A Boston court banishes Roger Williams from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the French abolish capital punishment, and "The Phantom of the Opera" opens in London's West End. The Taliban try to assassinate Malala Yousafzai and it is John Lennon's birthday. This episode includes a reading from Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence."

The first hospital opens in North America, "Der Spiegel" is accused of treason for its reporting, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, "Cats" opens on Broadway, and it is the birthday of R. L. Stine. This episode includes a reading from Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago."

King George III unknowingly helps indigenous people, the "McCollum Memo" is issued, JFK signs the partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the birthday club includes Ann Eliza Smith, James Whitcomb Riley, Alice Dalgliesh, and Michelle Alexander - with a reading from Riley's poem, "The Days Gone By."

The first known opera is performed, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is formed, the movie "The Jazz Singer" premiers, and Annie Ernaux is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The birthday club includes Caroline Gordon, Shana Alexander, and Marshall Rosenberg. This episode includes a reading from Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes were Watching God."

PBS TV becomes reality and the birthday club includes Louise Fitzhugh and Neil deGrasse Tyson - with a reading from Jane Austen's "Persuasion."

Willie Gillis makes his first appearance on the cover of "The Saturday Evening Post," and the birthday club includes Edward Stratemeyer, Donald Sobol, Jackie Collins, and Anne Rice - with a reading from Charles Dickens "Great Expectations."

U.S. President George Washington declares a day of thanksgiving, President Abraham Lincoln makes nearly the same declaration on the same day more than 70 years later. The birthday club includes Thomas Wolfe and Gore Vidal - and we hear a reading from Wolfe's classic "You Can't Go Home Again."

Thurgood Marshall becomes the first Black person to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court and the birthday club includes Graham Greene, Don McLean, Sting, and Melissa Harris-Perry - with a reading from Anna Julia Cooper's "A Voice from the South."

Isabella Beeton publishes her book on domesticity, Yosemite becomes preserved and protected national land, and "in god we trust" first appears on U.S. money, and it is Tim O'Brien's birthday. This episode includes a reading from John Muir's "The Yosemite."

The European powers sign the Munich Agreement, "genocide by bullets" at Baba Yar Ravine near Kyiv, and the birthday club includes Jalal ad-din Muhammad Rumi, Truman Capote, Elie Wiesel, Laura Esquivel, and Ta-Nehisi Coates - with a reading from Wiesel's "Night."