sunday, July 16, 2006
Ethel Barrymore (August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an Academy Award-winning American actress and a member of the famous Barrymore family. She was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew. She spent her childhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended Catholic schools while there.
She was the sister of actors John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore, the aunt of actor John Drew Barrymore, and the grand-aunt of actress/producer Drew Barrymore.
Read Memories, Ethel Barrymore's 1955 memoir, free from the Internet Archive.
Ethel Barrymore
She was the sister of actors John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore, the aunt of actor John Drew Barrymore, and the grand-aunt of actress/producer Drew Barrymore.
Read Memories, Ethel Barrymore's 1955 memoir, free from the Internet Archive.
Ethel Barrymore
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Saturday, July 15, 2006
Heraclitus of Ephesus (about 535 - 475 BC), known as "The Obscure", was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Ephesus in Asia Minor.
The details of Heraclitus' life are almost completely unknown. Reliable information is limited to the fact that he was a native of Ephesus, on the coast of Asia Minor north of Miletus, and that his father's name was Bloson. Heraclitus is the first person in the history of the western world to have put forward a robust philosophical system. His writings have later influences upon Socrates and Plato. 19th Century Philosophy has also paid close attention to Heraclitus.
Read Heraclitus: The Complete Fragments, by Professor Emeritus William Harris of Middlebury College
Heraclitus and Democritus, by Bramante, 1477
The details of Heraclitus' life are almost completely unknown. Reliable information is limited to the fact that he was a native of Ephesus, on the coast of Asia Minor north of Miletus, and that his father's name was Bloson. Heraclitus is the first person in the history of the western world to have put forward a robust philosophical system. His writings have later influences upon Socrates and Plato. 19th Century Philosophy has also paid close attention to Heraclitus.
Read Heraclitus: The Complete Fragments, by Professor Emeritus William Harris of Middlebury College
Heraclitus and Democritus, by Bramante, 1477
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Thursday, July 13, 2006
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (November 5, 1850–October 30, 1919) was an American author and poet. Her best-known work was Poems of Passion, and her autobiography, The Worlds and I was published in 1918 shortly before her death.
Click here to read Ella Wheeler Wilcox' Poems of Passion, one of 16 of her works available free from Project Gutenberg
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Click here to read Ella Wheeler Wilcox' Poems of Passion, one of 16 of her works available free from Project Gutenberg
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Virginia Woolf (née Stephen) (25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) is by reputation one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. She is remembered by many as a feminist; it should be noted though that she herself deplored the term, as suggesting an obsession with women and women's concerns. She preferred 'humanist' (see Three Guineas).
Read Virginia Woolf's The Voyage Out, free from Project Gutenberg
Virginia Woolf
Read Virginia Woolf's The Voyage Out, free from Project Gutenberg
Virginia Woolf
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Tuesday, July 11, 2006
June Allyson (October 7, 1917 — July 8, 2006) , a movie actress who gained fame in the 1940's playing "girl-next-door" roles, has died at age 88.
Her daughter announced Monday that Allyson died of respiratory failure Saturday at her home in Ojai, California
Watch June Allyson and a host of other stars in Till the Clouds Roll By, a a feature-length musical biography of the Hollywood composer Jerome Kern made in 1946., free from the Internet Archive.
June Allyson
Her daughter announced Monday that Allyson died of respiratory failure Saturday at her home in Ojai, California
Watch June Allyson and a host of other stars in Till the Clouds Roll By, a a feature-length musical biography of the Hollywood composer Jerome Kern made in 1946., free from the Internet Archive.
June Allyson
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Monday, July 10, 2006
Hannibal (247 BC – 183 BC; sometimes referred to as Hannibal Barca) was a Carthaginian politician and statesman who is popularly credited as one of the finest military generals in history. He lived in a period of tension in the Mediterranean, with both Carthage and Rome (then the Roman Republic) vying for control of the region. Considered by many as the greatest enemy of the Roman Republic, he is best known for his achievements in the Second Punic War, when he marched an army, which famously included war elephants, from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy.
Read The Young Carthaginian by George Alfred Henty (1832-1902), free from Project Gutenberg.
Bust of Hannibal
Read The Young Carthaginian by George Alfred Henty (1832-1902), free from Project Gutenberg.
Bust of Hannibal
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Sunday, July 09, 2006
Albert Schweitzer, M.D., OM, (January 14, 1875 – September 4, 1965) was a German Alsatian theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician. He was born in Kaysersberg, Alsace-Lorraine, Germany (now in Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France). He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize in 1953, for founding the Lambaréné Hospital in Gabon, a nation of west central Africa.
Visit the homepage of the International Albert Schweitzer Foundation
Visit the homepage of the International Albert Schweitzer Foundation
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Saturday, July 08, 2006
Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828–March 24, 1905) was a French author and a pioneer of the science-fiction genre. Verne was noted for writing about cosmic, atmospheric, and underwater travel before air travel and submarines were commonplace and before practical means of space travel had been devised. He is the third most translated novelist in the world, according to the Index Translationum statistics. Some of his books have also been made into films.
Read Verne's classic A Journey to the Interior of the Earth, free from Project Gutenberg
View the 1919 film version of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, free from the Internet Archive.
Jules Verne Photo by Félix Nadar
Read Verne's classic A Journey to the Interior of the Earth, free from Project Gutenberg
View the 1919 film version of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, free from the Internet Archive.
Jules Verne Photo by Félix Nadar
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Friday, July 07, 2006
Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946) was a British writer best known for his science fiction novels such as The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau and The Time Machine. He was a prolific writer in the history of literature, and wrote works in nearly every genre, including short stories and nonfiction. He was an outspoken socialist, and most of his works contain some notable political or social commentary.
Read Wells' classic The Time Machine, free from Project Gutenberg
Hear Wells' classic War of the Worlds, read aloud by Rebecca, from Librivox.
H.G. Wells
Read Wells' classic The Time Machine, free from Project Gutenberg
Hear Wells' classic War of the Worlds, read aloud by Rebecca, from Librivox.
H.G. Wells
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Thursday, July 06, 2006
John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury PC, (April 30, 1834–May 28, 1913), English banker, politician, naturalist and archaeologist was born the son of Sir John William Lubbock, Bart.
Read John Lubbock's book, The Pleasures of Life, free from Project Gutenberg.
John Lubbock
Read John Lubbock's book, The Pleasures of Life, free from Project Gutenberg.
John Lubbock
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Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Thomas Paine (January 29, 1737 – June 8, 1809) was an intellectual, scholar, revolutionary, deist and idealist. A radical pamphleteer, Paine anticipated and helped foment the American Revolution through his powerful writings, most notably Common Sense, an incendiary pamphlet advocating independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. An advocate of liberalism, he outlined his political philosophy in Rights of Man, written both as a reply to Edmund Burke's view of the French Revolution and as a general political philosophy treatise as well as Common Sense, a treatise on the benefits of personal liberty and limited government, in which he considers society a representation of human ideals, and government a necessary evil. Paine was also noteworthy for his support of deism, taking its form in his treatise on religion The Age of Reason, as well as for his eye-witness accounts of both the French and American Revolutions.
Read Thomas Paine's Common Sense, free from www.thomaspaine.org.
Thomas Paine
Read Thomas Paine's Common Sense, free from www.thomaspaine.org.
Thomas Paine
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Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Clarence Seward Darrow (April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known defending teenaged thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14 year old Bobby Franks (1924) and defending John T. Scopes in the so-called "Monkey" Trial (1925), in which he opposed the famous prosecutor William Jennings Bryan. He remains famous for his wit, compassion and agnosticism that marked him as one of the most famous American lawyers and civil libertarians.
Read Clarence Darrow's "A Plea for Mercy" for Leopold and Loeb, free from www.americanrhetoric.com
Clarence Darrow in 1922
Read Clarence Darrow's "A Plea for Mercy" for Leopold and Loeb, free from www.americanrhetoric.com
Clarence Darrow in 1922
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Monday, July 03, 2006
Edward Paul Abbey (January 29, 1927 - March 14, 1989) was an American author and essayist noted for his criticism of public land policies and advocacy of environmental issues. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by radical environmental groups, and the non-fiction work Desert Solitaire. Writer Larry McMurtry referred to Abbey as the "Thoreau of the American West".
Click to hear an interview with Edward Abbey, from wiredforbooks.com
A Voice in the Wilderness (1993), a video biography of Abbey, is available from the producer, Canyon Productions
Click to hear an interview with Edward Abbey, from wiredforbooks.com
A Voice in the Wilderness (1993), a video biography of Abbey, is available from the producer, Canyon Productions
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Sunday, July 02, 2006
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also called "RFK", was one of two younger brothers of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and was appointed by his brother as Attorney General for his administration. As one of President Kennedy's most trusted advisors, RFK worked closely with the President during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the subsequent Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1964, after his brother's death, Kennedy was elected to the US Senate from the state of New York. He was assassinated shortly after delivering a speech celebrating his victory in the 1968 presidential primary of California at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
Hear Robert F. Kennedy annouce the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, on April 4, 1968, from www.americanrhetoric.com
Kennedy speaking to a Civil Rights crowd in front of the Justice Department building, June 1963.
Hear Robert F. Kennedy annouce the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, on April 4, 1968, from www.americanrhetoric.com
Kennedy speaking to a Civil Rights crowd in front of the Justice Department building, June 1963.
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Saturday, July 01, 2006
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was one of the most prominent and influential architects of the first half of the 20th century. He not only developed a series of highly individual styles over his extraordinarily long architectural career (spanning the years 1887-1959), he influenced the whole course of American architecture and building. To this day he probably remains America's most famous architect.
See many of Wright's buildings, from www.greatbuildings.com
Frank Lloyd Wright was honored with a postage stamp in 1966
See many of Wright's buildings, from www.greatbuildings.com
Frank Lloyd Wright was honored with a postage stamp in 1966
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