Curated playlist
American columnists
- Ron PaulRon Paul delivered the Tejano singer Selena as a baby. He was a Texas obstetrician before he ran for president.
- Langston HughesLangston Hughes's ashes rest beneath the floor of a Harlem research center.
- Hunter S. ThompsonHunter S. Thompson's Gonzo style began as a Kentucky Derby deadline scramble. He mailed pages ripped from his notebook.
- Paul KrugmanPaul Krugman turned to economics because psychohistory was fiction. Asimov's novels inspired him.
- Julia AngwinFive of Julia Angwin's seven editorial colleagues quit when she was dismissed from her own newsroom.
- Mike JohnsonOn the 25th of October 2023, the House of Representatives voted 220-209 to make Mike Johnson its 56th speaker. Every Republican in attendance voted for him. Johnson, a lawyer from Louisiana, became the first speaker in American history…
- Jennette McCurdyJennette McCurdy gave her memoir a title that stops people mid-sentence: I'm Glad My Mom Died. The cover is just as startling. It shows her looking upward while holding a pink urn, with confetti spilling out of the lid. It looks like a…
- Mehmet OzIn 2025, Mehmet Oz offered to take in a flock of 400 ostriches from British Columbia. The birds were set to be culled during an avian flu outbreak, and Oz proposed sending them to his ranch in Florida. It is a small and strange episode,…
- Victor Davis HansonAfter earning a Stanford PhD, Victor Davis Hanson went home and farmed. He grew orchards and vineyards for four years.
- Cornel WestYale punished Cornel West for a protest arrest by canceling his 1987 spring leave. He then commuted to Paris to teach.
- Francis Amasa WalkerCivil War officer Francis Amasa Walker nearly drowned swimming a river to escape, and was recaptured.
- Walter LippmannJournalist Walter Lippmann gave us the word stereotype. He also named the Cold War in a 1947 book.