Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)  was born in Surrey, England on July 26, 1894.   Read Orrin's review of  Brave New World  (1932)(Grade: A)

Stanley Kubrick  (1928-1999) was born in the Bronx, NY on July 26, 1928.  Brothers Judd  recommends checking out his earlier movies The Killing (1956), Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960)

Jean Shepherd (1929-99)  was born in Hammond, IN on July 26, 1929.   Read Orrin's review of  In God We Trust : All Others Pay Cash  (1966) (Grade: A)

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was born in Dubline, IRE on July 26, 1856.  Read Orrin's review of  Pygmalion (1912)

Eric Hoffer (1902-83) was born in New York, NY on July 25, 1902. Read Orrin's review of The True Believer : Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (1951)

Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) was born on July 25, 1844. One of America's greatest artists, he is famous for his paintings of atheletes.

The Three Musketeers (1844) (Alexandre Dumas 1802-1870) Alexandre Dumas (pere) (1802-1870) was born in Villers-Cotterêts,Aisne, France on July 24, 1802.

Lynda Carter (1951-) was born in Phoenix, AZ on July 24, 1951. Boys our age experienced many a restless evening thanks to her star-spangled bustier and golden lasso on Wonder Woman.

Robert Graves (1895-1985) was born in London on July 24, 1895. Read Orrin's reviews of I, Claudius (1934) (Grade: A+) and Sergeant Lamb's America (1940) (Grade: B+)

John D. MacDonald (1916-1986) was born in Sharon, PA on July 24, 1916. Read Orrin's review of Nightmare in Pink (1964) (Grade: C+)

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) was born in Aberdeen, Scotland on July 24, 1874. Read Orrin's review of My Utmost for His Highest (1927)

Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) was born in Chicago, IL on July 23, 1888. Read Orrin's review of The Big Sleep (1939) (Grade: A+)

Stephen Vincent Benet (1898-1943) was born in Bethlehem, PA on July 22, 1898.

Bob Dole (1923-) was born in Russell, KS on July 22, 1923. Read Richard Ben Cramer's classic account of the men who sought the 1988 Presidential nominations, What It Takes: The Way to the White House.

Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) was born in New York, NY on July 22, 1849. Her famous poem The New Colossus appears on the base of the Statue of Liberty.

Edward Hopper ( 1882-1967) was born in Nyack, NY on July 22, 1882. In paintings like Nighthawks at the Diner, he eloquently portrayed the increasingly atomized Modern world.

Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961) was born in the village of Oak Park, IL on July 21, 1899. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 and the citation specifically mentioned The Old Man and the Sea (1952), read Orrin's review (Grade: A+)

John Gardner (1933-82) was born in Batavia, NY on July 21, 1933. Read Orrin's review of Grendel (1971)

Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstong became the first man to walk on the Moon when he debarked from the LEM set foot in Mare Tranquillitatis on July 20, 1969.

Cormac McCarthy (1933-) was born in Providence, Rhode Island on July 20, 1933. Read Orrin's review of All the Pretty Horses (1992) (Grade: A+)

Sir Edmund Hillary (1919-) was born on July 20, 1919. In 1953, he and Tenzing Norkay became the first men to climb Mount Everest. Read Orrin's review of Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer)(Grade: A-)

Thomas S. Kuhn (1922-96) was born on July 18, 1922. Read Orrin's review of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962)(Grade: A)

Hunter S. Thompson (1939) was born in Louisville, KY on July 18, 1937

Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) was born in Malden, MA on July 17, 1889. Read Orrin's review of The Case of the Baited Hook (1940)(Grade: B+)

The Assault [El Asalto] (1990) (Reinaldo Arenas 1943-90) (translated by Andrew Hurley) Reinaldo Arenas (1943-90) was born in Holguín, Cuba on July 16, 1943.

Rembrandt Harmensz (or Harmenszoon) van Rijn (1606-1669) was born in Leiden, The Netherlands on July 15, 1606.

The Virginian : A Horseman Of The Plains (1902)(Owen Wister 1860-1938) Owen Wister (1860-1938) was born in Philadelphia, PA on July 14, 1860

Christopher McKenzie Priest (1943-) was born in Cheshire, ENG on July 14, 1943. Read Orrin's review of The Prestige (1995) (Grade: A)

July 14 is Bastille Day, comemorating the 1789 storming of the hated French prison wherein seven feeble maniacs were set free. Read Orrin's review of The Old Regime and the French Revolution (1856)(Alexis De Tocqueville 1805-59)(Grade: B+)

The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness (1999)(Wole Soyinka 1934-) Mr. Soyinka, who was born on July 13, 1934, at Abeokuta near Ibadan in the British colony of Nigeria.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-62) was born in Concord, MA on July 12, 1817. One of the leaders of the American Transcendentalists movement, his two greatest works are Waldenand Civil Disobedience. He once actually said: Simplify, simplify.

R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was born in Milton, MA on July 12, 1895. His most memorable creation was the geodesic dome "a system of interlocking triangles that enclosed the maximum volume of space with the minimum of materials."

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was born in Auteuil, FR on July 10, 1871.

John Calvin (1509-64) was born in Noyon, France, on July 10, 1509. His religious views are presented in The Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was born in Lowell, MA on July 10, 1834. There's a nce selection of his work online at Art Masterpieces

Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (1943-93) was born in Richmond, VA on July 10, 1943. Read Orrin's reviews of Days of Grace: A Memoir (1993)(Arthur Ashe 1943-1993 and Arnold Rampersad) (Grade: B) and Levels of the Game (1969)(John McPhee 1931-) (Grade: A)

Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) was born in Chicago, IL on July 10, 1867. Read our review of Mr. Dooley in Peace and in War (1898).

Alec Waugh (1898-1981) was born in Hampstead, ENG on July 8, 1898.

Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (1906?-1982) was theoretically born in Mobile, AL on July 7, 1906. A Negro League legend, he pitched effectively in the Major Leagues in his late 40's & even in his 50's.

John Paul Jones (1747-92) was born in Arbigland, Kirkbean, Kirkcudbright, Scotland on July 6, 1747. He is best remembered for the immortal line: I have not yet begun to fight!

Nancy Davis Reagan (1923-) was born in New York, NY on July 6, 1923. Our prayers are with her as she nurses the great man down the home stretch.

David Farragut (1801-70) was born near Knoxville, TN on July 5, 1801. He is best remembered for the cry: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902) was born on July 5, 1853. Not everyone gets a country named after them.

Phineas T. Barnum (1810-91), the world's greatest showman, was born in Bethel, CT on July 5, 1810.