James M. Cain (1892-1977) was born in Annapolis, MD on July 1, 1892.  One of the creators of the hard-boiled noir genre, his best works are The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) (read Orrin's review, Grade: A+)  & Double Indemnity

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was born on July 2, 1877, in the town of Calw, Switzerland.  See Orrin's review of  The Journey to the East (1956)   (Grade: C)

Thurgood Marshall   (1908-93) , was born in Baltimore, MD on July 2, 1908.  One of the great legal advocates in US History, his most important case was Brown v. Board of Ed.  He later served a well earned retirement on the Supreme Court.

Richard Petty , the unchallenged King of stockcar racing, was born on July 2, 1937.

John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) the great American portrait painter, was born in Boston, MA on July 3, 1738

M. F. K. Fisher (1908-)  was born in Albion, MI on July 3, 1908.

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was born in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now in the Czech Republic] on July 3, 1883.  Read Orrin's review of  The Metamorphosis; and other stories  (1915) (Grade: C+)

In a divine irony, both John Adams (1735-1826) and Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1826. Read Orrin's reviews of American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence (1997)(Pauline Maier) (Grade: B-) and American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson (1996)(Joseph J. Ellis) (Grade: A-)

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought over several days, including July 4th, 1863. Read Orrin's review ofThe Killer Angels (1974)(Michael Shaara 1929-1988) (Grade: A+)

Lionel Trilling (1905-75) was born in New York, NY on July 4, 1905.

Independence Day

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), was born in Salem, MA on July 4, 1804. His Scarlet Letter (1848) is one of the first American classics.

Stephen Foster (1826-1864) was born in Lawrenceville, PA on July 4, 1826.

Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), the 30th President of the United States (1923-1929), was born in Plymouth, VT on July 4, 1872. He understood, perhaps better than any other President of this century, that the best thing the government can do is stay out of the way of the citizenry.

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

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."

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.

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+)

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

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.

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+)

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

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-)

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)

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.

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

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)

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.

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)

Joseph Mitchell  (1908-96) was born in Iona, NC on July 27, 1908.  He worked at The New Yorker for thirty years, despite having writers block for most of his later life.  Read Orrin's review of  Up in the Old Hotel and Other Stories (1992) (Grade: A+)

Kenneth Fearing (1902-61) was born in Oak Park, IL on July 28, 1902.  Read Orrin's review of  The Big Clock (1946)  (Grade: A)

Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902), was born outside of London, ENG on July 28, 1866

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-88) was born in Essex, ENG on July 28, 1844.

Edwin O'Connor (1918-68) was born in Providence, RI on July 29, 1918.  Read Orrin's review of  The Last Hurrah (1956)   (Grade: A+)

Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was born in Indianapolis, IN on July 29, 1869.  Read Orrin's review of  The Magnificent Ambersons (1918) (Grade: A)

Chester Himes (1909-84), creator of Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson, was born in Jefferson City, MO on July 29, 1909. Read Orrin's review of The Crazy Kill (1959) (Grade: B)

Alexis De Tocqueville (1805-59) was born in Paris, FR on July 29, 1805. Read Orrin's review of The Old Regime and the French Revolution (1856)(Grade: B+)

Emily Bronte (1818-48) was born in Yorkshire, ENG on July 30, 1818.

Archer Mayor (1950-), author of the Vermont based Joe Gunther mystery series, was born in Mount Kisco, NY on July 30, 1950.

Milton Friedman (1912-) was born in New York, NY on July 31, 1912. Author of such pivotal free market texts as A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 with Anna J. Schwartz (1963), Capitalism and Freedom (1964) and Free to Choose (1981) , he won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1976.