lives

Naomi

A young girl growing up in ancient Judea. Raped by her father, ignored by her mother and ostracized by her community, Naomi escapes to a place of dreams Beyond Nature. Other, fuller worlds, far from her village where color and life abound and the fish, insects and gods are there to befriend and to guide her.
Read excerpt: Naomi: A Shortened Life

Ay

(1327 B.C.) Egyptian ruler and spiritual advisor. Ay was the power behind the throne during Tutankhamun's reign, then married Tutankhamun's widow, Ankhesenamun to become Pharaoh Kheperkheperura for a brief four year period (1323-1319 BCE.) He revitalized the polytheistic traditions of The Book of the Dead during his reign to guide us in our quest for immortality.

Mathew Brady

(May 18, 1822-January 15, 1896) American photographer and artist who wanted to make history. He catapulted his subjects into celebrity and is best known today for his epic photos of the Civil War. Paradoxically, Brady sent assistants to photograph his most famous scenes—the battlefields at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Antietam—instructing them to re-arrange and photograph the dead in order to create images that would enhance public notions about death and dying.
Read excerpt: Mathew Brady’s Chair

Mary Todd Lincoln

(December 13,1818-July 16, 1882) First Lady of the United States, wife of President Abraham Lincoln, and mother to Robert, Edward, Willie and Tad.
Read excerpt: Mary Todd Lincoln

John James Audubon

(April 26, 1785- December 27, 1851) French-American ornithologist, naturalist, hunter, and painter.

Roger B. Taney

(March 17, 1777-October 12, 1864) Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Delivered the majority opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857.)
Read excerpt: Roger B Taney

Henry David Thoreau

(July 12, 1817-May 6, 1862) American author and naturalist, tax resister, and leading transcendentalist. His Walden, published in 1854, promotes American Romantic notions of simple living and self-reliance.

John Brown

(May 9, 1800-December 2, 1859) American abolitionist who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to end all slavery. Found guilty of treason against Virginia, Brown was hanged at Charlestown on December 2, 1859.

Mother Ann Lee

(February 29, 1736-September 8, 1784) Female Messiah, the Mother of the Shakers preached a gospel of pacifism, celibacy, racial and gender equality, and industrious communal living.

Phineas Taylor Barnum

(July 5, 1810-April 7, 1891) American showman, businessman, and entertainer. Founder of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and promoter of hoaxes, human curiosities and talents such as the Feejee Mermaid, General Tom Thumb and Jenny Lind.

Sitting Bull

(c.1831-December 15, 1890) Lakota tribal war chief who led his followers to victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn against Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment on June 25, 1876.

Thomas Cole

(February 1, 1801-February 11, 1848) English-born American artist and founder of the Hudson River School. Cole's paintings depicted the American landscape as a new Eden that would inspire spiritual renewal and contribute to the formation of a uniquely American national culture.

Walt Whitman

(May 31, 1819-March 26, 1892) American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist. Whitman published numerous editions of the poetry collection Leaves of Grass during his lifetime and Democratic Vistas (1871) to express his discouragement with "The Gilded Age" of America following the Civil War.

Pinturicchio

(1454-1513) Italian Renaissance painter. Pinturicchio was successful during his life with popularity and commissions from the papacy and other wealthy patrons. However, he was lambasted by Vasari who wrote "Pinturicchio of Perugia, although he made many works and was assisted by various helpers, nevertheless had a much greater name than his works deserved." Historically, he is largely overshadowed by contemporaries like Raphael, Michelangelo, and Da Vinci.
Read excerpt: Pinturicchio: Small Diary of a Little Painter