Emile Zola goes on trial for revealing the Dreyfus Affair, the U.S. imposes a more than 45-year embargo on Cuba, the Maastricht Treaty is signed creating the European Union, Mississippi ratifies the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery, and the birthday club includes Charles Dickens, Laura Ingall's Wilder, and Sinclair Lewis - with a reading from Lewis' "Babbitt."