Curated playlist
American male non-fiction writers
- Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein once spent his days examining patents for gravel sorters.
- John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy spent hours in the water towing a burned crewman after a destroyer cut his boat in half.
- Mark TwainMark Twain predicted he would die with Halley's Comet, and he did. He died the day after it passed closest to the Sun.
- Woody AllenWoody Allen failed a film production course at New York University, then went on to direct Annie Hall.
- Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan preached small government, then signed California's largest tax hike.
- 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.
- Jay-ZNo major label would sign Jay-Z, so he sold burned CDs out of his car.
- James M. McPhersonHistorian James M. McPherson helped lobby against a Disney theme park near the Manassas battlefield.
- Martin Luther King Jr.Martin Luther King Jr. died at the age of 39, yet his autopsy showed the heart of a 60 year old, according to his biographer Taylor Branch. Branch attributed the damage to stress. The causes were many. King was jailed repeatedly, attacked…
- Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest, then gave a 90-minute speech. It happened in Milwaukee in October 1912.
- Jon ParelesJon Pareles played the Harkness Tower carillon while still a Yale student. He also DJed and wrote for campus papers.
- Jack KerouacJack Kerouac typed On the Road on a 120-foot roll of taped tracing paper. He finished the final draft in 20 days.
- John SteinbeckJohn Steinbeck once stole bacon from a produce market to survive. He later won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature.
- Kirk DouglasKirk Douglas insisted on giving blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo an on-screen credit for Spartacus.
- Ron PaulRon Paul delivered the Tejano singer Selena as a baby. He was a Texas obstetrician before he ran for president.
- Don H. DoyleHistorian Don H. Doyle went from writing about Nashville to writing about the whole world.
- Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter once was lowered into a crippled nuclear reactor for 90 seconds at a time. He later ran for president.
- Stephen ColbertAt a 2006 dinner, Stephen Colbert roasted President Bush to a cold room. His show's ratings jumped 37% the next week.
- Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
- Langston HughesLangston Hughes's ashes rest beneath the floor of a Harlem research center.
- 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."
- Howard Marks (investor)In 1995, Howard Marks and four partners left TCW to start Oaktree Capital Management.
- David A. BellHistorian David A. Bell argues nationalism was built, not natural. He traces it in France from 1680 to 1800.
- Bruce LeeBruce Lee appeared in his first film as a baby. By 18, he had been in 20 films in Hong Kong.
- Jack LondonJack London lost four front teeth to scurvy in the Klondike. It also gave him the wolf dog of The Call of the Wild.
- Buzz AldrinBuzz Aldrin's first words on the Moon were "Beautiful view." Years later he was selling used cars.
- Ralph BakshiRalph Bakshi sold CBS a show it already owned. CBS had acquired the Terrytoons library in 1955 and forgotten it.
- Terrence MalickAfter Days of Heaven, director Terrence Malick moved to Paris and stayed out of public view for roughly two decades.
- Seymour DrescherHistorian Seymour Drescher argued Britain ended the slave trade while it was still profitable.
- Carl SaganCarl Sagan once asked a librarian for a book on stars and got one about movie stars.
- Frank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright turned down a free education in Paris and Rome.
- Joseph PriestleyJoseph Priestley isolated oxygen but never accepted what it meant.
- Malcolm XMalcolm X left the Nation of Islam in 1964 and flew to Mecca. There he saw Muslims of all colors treated as equals.
- Henry KissingerHenry Kissinger made a secret trip to China in July 1971. It helped end 23 years of diplomatic isolation.
- 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.
- Kenneth PomeranzWhy did industrialization happen in Europe and not in China? Historian Kenneth Pomeranz answered in a 2000 book.
- Henry Edward KrehbielCritic Henry Edward Krehbiel mocked Debussy's La mer as a frog-pond. By 1922 he was praising it as poetic.
- Herbert MarcuseHerbert Marcuse analyzed Nazi ideology for American spies before students made him a hero.
- Wally SchirraAstronaut Wally Schirra refused Mission Control's request to wear helmets.
- JD VanceJD Vance once called Donald Trump reprehensible, then became his running mate.
- Paul NewmanAt the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona, Paul Newman was 70 years and eight days old, and his team won its class. That made him the oldest driver to date on a winning team in a major sanctioned race. Newman was best known as a film star, and he…
- 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.…
- Joseph SmithJoseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, was held in a jailer's bedroom in Carthage, Illinois, on the 27th of June 1844. That day an armed mob with blackened faces stormed the building. Smith took the attackers for his…
- 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…
- Tupac ShakurTupac Shakur wrote and recorded the album The Don Killuminati in three days. Mixing took four more.
- Milton FriedmanMilton Friedman argued the Federal Reserve let the money supply shrink by one-third between 1929 and 1933.