The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “history”

Missives from Muggings: The Audacious Requests Mark Twain Received from His Fans and His Wry Responses
Missives from Muggings: The Audacious Requests Mark Twain Received from His Fans and His Wry Responses

“This is the worst piece of cheek of all.”

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History’s 100 Geniuses of Language and Literature, Visualized
History’s 100 Geniuses of Language and Literature, Visualized

“Genius, in its writings, is our best path for reaching wisdom … the true use of literature for life.”

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Gay Talese’s Field Guide to the Social Order of New York’s Cats, Illustrated
Gay Talese’s Field Guide to the Social Order of New York’s Cats, Illustrated

A rare and wonderful 1961 taxonomy of Gotham’s feline fraternity from the godfather of literary journalism.

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The Mortality Paradox
The Mortality Paradox

“Our overblown intellectual faculties seem to be telling us both that we are eternal and that we are not.”

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Iconic Painter Agnes Martin on Art, Solitude, and the Secret of Happiness
Iconic Painter Agnes Martin on Art, Solitude, and the Secret of Happiness

“Doing what you were born to do … That’s the way to be happy.”

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Afterwords: Moving Letters of Condolence on Virginia Woolf’s Death
Afterwords: Moving Letters of Condolence on Virginia Woolf’s Death

T.S. Eliot, Edith Sitwell, E.M. Forster, Elizabeth Bowen, H.G. Wells, and others grapple with the ineffable.

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Viktor Frankl on the Human Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl on the Human Search for Meaning

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

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Mark Twain’s Fan Mail
Mark Twain’s Fan Mail

“This world would not be satisfying unless one person were allowed to express gratitude and thanks to another.”

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In Which Bertrand Russell and George Bernard Shaw Collide on Their Bicycles
In Which Bertrand Russell and George Bernard Shaw Collide on Their Bicycles

“Still I am not thoroughly convinced yet that I was not killed. Anybody but a vegetarian would have been.”

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How Geography Paved the Way for Women in Science and Cultivated the Values of American Democracy
How Geography Paved the Way for Women in Science and Cultivated the Values of American Democracy

From the ideals of “republican motherhood” to a cure for “the wayward attention of children.”

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