Category: Today’s Birthday

Bunche was a US diplomat who in 1950 became the first person of color awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he earned for mediating the 1949 Arab-Israeli truce. During WWII, he worked in the US War and State Departments. After the war, he helped establish the UN and spent the remainder of his career in a variety of UN positions, including principal secretary of the UN Palestine Commission and Under-Secretary General. In what unusual way did he conduct many of the Arab-Israeli peace negotiations? Discuss

Malebranche was a French priest, theologian, and philosopher who developed a synthesis of Cartesian and Augustinian thought with the purpose of reconciling the new science with Christian theology. Beginning with Descartes’s dualism between mind and body, Malebranche developed his doctrine of occasionalism, which denies any interaction between the two realms. He summarized his beliefs in his famous assertion that we see all things in God, which led to an extended controversy with what theologian? Discuss

Maupassant was a 19th-century French writer considered one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protégé of Gustave Flaubert, Maupassant wrote with a simplicity, clarity, and objective calm that echoed the style of his mentor. He first gained attention with “Boule de Suif,” or “Ball of Fat,” and eventually published about 300 short stories, many of which are said to be unsurpassed in their genre. Why did Maupassant often dine at the restaurant at the base of the Eiffel Tower? Discuss

Armstrong was an innovative trumpeter and singer who strongly influenced the melodic development of jazz in the 1920s. He began playing in marching, riverboat, and cabaret bands as a youth in New Orleans and later joined King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in Chicago and the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in New York City. Between 1925 and 1929, he made his classic Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, which established the preeminence of the virtuoso jazz soloist. What style of singing did he popularize? Discuss

Uris was an American novelist known for his many popular novels, especially the 1958 bestseller Exodus, a fictional account of Israel’s early history that was eventually translated into dozens of languages. Meticulously researched, much of his fiction is set in historical periods of the 20th century. Uris also wrote screenplays, notably for the classic Western Gunfight at the OK Corral, and many of his novels were made into films. Who starred in the film version of Exodus? Discuss

O’Connor was an American actor who started out on the stage and appeared in a number of movies in the 1950s and 60s. He gained fame in the 70s and early 80s playing Archie Bunker in All in the Family and Archie Bunker’s Place, winning numerous Emmy awards for his portrayal of the bigoted yet loveable blue-collar family man. He later starred as a progressive Southern sheriff on the TV show In the Heat of the Night. Which of O’Connor’s relatives also had a role on that show? Discuss

Neglected for much of his career but now considered one of the greatest American writers, Melville was born into an impoverished family and had little formal schooling. He sailed for the South Seas on a whaler in 1841, jumped ship after 18 months, and spent the next 2 years on various Pacific islands. His popular first novels were based on these adventures. His masterpiece, Moby-Dick, is both an intense whaling narrative and a symbolic examination of US democracy. To whom is it dedicated? Discuss

Peter Benenson was an English lawyer who organized a letter-writing campaign in 1961 calling for amnesty for “prisoners of conscience.” His campaign resulted in the establishment of Amnesty International, a human-rights organization that works to combat violations of human rights, especially abridgments of freedom of speech and religion and the imprisonment and torture of political dissidents. Why did Benenson resign from his position within Amnesty International in 1967? Discuss

Sister of writers Charlotte and Anne Brontë, Emily Brontë was an English author who is most famous for her novel Wuthering Heights, a highly imaginative story of passion and hatred set on the Yorkshire moors. Emily’s unusual character and intellect seem to have been unrecognized by her family until quite late in her short life—she died at 30 of tuberculosis—but Charlotte was astonished by her poetry and regarded her work as unparalleled. Emily originally published under what pen name? Discuss

Tocqueville was a French political scientist, historian, and politician. Born into an aristocratic family with ties to the king, his future in government was jeopardized by a revolution in 1830. To distance himself from the trying political situation at home, he embarked on a government-sanctioned mission to the US. Out of it came his best-known work, Democracy in America—the first analytical study of the strengths and weaknesses of US society. What conclusions did Tocqueville draw in it? Discuss