Black and white photograph of historian and man of letters Henry Adams.

Henry Adams

(1838 - 1918)

American writer Theodore Dreiser.

Theodore Dreiser

(1871 - 1945)

English architect Christopher Wren.

Christopher Wren

(1632 - 1723)

Engraving of Scottish economist Adam Smith.

Adam Smith

(1723 - 1790)

Black and white photograph of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig.

Stefan Zweig

(1881 - 1942)

Painting of François Rabelais.

François Rabelais

(1494 - 1553)

Novelist and psychiatrist Daniel Mason.

Daniel Mason

Sozomen

(c. 380 - c. 450)

José Martí

(1853 - 1895)

Book critic Michael Dirda.

Michael Dirda

Woody Allen in thick black rim glasses

Woody Allen

German architect and Nazi official Albert Speer.

Albert Speer

(1905 - 1981)

Lucy Sante

American writer, editor, and translator Eliot Weinberger.

Eliot Weinberger

British inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage.

Charles Babbage

(1791 - 1871)

American food journalist and editor Frederick Kaufman.

Frederick Kaufman

Procopius

(c. 490 - c. 562)

Image from Codex Manesse depicting a tournament of knights.

Chrétien de Troyes

(c. 1165 - c. 1180)

American civil war general William Tecumseh Sherman.

William Tecumseh Sherman

(1820 - 1891)

German sociologist and philosopher Georg Simmel.

Georg Simmel

(1858 - 1918)

Photo of stone Aristotle statue face

Aristotle

(384 BC - 322 BC)

Black and white photograph of Mencken looking over his shoulder at the camera

H.L. Mencken

(1880 - 1956)

Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky

(1821 - 1881)

J.G. Ballard

(1930 - 2009)

Engraving of the medieval Arab traveler Ibn Battuta.

Ibn Battuta

(1304 - c. 1369)

Former Prime Minister of United Kingdom Benjamin Disraeli.

Benjamin Disraeli

(1804 - 1881)

Russian poet Andrei Bely.

Andrei Bely

(1880 - 1934)

Danish author Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen

(1805 - 1875)

American poet and novelist Helen Hunt Jackson.

Helen Hunt Jackson

(1830 - 1885)

Sculpture bust of Greek historian Herodotus.

Herodotus

(c. 484 BC - c. 425 BC)

Black and white photograph of German-language writer Franz Kafka.

Franz Kafka

(1883 - 1924)

English economist and demographer Thomas Malthus.

Thomas Malthus

(1766 - 1834)

Joan Didion

(1934 - 2021)

British urban planner Ebenezer Howard.

Ebenezer Howard

(1850 - 1928)

American politician from New York George W. Plunkitt.

George W. Plunkitt

(1842 - 1924)

American novelist and journalist John Hersey.

John Hersey

(1914 - 1993)

Black and white photograph of French writer and film director Marguerite Duras.

Marguerite Duras

(1914 - 1996)

Diodorus Siculus

(c. 90 BC - c. 20 BC)

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

(1817 - 1862)

Mosaic portrait of a bearded man in red holding a book

Marco Polo

(1254 - 1324)

Theognis

(c. 570 BC - c. 490 BC)

Black and white photograph of a young F. Scott Fitzgerald sitting at a desk.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

(1896 - 1940)

Photograph of Soviet playwright and writer Mikhail Bulgakov.

Mikhail Bulgakov

(1891 - 1940)

Essayist and novelist Pico Iyer.

Pico Iyer

Italian poet and scholar Giovanni Boccaccio.

Giovanni Boccaccio

(1313 - 1375)

English diarist and naval administrator Samuel Pepys.

Samuel Pepys

(1633 - 1703)

Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.

Hernán Cortés

(1485 - 1547)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Photograph of English novelist Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens

(1812 - 1870)

Ammianus Marcellinus

(c. 330 - 395)

Warren Breckman

Photograph of Colin Dickey standing in front of a brick wall.

Colin Dickey

Swiss traveler and writer Nicolas Bouvier.

Nicolas Bouvier

(1929 - 1998)

American composer George Gershwin.

George Gershwin

(1898 - 1937)

Greek dramatist Sophocles.

Sophocles

(c. 496 BC - 406 BC)

Image of French writer Honoré de Balzac with hand on chest.

Honoré de Balzac

(1799 - 1850)

American writer, political activist, urban theorist, and historian Mike Davis.

Mike Davis

Lewis Mumford

(1895 - 1990)

Jane Jacobs

(1916 - 2006)

Photograph of American writer Ralph Ellison.

Ralph Ellison

(1914 - 1994)

Portrait bust of Roman poet Virgil.

Virgil

(70 BC - 19 BC)

Photograph of Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire

(1821 - 1867)

Black and white photograph of E. B. White sitting at his typewriter with his dachshund.

E.B. White

(1899 - 1985)

Salman Rushdie

French novelist Gustave Flaubert.

Gustave Flaubert

(1821 - 1880)

Photograph of American journalist and novelist George Packer.

George Packer

Classical bust of Thucydides.

Thucydides

(c. 460 BC - c. 404 BC)

Sufi mystic and poet Rumi.

Rumi

(c. 1207 - 1273)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

American Canadian author William Gibson.

William Gibson

Turkish author Orhan Pamuk.

Orhan Pamuk

Engraving of Roman author and administrator Pliny the Younger.

Pliny the Younger

(61 - 112)

Vitruvius

(c. 80 BC - 15 BC)

German philosopher Oswald Spengler.

Oswald Spengler

(1880 - 1936)

American novelist Richard Powers.

Richard Powers

French novelist Irène Némirovsky.

Irène Némirovsky

(1903 - 1942)

Chinese-American journalist Leslie T. Chang.

Leslie T. Chang

Statue depicting Roman orator and historian Tacitus.

Tacitus

(56 - c. 120)

German socialist philosopher Friedrich Engels.

Friedrich Engels

(1820 - 1895)

Photograph of Italian writer Italo Calvino.

Italo Calvino

(1923 - 1985)

black and white photo of Groucho Marx wearing glasses and smoking a cigar from the side of his mouth

Groucho Marx

(1890 - 1977)

Photograph of Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

(1899 - 1986)

Jules Verne

Jules Verne

(1828 - 1905)

Chinese poet Du Fu.

Du Fu

(712 - 770)

American author and journalist Jamie James.

Jamie James

Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa.

Fernando Pessoa

(1888 - 1935)

Greek rhetorician Libanius.

Libanius

(314 - 393)