Curated playlist
21st-century American non-fiction writers
- Cameron DiazCameron Diaz had never acted a day in her life when she auditioned for The Mask at the age of 21. The part was Tina Carlyle, a jazz singer, and she won it. Only after the casting did she begin taking acting lessons. Diaz was born in 1972,…
- Donald TrumpDonald Trump was a millionaire in inflation-adjusted terms by age eight.
- George H. W. BushAfter being shot down in 1944, George H. W. Bush asked why he alone had been spared. Both of his crewmates died.
- Barack ObamaObama rejected a plan to bomb a compound in Pakistan and sent Navy SEALs instead. The 2011 raid killed Osama bin Laden.
- Jon ParelesJon Pareles played the Harkness Tower carillon while still a Yale student. He also DJed and wrote for campus papers.
- Stephen ColbertAt a 2006 dinner, Stephen Colbert roasted President Bush to a cold room. His show's ratings jumped 37% the next week.
- Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Paltrow won the lead in Emma with a perfect Texas accent. The director said it sold him.
- Colin PowellOn the 5th of February 2003, Colin Powell addressed the United Nations Security Council. He told the council: "there can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more." The…
- Vernor VingeWhat happens when machines get smarter than the people who built them? Vernor Vinge kept asking.
- Roger EbertRoger Ebert typed his last blog post two days before he died. He signed off with "I'll see you at the movies."
- Al GoreAl Gore won the 2000 popular vote but lost the presidency by 537 Florida votes.
- Ralph BakshiRalph Bakshi sold CBS a show it already owned. CBS had acquired the Terrytoons library in 1955 and forgotten it.
- Joseph StiglitzJoseph Stiglitz explained why wages stay high in recessions even when workers are desperate for jobs.
- Tom ShoneTom Shone argued the summer blockbuster deserved serious study, not scorn.
- Eric SchmidtEric Schmidt ran Google while taking a base salary of just $1 a year. That pay lasted from 2004 through 2010.
- Hulk HoganHulk Hogan held the World Wrestling Federation championship for 1,474 days during his first reign. That is the third-longest run in the history of the title. The man under the bandana and the blond moustache was born Terry Gene Bollea.…
- Stanley TucciStanley Tucci Jr. gave a college classmate a nickname that the man has carried ever since. The classmate was Irving Rhames, and the nickname was Ving. Tucci handed it over while the two of them studied acting together at a state university…
- Stevie NicksStevie Nicks, born Stephanie Lynn Nicks on the 26th of May 1948, could not pronounce her own name as a toddler. The best she could manage was "tee-dee", and that slip turned into the nickname Stevie. Decades later, Rolling Stone placed her…
- Patti SmithPatti Smith, the American singer, songwriter, poet and author, lost her place in the middle of a song at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm. The date was the 10th of December 2016. She was standing in for Bob Dylan, winner of the…
- Milton FriedmanMilton Friedman argued the Federal Reserve let the money supply shrink by one-third between 1929 and 1933.
- Slash (musician)Slash, the guitarist born Saul Hudson in Hampstead, London, on the 23rd of July 1965, owes his famous name to a restless child. The actor Seymour Cassel gave him the nickname because the boy was "always in a hurry, zipping around from one…
- Charlie KirkCharlie Kirk, then a senior at Wheeling High School in Illinois, once organized a boycott of the cafeteria's cookies to protest a price increase. Charles James Kirk grew into an American political activist, entrepreneur, and media…
- Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Schwarzenegger broke into a locked gym on weekends as a teenager. He later became California's governor.
- Ken JenningsKen Jennings's 74-game quiz show winning streak ended when he answered FedEx to an H&R Block question.
- Paul SamuelsonPaul Samuelson said he was born as an economist at age sixteen. It happened in a 1932 Chicago lecture on Malthus.
- Daniel YerginDaniel Yergin started his energy research firm with a two-dollar file cabinet.
- George Dyson (science historian)From 1972 to 1975, George Dyson lived in a treehouse he built 30 meters above Burrard Inlet.
- Daniel KahnemanDaniel Kahneman won the 2002 economics Nobel without ever taking an economics course.
- James M. BuchananEconomist James M. Buchanan argued that politicians act from self-interest like everyone else.
- George SorosAt 14, George Soros posed as the Christian godson of a government official to survive the Nazi occupation of Hungary.
- Steve BannonSteve Bannon still earns money every time Seinfeld airs. His bank took a stake in five shows instead of a fee.
- Michael CrichtonMichael Crichton once submitted a George Orwell essay as his own and got a B-minus.
- Marilyn MansonMarilyn Manson is the stage name of Brian Hugh Warner, an American rock singer whose band has sold over 50 million records worldwide. Few musicians have been argued over in so many rooms. Politicians condemned his lyrics, critics fought…
- Pope Leo XIVBefore the 2025 conclave, the future Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, explained his chances to a friend by text message. "I'm an American, I can't be elected," he wrote. He was elected anyway. This documentary follows a path…
- David ByrneDavid Byrne was turned away from his middle school choir, which judged him "off-key and too withdrawn". That boy grew up to be an American musician, writer, visual artist and filmmaker. Over his career he has received an Academy Award, a…
- Gillian AndersonGillian Anderson was arrested on her graduation night. She had broken into her own high school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, hoping to glue the locks of its doors shut. Her classmates had voted her "class clown," "most bizarre girl" and "most…
- David BrinAuthor David Brin won the Hugo Award for Best Novel twice with his Uplift Universe books.
- Wendell WallachCan a machine be built to make genuinely ethical decisions? Bioethicist Wendell Wallach studies that question.
- Gary BeckerEconomist Gary Becker argued that criminals are not irrational. He said they weigh the risks and rewards of a crime.
- Kareem Abdul-JabbarKareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlain's career scoring record with a skyhook over a 7-foot-4 defender.
- Phil JacksonPhil Jackson convinced Michael Jordan to trust his teammates. In 1991 the Bulls swept the Pistons and won the title.
- Deepak ChopraDeepak Chopra sold 137,000 copies of one book within 24 hours of appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in July 1993. That figure comes from the physician and author Paul Offit, who adds that sales reached 400,000 by the end of the week.…
- Richard D. WolffRichard D. Wolff's father was a lawyer in Cologne, but his degree was worthless in America.
- David M. EwaltIn 2009, David M. Ewalt co-created the first Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People.
- Elinor OstromUCLA rejected Elinor Ostrom's economics application for lacking math. She later won a Nobel Prize in economics.
- Roger LowensteinA financial journalist won a Lincoln prize for a book on paying for the Civil War. Roger Lowenstein won it in 2022.
- Charley RosenCharley Rosen went from Bronx schoolyards to coaching beside Phil Jackson. He also wrote more than two dozen books.