Rainer Maria Rilke, Author of “Letters to a Young Poet”
Rainer Maria Rilke spent his life traveling the globe. Despite a variety of lovers and locales—Prague, Munich, Rome, Paris and Switzerland—Rilke remained alone, seeking...
Neil Armstrong, First Man to Walk on the Moon
A pilot at 16, astronaut Neil Armstrong’s early years were spent in the skies, but his later years have been grounded in academia and...
Jimmy Stewart, Award-Winning Actor and War Hero
Whether playing a sardonic journalist, earnest politician, recalcitrant cowboy or a man at his wit’s end, Jimmy Stewart stuttered and shuffled his way into...
Anthony Kennedy, Supreme Court Justice
Called someone who “may arguably be the single most influential arbiter of domestic policy in the land,” Justice Anthony Kennedy has relished his role...
Cornel West, Author, Professor and Hip-Hop Artist
Cornel West, a popular professor of religion at Princeton University, has received widespread notoriety for both his intellectual abilities and his knack for sparking...
Al Hirschfeld, Caricature Artist
Al Hirschfeld demonstrated prodigious artistic talent at an early age. As an adult, his technique was deceptively simple; he harnessed the power of a...
E. E. Cummings, Poet and Painter
American poet, novelist and painter E. E. Cummings was one of the best-selling poets of the 20th century, earning fame for his unique approach...
Walter Cronkite, CBS News Anchor
To his colleagues, he was “Old Iron Pants,” and to everyone else, he was “The Most Trusted Man in America.” For more than half...
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...
Peter the Great, Czar of Russia
Peter the Great became czar of Russia when he was only 10 years old. As a young man, he showed little interest in politics...
