Noah Webster, Educator and Dictionary Writer
Noah Webster was a pioneering thinker devoted to books and learning. After the American Revolution, he set out to help the United States develop...
James Madison, American President Who Authored the Bill of Rights
James Madison played a great role in defining, defending and establishing the United States as we know it. A major contributor to the Constitution,...
Hetty Green, the “Witch of Wall Street”
Hetty Green was a successful American businesswoman who was as renowned for her Wall Street savvy and fantastic wealth as she was for her...
Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Emissary of Nationalist China
Known for her political prowess and powerful husband, Madame Chiang Kai-shek led a somewhat transient life, spending significant portions of her 105 years in...
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...
William Shakespeare, Playwright, Poet and Actor
“He was not for an age but for all time,” said Ben Jonson in the dedication to William Shakespeare’s 1623 First Folio. It may...
William Carlos Williams, Writer and Physician
Celebrated writer William Carlos Williams is noted for his influence on the development of the short story form in 20th century American literature. His...
Saul Bellow, American Novelist
“The backbone of 20th-century American literature”—this was novelist Philip Roth’s assessment of Saul Bellow. His struggle with modernism, his Jewish upbringing, his feelings of...
Mark Spitz, Swimming Legend
Mark Spitz was a brash swimming prodigy who overcame disappointment in the 1968 Olympics to win seven gold medals in 1972, setting a record...
Ricardo Montalbán, “Fantasy Island’s” Mr. Roarke
For years, Mexican-born actor Ricardo Montalbán played Latin lovers, shady villains and a host of ethnic bit parts. But everything changed when he was...
