Authors born on this day in; 1670 – John Toland, Irish philosopher and author (d. 1722) a rationalist philosopher and freethinker, and occasional satirist, who wrote numerous books and pamphlets on political philosophy and philosophy of religion, which are early expressions of the philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment. In Tolands first book Christianity not Mysterious (1696), he argued that the divine revelation of the Bible contains no true mysteries; rather, all the dogmas of the faith can be understood and demonstrated by properly trained reason from natural principles. For this argument he was prosecuted by a grand jury in London. He also was known to have composed his own epitaph: He was an assertor of liberty, a lover of all sorts of learning ... but no man’s follower or dependent. Nor could frowns or fortune bend him to decline from the ways he had chosen. 1835 – Samuel Langhorne Clemens (d. 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. 1874 – Lucy Maud Montgomery (d. 1942) Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908. Anne of Green Gables was an immediate success. The central character, Anne, an orphaned girl, made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following. Montgomerys work, diaries and letters have been read and studied by scholars and readers worldwide. 1936 – Abbie Hoffman, American activist and author, co-founded the Youth International Party (d. 1989) Hoffman was arrested and tried for conspiracy and inciting to riot as a result of his role in protests that led to violent confrontations with police during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, along with Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale. The group was known collectively as the Chicago Eight. Hoffman arose to prominence in the 1960s, continued his activism in the 1970s, and has remained a symbol of the youth rebellion of the counterculture era.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 00:56:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015