Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart

For good or for ill, Walmart founder Sam Walton changed the retail landscape of America with his chain of discount stores. Sam Walton's Early Days Samuel...

Fats Waller, Jazz Entertainer and Composer

Fats Waller's piano virtuousity and outsize personality made him a jazz legend. But his talents didn’t stop there; he was also a vaudeville performer,...

Louis XV, King of France

King Louis XV of France was known as “the Well-Beloved,” although he apparently did little to earn the name. He reigned for nearly 60...

Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher

“Nietzsche’s actual thought is a…system, at the beginning of which stands the death of God…the ensuing nihilism, and at its end the self-surmounting of...

Jack Kerouac, Beat Author of “On the Road”

Jack Kerouac’s beatnik persona has reached near mythical levels. But the author of “On the Road” never enjoyed his celebrity status, and lived a...

Amelia Earhart, Record-Breaking Pilot

Amelia Earhart set the gold standard for “enlightened feminism.” She was dubbed “Lady Lindy” because of her likeness to aviator Charles Lindbergh, and because...

Marie Curie, Discoverer of Radium

The first woman in France to receive a doctorate degree, scientist Marie Curie is remembered for her discoveries in radioactivity and radioactive elements. Her...

Johnny Cash, Country, Folk and Rockabilly Musician

Johnny Cash—the “Man in Black”—is an American legend. His music epitomizes the life and landscape of the American South, and has influenced generations of...

W.S. Gilbert, Operetta Librettist for “The Pirates of Penzance”

William Schwenck Gilbert, one half of the successful Gilbert and Sullivan duo, had a knack for satire and an eye for staging, producing comic...

Albert Einstein, Physicist Who Developed Theory of Relativity

Albert Einstein grew up in Munich, Germany and spent much of his life as a scholar in Berlin. He wrote several monumental papers that...