The Hough Riots convulse Cleveland and the birthday club includes William Makepeace Thackary, Nelson Mandela, and Hunter S. Thompson - with a reading from Thompson's obituary of former Pres. Richard M. Nixon, titled "He Was a Crook."

Spain sells Florida to the US, Willis Carrier designs the air conditioner, the International Criminal Court is established in The Hague, and it is the birthday of Phyllis Diller - with a reading of Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poem "Solitude."

J. D. Salinger publishes "The Catcher in the Rye" and it is the birthday of Ida B. Wells - with a reading from Wells' speech "Lynch Law in America."

The Rosetta Stone is found, the Spanish Inquisition ends after 350 years, Alzheimer's is named, and the birthday club includes Clement Clark Moore and Iris Murdoch.

Storming the Bastille, US Pres. John Adams signs the Sedition Act, the second catastrophic fire in Chicago burns nearly 50 acres of the city, and the birthday club includes William Hanna and Woody Guthrie - with a reading from Guthrie's song "Pretty Boy Floyd."

The birthday club includes George Weller, Marcia Brown, and Cameron Crowe - with a reading of Jean Blewett's "Miracles."

It's Thoreau-Neruda Day! Henry David Thoreau and Pablo Neruda were born on this day. Doris Grumbach, too. This episode includes a reading from Thoreau's essay "Walking."

Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton face each other in a duel, "To Kill A Mockingbird" is published, and the birthday club includes E. B. White and Jhumpa Lahiri - with a reading from White's "Here is New York."

The French declare war on England - diverting English forces from crushing the American Revolution, Mackenzie crosses the North American continent, French secret agents blow up and sink the Rainbow Warrior, the ship used by Greenpeace. And it is the birthday of Marcel Proust - with a reading from his "In Search of Lost Time."

In the U.S., the 14th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, the Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released, and the birthday club includes Elias Howe and Oliver Sacks - with a reading of Dorothy Parker's "Bohemia."