Lolly Willowes, or The Loving Huntsman, was the first Book-
of-the-Month Club selection. It was published by Viking Press.

Sylvia Townsend Warner (December 6, 1893 – May 1, 1978)

John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. (February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968)

American author John Steinbeck is well-known for his novels The Grapes
of Wrath, East of Eden, and Of Mice and Men. He won both the Pulitzer
and Nobel Prizes for his work. 

Steinbeck grew up in central California and attended Stanford University
for several years. He later returned to California following failed attempts
at writing jobs in New York and worked as a tour guide and caretaker at
a fish hatchery in Tahoe City.    
   
John Steinbeck, a lifelong heavy smoker, died in New York City of heart
disease and congestive heart failure. He was 66.
    

JOHN BELMONT

Mark Twain’s "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was
published in the United States for the first time on
this day in 1885.

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
(November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910)

In Montgomery, AL, on this day in 1861, Jefferson Davis was
inaugurated as the President of the Confederate States.

Jefferson Davis was sworn in as Provisional President
of the Confederate States of America on the steps of
the Alabama State Capitol (above/below).

On this day in 1970, The Chicago Seven defendants were found
innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic
national convention.

Police arrest protesters outside of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

John Joseph Travolta is 64 years old today. Born in Englewood, NJ.

John Travolta starred in the 1970s hit films Saturday Night Fever and 
Grease. He later went on to play Vincent Vega in the critically acclaimed
1994 film Pulp Fiction.

On this day in 2001, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was
killed in a crash during the final lap of the Daytona 500 race. He
died instantly from blunt force trauma to the skull.

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1964, The Beatles made the first of three record-
breaking appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show." 73 million
people watched the show. It was their American TV debut.

It was on this day in 1950.

During World War II on this day in 1943, the battle of Guadalcanal
ended with an American victory over Japanese forces.

Pictured are Japanese prisoners. The Guadalcanal campaign had
ended with the loss of nearly 30,000 Japanese soldiers.

Yuri Andropov died on this day in 1984.

Yuri Andropov was General Secretary of the Central Committee
of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Presidium from
June 16, 1983 until his death in 1984.

Alice Malsenior Walker is 74 today. She was born in Putnam County, Georgia.

Alice Walker is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and activist
who wrote the novel The Color Purple (1982) for which she won the National
Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She also wrote the novels
Meridian (1976) and The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970), among many
other works.

      TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1964, Pan Am flight 101 was greeted by over 5,000
Beatles fans as it arrived at New York’s JFK airport, bringing The
Beatles to the U.S. for the first time.

Ramzi Yousef, a Pakistani national who planned and carried out
the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six people
and injured 1,000 others, was arrested on this day in 1995.

Hussein bin Talal (November 14, 1935 – February 7, 1999)

Hussein was King of Jordan from the abdication of his father,
King Talal, on 11 August 1952, until his death from cancer in
1999.

Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870)

Charles Dickens was a prolific and highly influential 19th century British
author, who penned such acclaimed works as ‘Oliver Twist,’ ‘A Christmas
Carol,’ ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘Great Expectations.’

singer/songwriter Troyal Garth Brooks is 56 years old today.

According to the RIAA, Garth Brooks is the best-selling solo albums artist
in the U.S. with 148 million domestic units sold, ahead of Elvis Presley, and
is second only to the Beatles in total album sales overall. He is also one of 
the world’s best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 170 million records. Brooks was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame October
21, 2012. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011.