Thurgood Marshall, Civil Rights Lawyer and Supreme Court Justice

Before Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American justice of the Supreme Court, he was also the most successful person to argue cases before the...

Wyatt Earp, Legendary Tombstone Lawman

Wyatt Earp has become an icon in American lore, known as the legendary lawman who, with his brothers and Doc Holliday, battled the Clanton...

Enrico Fermi, Nuclear Physicist

Enrico Fermi’s pioneering work in the field of nuclear fission won him a Nobel Prize, and ushered in the nuclear age. His discoveries led...

William Butler Yeats, Irish Poet and Dramatist

William Butler Yeats, a romantic, poet, playwright and senator, drew on national pride, spiritualism and love, and was credited with helping revive interest in...

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...

Samuel Johnson, Dictionary Writer and Biographer

Not only did Samuel Johnson’s work define the literature of the 18th century, his dictionary defined the language. Sometimes called “the great convulsionary” for...

Brigham Young, Mormon Prophet

He led a church through its infancy, guided thousands of pioneers on a historic cross-country migration, helped settle the state of Utah and was...

Neil Simon, Award-Winning Playwright

Crowned by Time magazine “the patron saint of laughter,” the creator of Felix Unger and Oscar Madison, along with a host of other memorable...

Willie Nelson, Country Music Sensation

Willie Nelson, country singer-songwriter, long-haired hippie and philanthropist, has had a prolific music career. He began playing when he was 10 years old and...

Melvin Van Peebles, Writer, Director and Actor

Melvin Van Peebles has been called a renaissance man, displaying his multi-genre talents writing screenplays, novels, plays and music, in addition to acting in...