Samuel Adams, One of the US’s Founding Fathers

Rebel, patriot and politician Samuel Adams helped organize protests against the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Tea Act of 1773 and developed a...

Sultan Abdulhamid II, Ruler of the Ottoman Empire

Sultan Abdulhamid II, who ruled the Ottoman Empire for more than 30 years, earned a reputation both as an oppressive leader and a champion...

Maxim Gorky, Russian Writer and Activist

Political activist, author and playwright Maxim Gorky gave a voice to the unheard majority of Russia before, during and after the Russian Revolution. From...

T.S. Eliot, Nobel Prize Winning Writer

As a philosopher, theologian, poet, playwright and essayist working in the early 20th century, T.S. Eliot saw and described the American and European landscape...

Flip Wilson, TV’s First Black Superstar

Through his ingenious comedy sketches, Flip Wilson and his eponymous variety show connected a racially divided world with laughter. On his birthday, we remember...

Harriet Beecher Stowe, Author and Abolitionist

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s most memorable contribution to society was her book, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” The responses to Stowe’s work were so powerfully divisive that...

Peggy Guggenheim, Art Collector

American heiress Peggy Guggenheim was considered to be as intriguing as the art she collected. One of the pioneering collectors of Abstract Expressionism, she...

Elinor Ostrom, First Woman to Win the Nobel Prize in Economics

Elinor Ostrom won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics for her against-the-grain studies of how self-imposed regulation of common resources can be more efficient...

John le Carré, British Secret Agent and Spy Novelist

Preeminent secret-agent-turned-spy-novelist, John le Carré depicts the darker side of the lives of secret agents. John Le Carré's Early Days John le Carré was born David...

Marlon Brando, Stage and Motion Picture Star

Arguably the greatest actor of his generation, Marlon Brando combined his talent for subtle emoting with a rejection of the traditional methods of approaching...